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Social Or Isolated?


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I'd be interested to know how many people here play mostly in social settings (clubs, sessions) and how many in relative isolation for their own personal entertainment.

My friends tell me that I would probably be happiest if I lived miles from anywhere, with only my concertina for company. I'll have to check with my neighbours to see whether they share that view. :unsure:

 

I do get to the occasional session, but don't have the incentive to do much else nowadays, since I spent years doing clubs, festivals, concertina events, Morris weekends etc., and sometimes came away with a profit!

 

Still waiting for that TV company to come "knocking on my door" again.

 

Peter.

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I'll have to check with my neighbours to see whether they share that view. :unsure:

 

By the way ... Yes, life can sometimes be very annoying when it comes to time left for playing BUT I´ve got a neighbour who starts baning on the wall when I start playing. I never considered myself to be a loud player but obviously he does.

 

I don´t pose myself the question of playing skills and quality at this point, no,no.

 

Christian

Edited by Christian Husmann
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I used to play alone, almost exclusivly. Then I told some friends that I would be playing every Thursday night in my woodshop and asked them to join me. That was ten years ago. In the beginning many nights I was the only one. I would have several hours of nice practice and then head home. Later, after a year or so, there were regularly three to five other players…seldom only me. Now, ten years later, there are at least 10 and sometimes 20 players and lots of listeners. It has become a local legend. I just clean the shop, sip a beer and wait for the people to show up and start the tunes. I think it doesn’t get any better than this.

 

I used to play only the fiddle. Then we needed a bass in the session, so I started that. After a while others started playing my bass too. Now there are 5 other people in the session that can play it. So then I focused on the fiddle again. Finally, this year I got an English concertina and have spent most of my evenings working on that. My fiddle and my bass are lonely now, what with so little playing, but I have not forgotten them. I sure do like the concertina.

 

So….I play alone and in session.

 

 

randy

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I'm about as far from Pittsburgh as Leo, but get down there more often. Still, there are not nearly so many chances to play out as I had in (the state of) Indiana, or especially in Massachusetts. I sure miss New England, you can play and dance every night. The musical drought in western Pennsylvania is one of my biggest dissatisfactions with my current situation, so I keep my eyes open for other places to work. So far I have not met even a single soul where I live to start a session with, but you never know, I suppose.

 

So I need company to play the best, but currently do mostly without.

 

Ken

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At the moment I play alone. That is because I have only had my tina since May, and recently it has been away for ten weeks to be restored, so I am still learning. I manage to get at least an hour of practice each night. It is my goal to play in a session, with other musicians, I don't care if it is carol's under a street lamp, a session in a private house or whatever that setting may be, I see playing with other people, as the only way forward and that is what I am working towards.

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I'm mostly an "iso' 'cause the sessions and jams are, most of 'em, miles away from home, although I'm told that there is a contra dance society in Corvallis, about 20 miles away. But the road grows longer and longer the later it gets and the more pints one absorbs.

 

There is a great local session just outside of My little town, but it is mostly country/western and old time; I'm not quite proficient enough yet to be able to follow along- they're devilish quick, especially an older couple (88 years old and married 62 years this winter, God bless 'em, played together the whole time!) whose fiddle bows are so closely in unison that it's hard to see any difference.

 

I get out there every couple of months or so, but on Friday nights I'm usually so fried from sheparding a thousand middle school kids around that I just go home and play to myself until my wife comes in and tells me to quit all that caterwalling and start dinner. :lol:

 

Rob

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In recent years, though, the driver for both of us has become playing in English music sessions. There were none in easy reach of us, so about 3 years ago we started our own. It's still going strong. Not only has it pushed us to practice but it has widened our social circle remarkably and has been an altogether joyous thing to do. I highly recommend it.

Chris

I second the motion, Chris. There were certainly no English sessions here in Houston three years ago, and I started one. The local Irish session was clearly dying....most people I knew wouldn't play it because it was just too much of the same old same old, and they were stared down if they tried to play anything there except Irish (we love Irish music, but this is Texas around these parts, and the musicians potentially available for sessions have diverse backgrounds). So I started the 'English' session, which became a code for 'anything at least loosely traditional that is fun to play together' and in practice became English, old time American, Irish, French and Scottish....polyglot, just like we are. Three years on, it is still going strong; a normal night gets a dozen or more musicians, and the leanest night half a dozen. We spend as much time socializing as playing, often getting together for dinner beforehand. The session starts early...7pm...because so many work in the city and live in the burbs...that allows them to play the session and then go home. Spinoffs are playing for contradances, and doing charity things for local organizations...never driven by money, as that always seemed to poison things. Any regular can join in on these outside events, so we don't have any social tiers. We make sure that newbies have access to a list of the tunes, so they don't feel left out in what could otherwise be a competitive tune factory. I wouldn't say that should be everyone's mix, but it did it for us, in a big city not known for such music. And as Chris pointed out, it has really widened our social circles too. Next week the sessioners and their families get together for a potluck dinner, carols, and a dance. Nice group.

 

Having said all that, I should say that I am now semi-retired. That has made all the difference for me. When putting in those 50 hour weeks and raising children, I was always aware that the pecking order was 1) family, 2)make a living, and 3) music. For many years, number 3 just got put on the shelf, and was pulled down only for a minute or two a week for solo playing. Back then I knew very few musicians.

