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It's different, playing with others


LHMark

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Took my Ceili to the local slow session (Charlotte Tavern, Rochester, NY) last night in order to get some group playing experience under my belt prior to the NECW. I'd been practicing The Swalllowtail alone in my room for hours, and I had it closed to nailed cold even at dancing pace.

 

But as soon as we began playing it at the session, the fingering flew out of my head. I just got lost while hearing the other instruments, and could only manage brief passages of a piece I'd drilled for a week and a half. Same with 'Banish Misfortune,' another tune I know pretty well. I guess I learned something about isolated practice vs. the real world. It sounds completely different in a group setting, and will have to spend much more time playing with others to beat this.

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Took my Ceili to the local slow session (Charlotte Tavern, Rochester, NY) last night in order to get some group playing experience under my belt prior to the NECW. I'd been practicing The Swalllowtail alone in my room for hours, and I had it closed to nailed cold even at dancing pace.

 

But as soon as we began playing it at the session, the fingering flew out of my head. I just got lost while hearing the other instruments, and could only manage brief passages of a piece I'd drilled for a week and a half. Same with 'Banish Misfortune,' another tune I know pretty well. I guess I learned something about isolated practice vs. the real world. It sounds completely different in a group setting, and will have to spend much more time playing with others to beat this.

 

 

Learn to live with it :-) Try to play as much as you can with other people, it's more enjoyable as well :-)

 

LHMark, I can totally relate to that, and of course Snorre is on the money with his advice.

I have played for many years and with the exception of a few lessons with David Levine in the early 1990's haven't had a chance to play concertina with others.

It is limiting to say the least.

I understand there is a lot ITM in your area so at least you will have the chance to seek other players there.

Until I retired in mid 2007 I carried my box as company and sometimes solace around the world on a large bulk grain carrier (a freighter in other words). It did give me the chance to play some solo performances to captive audiences in a few exotic and sometimes slightly (erm, ah..) funky locations.

I did have an AB from Borneo ask where the batteries went in the Jeffries once.

One option I have tried to exercise is using a recorder to play along with and if necessary slow down tunes for practice.

I'll expect to see you at NECW, I'll be the old guy with the white hair. :-)

Jim

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Took my Ceili to the local slow session (Charlotte Tavern, Rochester, NY) last night in order to get some group playing experience under my belt prior to the NECW. I'd been practicing The Swalllowtail alone in my room for hours, and I had it closed to nailed cold even at dancing pace.

 

But as soon as we began playing it at the session, the fingering flew out of my head. I just got lost while hearing the other instruments, and could only manage brief passages of a piece I'd drilled for a week and a half. Same with 'Banish Misfortune,' another tune I know pretty well. I guess I learned something about isolated practice vs. the real world. It sounds completely different in a group setting, and will have to spend much more time playing with others to beat this.

 

 

Know exactly what you mean. Can relate to your experience.

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You need to know a tune well enough so you can play it whilst also listening to what others are playing around you (so you keep time with them, make sure you're playing same tune!, same key). Bit like learning to tap your foot to keep rhythm - you need to do 2-3 things at same time. This just takes practice and time.

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You need to know a tune well enough so you can play it whilst also listening to what others are playing around you (so you keep time with them, make sure you're playing same tune!, same key). Bit like learning to tap your foot to keep rhythm - you need to do 2-3 things at same time. This just takes practice and time.

I am lucky enough to have a couple of "friendly Sessions" where my efforts are tolerated, but it must be difficult for many learning players to find such sessions to develop in. This, for me, has been one of the biggest eye openers in the learning process, just how difficult making the transition from practice alone to playing with others is. It really makes me respect the easy and relaxed deftness of the players around me, and the effort they must have put in to get to their skill.

 

Simon

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Took my Ceili to the local slow session (Charlotte Tavern, Rochester, NY) last night in order to get some group playing experience under my belt prior to the NECW. I'd been practicing The Swalllowtail alone in my room for hours, and I had it closed to nailed cold even at dancing pace.

