The Writings of John Kirkpatrick

[Anglogeezer]

There have been a number of threads on how to do this, or what's the best way to do that.

Here is a link to the Writings of John Kirkpatrick culled from various publications.

There may be something of interest to somebody in them??

 

regards

Jake

[Steve_freereeder]

There have been a number of threads on how to do this, or what's the best way to do that.

Here is a link to the Writings of John Kirkpatrick culled from various publications.

There may be something of interest to somebody in them??

 

regards

Jake

Yes - I've known about these for several years. The 'How to Play the Anglo' series is great. But my favourite is 'Medley Mania':

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

Yes, yes, yes YES! He is absolutely spot on right. Here's a couple of quotes:

 

"....You have to allow a tune time to sink in before you can open yourself up to its inherent possibilities. Then, gradually, you can find all sorts of turns and twiddles, all kinds of ways of bringing out the different aspects of a tune to best advantage.

 

Musical ability doesn't come into it. Every performance can become rather a voyage of discovery. But this approach will not work if you only run through the tune a couple of times before casting it aside in favour of the next item in your selection. You have to play it ten, or fifteen, or twenty times, before you really get inside it and can feel the full extent of its diversity. These tunes were built for constant repetition. They have been played an infinite number of times by an infinite number of people. If they did not hold many secrets and yield something new each time round they would not have survived. They demand to be cherished......."

 

and:

 

"Cosmic claptrap? Well, that's up to you, but there is another, more acceptable justification for all this - it's traditional! In a longways set, for example, it used to be the custom to perform the dance until each couple had been in every position up and down the set and ended up where they started. And they only played one tune for all of that time, which must sometimes have been half an hour or more. If they knew the proper set tune, they would play that. If not, they'd have something else up their sleeves which would do perfectly well. But from Playford's time onwards country dances were published with just one tune, no question about it. In the field that we are working in you don't get four pages of medleys to match one dance. Leave that bland, anonymous, mish-mash stuff to Radio 2 where it belongs. We are dealing with tunes."

 

When I first read this years ago, it brought joy to my heart, for here was someone famous who was endorsing what I'd felt for ages, but didn't dare say anything because I thought I was wrong. Read the full article and see if you agree!

Edited December 18, 2008 by Steve_freereeder

[David S]

Have been to one of John's melodeon workshops where he used only 'Shepherds Hey' for two hours. It was great to spend the time concentrating on when and for how long to press the buttons rather than just on which button to press!

 

At home I often play tunes 20 or 30 times through without a break, tweaking the syncopation and the harmonies.

 

In sessions I am sometimes frustrated by medley mania as I would like to listen to an unfamiliar tune at least 5 times ( minimum) before joining in with the right notes, (as I detest 'noodling',) but so often the rule is '3 times AABB' and then we'll change to another tune.

 

Medleys may have their place in solo performance but for sessions and for dancing I really would prefer that we stuck to one tune at a time!

 

David

[geoffwright]

Listen / Play a tune 5 times? Why?????

 

Life is too short and too may tunes to learn/play.

If you only play a tune once in a medley, you learn six times more tunes.

[michael sam wild]

Thanks for that link. Why don't professional players contribute more to these forums ( fora) ? It makes them appear to me to think themselves exclusive - and I'm sure they're no busier than us in our own run of life. Many of them concentrate on their personal web sites but I think they could do themselves more good, in the long run. by communicating with the hoi polloi or the potential buying public. I've noticed that some come on when they have an axe to grind or a product to plug but then lay off. We ar5e not mugs.

 

Mike

[Hereward]

Thanks for that link. Why don't professional players contribute more to these forums ( fora) ? It makes them appear to me to think themselves exclusive - and I'm sure they're no busier than us in our own run of life. Many of them concentrate on their personal web sites but I think they could do themselves more good, in the long run. by communicating with the hoi polloi or the potential buying public. I've noticed that some come on when they have an axe to grind or a product to plug but then lay off. We ar5e not mugs.

 

Mike

 

I agree with you here Mike (except that Hoi is the definite article, in case any pedants who know my penchant for languages think I missed this).

 

Ian

[MUTT]

Listen / Play a tune 5 times? Why?????

 

Life is too short and too may tunes to learn/play.

If you only play a tune once in a medley, you learn six times more tunes.

 

Perhaps if I choose to only play a tune once in a medley, I would NOT learn six more tunes; one could argue I wouldn't really be learning any of the tunes at all.

 

One might even argue that I wouldn't really be playing them. Yes, we often say repertoire is king in traditional music; but that doesn't mean the music is the music when all I've done is hit the right notes in the right order, and then moved on.

