Playing Tunes In Sets

[stevejay]

Hi

 

I have been playing some tunes in sets now, and it is so much more fun. (well 2 songs anyway) Where do you look for good set combinations, especially for the common session tunes. Sites like "Wild Dismay" help by stating, "we usually play this tune in combination with....

 

Or- Do you just find a similar tune which makes an interesting tonality change, or is related harmonically?

I've been wondering abouts sets for some time.

 

 

Thanks

[Graham Collicutt]

Hi

 

I have been playing some tunes in sets now, and it is so much more fun. (well 2 songs anyway) Where do you look for good set combinations, especially for the common session tunes. Sites like "Wild Dismay" help by stating, "we usually play this tune in combination with....

 

Or- Do you just find a similar tune which makes an interesting tonality change, or is related harmonically?

I've been wondering abouts sets for some time.

 

 

Thanks

Try this http://comhaltas.ie/blog/post/foinn_seisiun_online/

 

Graham

[stevejay]

Graham,

 

Thanks for the site, it was just what I was hoping for. There are so many tunes, I can find many I already know, and look forward to learning and thinking in sets rather than individual tunes. A good day for my hobby.

 

Steve

Edited April 24, 2007 by stevejay

[David Barnert]

I think that often, when people say "This tune goes well with that tune" they are really saying that the two tunes were recorded as a set by a particular band and now everybody plays them together. Given that, one place to look for ideas of sets is the recordings of your favorite bands.

 

But of course, there's a case to be made for avoiding this kind of "conformist" thinking and striking out on one's own with new ideas.

[Mark Evans]

But of course, there's a case to be made for avoiding this kind of "conformist" thinking and striking out on one's own with new ideas.

 

That's what I strive to do most of the time. Tunes have very unique characters and may just work well together regardless the key relationship.

 

There can be a circle of fifths relationship, or relative major/minor, or within the same key, my favorite being Touchstone's combination of "The Flowing Tide/Cooly's Hornpipe, both in G and with a thematic connection that gives the impression of Theme and Development. One could fool around with title commonality (imagine...all the Bonaparte tunes strung together ).

 

A "Reel" fun game at the session I've attended from time to time is a home reel that everyone plays (each reel done X2), then heading 'round the circle each player trots out another reel, hopefully one or two of the other lead instruments jump in and then back to the "home" reel and off to the next person in the circle. Backers who are good at catching whatever key you've wandered off into really hold things together.

 

Amazing how many of them go together!

 

I'm also drawn to mixing dance forms i.e. March into Reel or Jig, even one I've been doing for years, an air into a slower reel into a Rant all in the same key (I'm nuts for that faster and faster thing ).

Edited April 25, 2007 by Mark Evans

[davidcorner]

Do you just find a similar tune which makes an interesting tonality change, or is related harmonically?

I tend to have two types of set, one with tunes of the same type, and one with contrasting types of tune.

The standard Scottish "competition set" is March, Strathspey, Reel, and I have evolved a few of these sets, and also sets of Slow Air, Strathspey and Reel.

Usually in these sets, I stay in the same key, or go up or down a fifth, e.g G D D.

I try to find tunes that follow one another naturally, so that I can flow from one to the next.

I tend to play Scottish pipe marches in pairs, and always in contrasting keys, often A followed by D.

Again it's a matter of trying the tunes together and finding if they run together.

Some tunes seem to have different rhythms and don't go well together, but it's a matter of try it and see.

There are pipe marches in nominally A minor, but with no C, natural or sharp, in the tune.

I like to follow these with a tune in A, particularly one which starts off with a C sharp, just to point out the change.

 

In summary, my sets either have a tempo change between tunes, or a key change, so that it's obviously a new tune.