Best wishes,

Dan

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I try to play my concertina about 8 hours a week. I teach flute and whistle on Wednesdays, session on Sundays, and there is a session about an hour and a half away every other Wednesday night. I go about 4 to 6 times a year, but others from my town and farther travel to it more regular. I agree that practice should be in isolation, and I may start a separate thread on practice habits. Sessions here in Gainesville Florida are very social. We play every other Sunday from 4:30 till 7:00 in a new pub downtown ( 3 blocks from my house) and alternate house sessions on the Sundays not at the pub. We bring snacks, or real food, plenty of beer and wine and have a great time. There were two distinct groups of people and two sessions going solidly for years. One was a crowd into a mix of old time/contra dance irish, and ours was the more trad feel. On occasion there is cross pollination, but mostly not. I also have the chance to play gigs on a regular basis although more flute than concertina. Our session goes flat pitched at least once a month unless players forget to bring the appropriate instrument. I always look for a session when I am away on business, and can usually find one. I have had very good times in Indianapolis,New York ( Bronx, Yonkers, and Manhattan) Pearl River, Atlanta, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Bozeman, San Francisco, Providence, Jackson Mississippi, Tallahassee, Los Angeles,Denver,etc. Pretty much sniff around hard enough and you get one almost anywhere. So I guess social, but I play at least one instrument every day. When I think about learning a new tune I learn on whatever is in my hands at the time, and then gradually figure it out on the rest.

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Buy a stereo and some heavy metal cd's and show him what 'loud' is really like, Christian!

 

Now that´s an idea <_<

 

Actually I am a bit unhappy with this situation. I don´t mind when someone is listening but I often sit there and I don´t play the music the way I would because I start thinking too much (what if...), silly but I can´t stop it. Not really relaxing.

Thanks be to God that awful man is working a lot and not always in his appartment.

 

Christian

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Interesting that a thread with this name should get so many replies so quickly! I think of the concertina as an instrument that suits the solitary, self-contained and pensive musician. I have only had an Anglo for less than a year, and so far my playing has been limited to practice at home, and playing for jigs at Morris practice. I expect to be doing the occasional floor spot on concertina, instead of singing or playing harmonica, at my local folk club some time in the new year.

 

I've played harmonica moderately well for 25 or more years, and melodeon "on and off" for much of that time, and have never enjoyed the session thing.

 

For one thing, there are always a couple of dominant players who know a hundred tunes I don't and who want to play everything faster and louder. (This phenomenon led to me giving up and selling a melodeon.)

 

Secondly, it's that any subtlety of timing and decoration is swamped by the general wall of sound. (This means I never bother even trying with the harmonica in sessions, these days.)

 

These may be particular symptoms of Morris sessions in particular, though.

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Secondly, it's that any subtlety of timing and decoration is swamped by the general wall of sound. (This means I never bother even trying with the harmonica in sessions, these days.)

Yesturday, when I was 25, some 20+ years ago, we sang folk songs with a bunch of friends, one of which played (still does) balalaika. We often would agree to play and sing softly, so the subtleties could be worked out. We always ended up screaming at the top of our lungs, and my friend would have sore index finger from strumming hard.

It would be a very interesting experiment for those who goes to sessions often, to persuade participants to play as softly as they can.

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I play mostly in isolation - my main interest is Scandinavian folk music and I usually participate in social gatherings several times each year. This usually means a lot of playing in a social context in sessions and for dance. However playing in isolation gives me plenty of scope to learn more complex tunes, practice and perfect the ornamentation, learn new songs, and generally research the music I play ready for the next social get-together.

 

I spent most of last night trawling the Internet for some great Swedish polskas and a Finnish humpa - now I've just got to sit down and start learning them :(

 

BTW is anyone else interested in Scandinavian music on concertina? (subject for another thread?)

 

Steve

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BTW is anyone else interested in Scandinavian music on concertina? (subject for another thread?)

You mean besides a few of us here in Denmark (I live in Helsingør) and Sweden (which begins 4 km from where I'm sitting, at the end of a 20-minute ferry ride)? :) It's always fun to join one of the sessions (more than one room) at the monthly Spelhål ("play-hole") in Lund, and Fredrika usually brings her English. Louise with her English and Pontus with his anglo and Crane are less frequent at Spelhål since they became parents and bought a small farm, but the three of us will be hosting our 9th annual Scandinavian Squeeze-In the weekend of April 25-7, 2008. (I must update the announcement and web site, but the location and format will be the same as in past years.)

 

I might join in on a new thread. :)

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At home or in a session? Well it is both I´ld say. At home I play a lot on the crane and the anglo on my own, trying to find and play old european tunes from different countries and modes, searching repertory for myself and for bands I play in. Some times I play classical music, mediterranian and balkan stuff on the concertina with a mandolin player (at home). Sometimes I play the Crane in sessions with others (both celtic and jazzy). Sometimes I do a gig on my own with concertina(s), piano accordeon, flutes and stringed instruments (fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, banjo). So, concertina is a part of my musical practice. I play in 2 bands and there are some more ensembles I am part of.

 

Happy playing

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Hi

at home for my own amusement and at folk clubs and occasional concertina bands and a small group of players locally.

I don't play that well by ear and even if I could I don't think I could be bothered dealing with the politics and egos that seem to be associated with 'sessions' :ph34r:

chris

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I don't think I could be bothered dealing with the politics and egos that seem to be associated with 'sessions'

Sometimes I feel like I would like to avoid all the politics and egos that seem to be associated with 'conversations.' moskingqa5.gif

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