 

But as soon as we began playing it at the session, the fingering flew out of my head. I just got lost while hearing the other instruments, and could only manage brief passages of a piece I'd drilled for a week and a half. Same with 'Banish Misfortune,' another tune I know pretty well. I guess I learned something about isolated practice vs. the real world. It sounds completely different in a group setting, and will have to spend much more time playing with others to beat this.

 

Yup. Playing along with CDs helps me a lot when I go for long stretches of playing all by my lonesome without anyone else around. (Isolated trad loving teenager, alienated by peers on account of odd musical obsession, hunched over music books with concertina and fiddle in hand without anyone else within miles that understands........not like I'd exaggerate or anything....)

 

That isn't entirely the same though, since live people will play things differently each time and add or change things according to whim. Even when the people you're playing with are the same as on the recording!

The first time I played with other people in person I was, well, terribly nervous, but I went and they asked me to start something off. I launched into Flowers of Edinburgh, a song I'd been playing for years by that point (yes, it took me that long to get my nerve up. Don't be like me.) I started off with a few bumps, but managed alright until everyone else started in. I had to stop. And then start again. And then mess up. And then play only bits that I recognized. I was mortified, here I'd been playing this song for long enough that I should have known it, and these were the same people on the CDs that I'd been practicing with! It happens.

 

I have noticed however, that after the initial shock of having other people playing along with, (and, ulp, following) you, wears off it does get easier. Fortunately it seems to be something that gets easier and doesn't wear off that much when you have extended lengths of playing alone again after. Like riding a horse; you remember the feeling but have to build up the muscles again to get back "in the groove." For me at least. :unsure:

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It can be difficult if you have a sound in your head you are trying to reproduce, but when you're playing with others the sound is a bit different, and that can put you off.

 

I sometimes have the same problem in reverse if I try to play solo a tune I usually play with my band - without the rest of the band's sound around me, it feels quite different and this can be off-putting.

 

I find that being aware of this is half-way to overcoming it.

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Took my Ceili to the local slow session (Charlotte Tavern, Rochester, NY) last night in order to get some group playing experience under my belt prior to the NECW. I'd been practicing The Swalllowtail alone in my room for hours, and I had it closed to nailed cold even at dancing pace.

 

But as soon as we began playing it at the session, the fingering flew out of my head. I just got lost while hearing the other instruments, and could only manage brief passages of a piece I'd drilled for a week and a half. Same with 'Banish Misfortune,' another tune I know pretty well. I guess I learned something about isolated practice vs. the real world. It sounds completely different in a group setting, and will have to spend much more time playing with others to beat this.

 

I've been playing fiddle around 3 years and can play pretty well, at least according to the folks at our local session. Got a pretty good repertoire of session tunes and am able to start and finish many sets.

 

Tonight I felt your pain. I've been playing concertina off and on for about 6 months and decided about a month ago to focus strictly on this wonderful instrument. I took it to our weekly session tonight and found that I could not keep up, even with the slow tunes. Even when I started a tune I couldn't keep things going as I kept getting confused on fingerings, getting bellows too extended or too closed for keeping the music going, and even completely forgot the tunes as I focused on the fingerings.

 

While it was a complete frustration it was also mildly exhilarating. I actually took it out in public and played it with others! Not particularly well, but for a few brief seconds I felt at one with the concertina universe. My belief is I am thinking about things too much. I need to practice more and become fluent with the instrument, not fight it.

 

I just wanted to let you know you're not alone. I like your thoughts on the way to overcome this is to play with others more, not less. Thanks for sharing your experiences and helping me get the courage to take a chance!

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I find playing with others very challenging but just as rewarding. To me, practicing alone trains my eye, but practicing with others trains my ear. All by myself in a room alone, it's an intellectual experience, but playing with others it becomes much more intuitive and emotional...and although much harder, also much more fun. I need to train my ears much more than my eyes!

Priscilla

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