[stevejay]

Try this http://comhaltas.ie/blog/post/foinn_seisiun_online/

 

Graham

 

...And for those of us who like it all in one place, this site has the dots....this Monks session is the genuine article, I don't feel bad for letting it guide me at least for now

 

http://music.celtic.ru/Session_Tune_Sets/Contents.htm

Edited April 26, 2007 by stevejay

[stevejay]

I sort of rethought this whole thing- Instead I will record the songs I know and learn, and transfer them to the computer where I can hear how they sound against each other.

 

Also need to record them to remember them and make verbal notes about various fingerings..........

[Howard Mitchell]

I understand that we all play in sets especially in sessions. I'm in the camp that says put your own sets together. I find it mildly amusing when I hear someone play a set obviously from a CD especially when it contains the copied arrangement, features and rhythm changes. It's not too difficult to find a couple of tunes that sit well together - go for the key change upwards to give lift, even from G to A. Or go for the grand break and then launch into an unrelated key. D to Bb is fun.

 

However there is a case to be made for playing the same tune for a long time -

see - http://www.johnkirkpatrick.co.uk/wr_MedleyMania.htm

 

Howard

[Roger Gawley]

John Kirkpatrick is talking about playing for dancing and I warmly agree with him there. Nothing is more annoying than the band changing tune just as you are really getting into the dance.

 

Less sure about tunes played for group amusement but most tunes would benefit from being played more times than they often are.

 

Roger

[Tootler]

John Kirkpatrick has a very valid point and one that I think applies to sessions as well as dancing. All too often in sessions tunes are played through just twice. If it is a tune you don't know well (or even don't know), played enough times, there is a good chance of picking it up properly and getting it settled in your mind. I know people who can learn a tune by ear after hearing it a couple of times, but I am not one of those.

 

On the other hand, if you are playing for listening there is probably virtue in not playing a tune too many times. If you are going to play it through several times, then it is worth developing some variations to provide variety for the listeners. I did GCSE music some years ago and the tutor said that repetition was important in music to settle the music in the listener's mind but it can be overdone leading to monotony. Variations help to avoid this.

 

I play sets for my own pleasure and, for the most part, I make up my own rather than using ones which others have played. Sometimes they are tunes of contrasting type sometimes tunes of the same type. In the latter case, I try to use contrasting keys for succesive tunes, going from G to D to A or back to G for example. It helps to make for variety. It is interesting trying different tunes together and it is surprising just what will work.

[Guest Old Leaky]

I have been playing some tunes in sets now...

 

Damn! Something else I have to get to grips with and I was doing just fine with one at a time!

[JimLucas]

I have been playing some tunes in sets now...

Damn! Something else I have to get to grips with and I was doing just fine with one at a time!

I (almost) always play tunes one at a time. It's just that often I don't pause between them.

 

That "almost" acknowledges that I have a very few standard sets of 3-4 tunes that I almost always play in the same sequence. But I've been known to spontaneously alter even those "sets" by adding, deleting, or substituting a tune or two on the fly.

 

And in the sessions that I like most, very often one person will lead a tune or a few, then someone else will continue the motion with a few more, etc. The resulting sequence may consist of anywhere from two to ten tunes altogether, and as a particular sequence may never be heard again, even though all the same tunes might be heard at the next session.

[Guest Old Leaky]

Er, I obviously mean stopping after just one tune!

 

This can be embarrassing at a session when I get the (rare*) chance to lead a tune and understandably opt to play one I know well, but after the second time through, I just stop playing when everyone is waiting on the next tune in the "set"!

 

*Understandable given the foregoing!

Edited May 7, 2007 by Old Leaky

[stuart estell]

I did GCSE music some years ago and the tutor said that repetition was important in music to settle the music in the listener's mind but it can be overdone leading to monotony.

 

I think that's absolutely right.

 

People's tolerance for repetition varies as widely as their tolerance for discord or alcohol, I think. I love it, personally, as it gives my ears and brain chance to "zone out" and stop analysing the music I'm hearing (or playing) and just let it take me over instead.

Edited May 9, 2007 by stuart estell