 

I have friends who play Old Time music. They are quite happy to keep running a single tune around forever; the longest I've timed them is about 45 minutes, but they claim to have gone longer and loved it. They are always puzzled that the Irish musicians seem so eager to drop one tune and move onto another. How do we ever get anything out of it, they wonder.

 

I took their challenge, recently, and kept on one tune all afternoon. First I was determined, then bored, then numb. Then, strangely, I was re-intrigued by the melody. Then the tune opened up in an hundred different ways, with a little variation here and a change of pace there, with seemingly no end to the possibilities; it got very, very exciting. When I looked up at the clock I'd spent three hours at it! Musically, it has been a transforming experience.

 

So when I read what John Kirkpatrick wrote, however long ago, it connects. Traditional music has great, enduring power, but it's a lot more than checking tunes off a list like a birdwatcher accumulating sightings.

 

At least, it is to me.

[michael sam wild]

Thanks for that link. Why don't professional players contribute more to these forums ( fora) ? It makes them appear to me to think themselves exclusive - and I'm sure they're no busier than us in our own run of life. Many of them concentrate on their personal web sites but I think they could do themselves more good, in the long run. by communicating with the hoi polloi or the potential buying public. I've noticed that some come on when they have an axe to grind or a product to plug but then lay off. We ar5e not mugs.

 

Mike

 

I agree with you here Mike (except that Hoi is the definite article, in case any pedants who know my penchant for languages think I missed this).

 

Ian

 

 

It's all Greek to me!

[Jody Kruskal]

Well, I’m a professional player for American contra and square dances as well as Playford here in New York City. For Playford we play one tune per dance and the dances are pretty short with many in an evening. Contra dances tend to be longer, 20 to 50 times through. At dance tempo, a 32 mes. AABB reel or jig tune (pretty much all we play) is about 30 seconds per time. My bands always have three tune medleys ready to play. We take care that the tunes match the elements and feel of the dance. Part of our art is picking the tunes for a medley that works for the dancers and works well musically. Every time through a tune we play it differently, with varying dynamics, players dropping out or taking turns on the melody, taking turns playing various comping and rhythm ideas and an assortment of “tricks” that we have developed over the years.

 

We do not have set arrangements but rather a pallet of possibilities. If the group isn’t coming up with interesting stuff one of us may take charge and call out a suggestion, “Shhhh” or “build”, or “Diamonds” or "Pedal” or “fiddles only” or “bagpipes”, all these cues (and there are more) mean something to us and the other band members might pick up on the suggestion. Someone may step forward with a glance around to show that they intend to play a solo. Eye contact is often all that is needed to communicate between us but we also talk to each other during the dance. We sometimes switch instruments with the piano player dropping out for a while to play viola or one of the fiddlers switching to mandolin or the low octave violin.

 

For us, two or three times through a tune is never enough. We wouldn’t come close to exhausting all the juicy possibilities that the tune has to offer. Sometimes we never get to the third tune if we are having too much fun playing the one at hand. Sometimes too, we are on the last tune of our three and it seems like we need another, so we pick one on the fly.

 

Switching tunes excites the dancers and we make it quite dramatic, with an eighth note of silence before the new tune comes roaring or whispering in. We always change key with the switch to add to the contrast and the dancers whoop and shout if they approve. Playing one tune for the whole dance can be fine if it’s short, but even with our favorite tunes we are usually ready for something new after about 10 minutes.

 

Changing tunes is good for the dancers. They don't always pay attention to the music and sometimes also need reminding that there are real live musicians up there and that we can do some cool things for them. One tune only can get pretty trancelike and I want the dancers to listen to the music and not be dancing on auto-pilot. Switching tunes is one of the things we can do to get their attention.

 

If I’m playing in a pickup band with less experience or a family dance, one tune per dance is common.

 

That’s how we do it here in the northeastern US.

Edited December 23, 2008 by Jody Kruskal

[Jody Kruskal]

Gosh, that’s a long post of mine. Here’s a summery if you don’t want to read the whole thing... I like playing a tune over and over until I’ve had my way with it and I’m done exploring all of the “turns and twiddles”, then it’s time to switch tune in a way that says “now here’s something new”.

[Chris Timson]

Why don't professional players contribute more to these forums ( fora) ? It makes them appear to me to think themselves exclusive - and I'm sure they're no busier than us in our own run of life.

Well Jodie and Dick, both professional players, have already contributed to this thread. Others like Brian Peters regularly contribute to the forum. You might as well ask: why don't all the concertina players in the world belong to this forum? I'm sure they're no busier than us!

 

I reckon if you compared the ratio of professional players who belong to those who don't with that for all players who do and who don't, then it would, I guess, be about the same.

 

Chris