This is a category of tunes that are hard to define. Some of you will get what I mean, though.
To me a "novelty tune" is something which has been composed/contrived to be "cute" or maybe "descriptive" or "theatrical". It might also be a tune borrowed from another tradition (or from classical, pop etc) and played in a rather misunderstood and hackneyed way. I think in recent times some tunes are also contrived to sound "edgy" or "wierd".
I think some players have great "novelty tune" radar and it annoys them to hear these tunes. (Others think they are great, I realise.)
It was interesting to note that a couple of the tunes mentioned in the Old People thread would fall into this category for me, and I am also annoyed by them, as I said there. I think that one of the problems I have with a certain sector of tunes played by some of the players who consider themselves to be flashy (and in many cases young) is that their choice of tunes often fall into this category to my ear. They are catchy, but lack any grounding in the tradition as I perceive it. This pi**es me off just as much as the "novelty" stuff played by the other crowd. There are new tunes I like, of course, and some of them are wierd, but few of them are likely to have any real staying power in my repertoire, I suspect.
When I was younger I travelled a lot and got interested in loads of different kinds of trad music. I still am interested, but I wouldn't take it down to my local Irish music session, and I don't really want to hear it there. I couldn't understand, though, why people weren't that interested In this music in a session context when I was younger. But they just perceived it as a bunch of "novelty tunes."
As usual, I think it boils down to trying to understand the "agenda" of a particular session and then deciding whether you will enjoy playing within this, rather than moaning about a session, or trying to change its course as it stands.
I have just sat in front of my computer playing Brown Girl In The Ring. Am I the only pudding headed plonker on this site or has Larsheen developed a super virus that jumps out of the pc and puddles your brain? Don't think of elephants.......
Hi Kris. I’m getting from your post that you wouldn't be particularly fond of the old novelty tune!
i think it was interesting when you said <i>"I think some players have great "novelty tune" radar and it annoys them to hear these tunes. (Others think they are great, I realise.) " <i/> this shows the obvious; that the liking of novelty tunes (as you call them) is entirely down to taste. You enlarged on that point by putting it within the context of the tradition.
True, nowadays a "novelty tune" would seem out of place within our (mainly) jigs and reels tradition. What is important to note however, is that the tradition was not always a jigs and reels game. in 1900's Donegal for example, there were a very even match of reels, jigs, mazurkas, highlands (and related forms), airs, waltzes, lancers, quadrilles, and as you call them: novelty tunes.
This is because to a society relatively isolated from the mass communication we have today, music was music. they would have been aware possibly of classical, and later, the very beginnings of popular music due to radio but i believe they wouldn't have especially seen music in a generic context thus the in or out of the tradition argument to them wouldn't have been, and evidently wasn't, a topic of concern.
Synonyms of the word "novelty" are freshness, innovation, originality, uniqueness, etc.. They would have given the musicians a place to explore other expressions, and stimulate their minds with new possibilities technical and otherwise. in a time frame where the musicians chief role was to play for dancers, i feel that the novelty tune would have played an integral part in keeping the music interesting for them so the importance of the form cannot be understated.
When I first heard novelty tunes I though, my God, there actually is humour in the rigid world of traditional music. Music, as in the life which it reflects, is for the livin'. The only negativity that can arise from a collection of pitches and durations that form a genre called the novelty tune, is the possible failure to mis-interpret what they're about.
My opinion is that the only way to approach and appreciate traditional/folk music of any kind is not to decide on weather or not you like it. That is largely irrelevant. Concentrate on what the music is trying to say to you and try finding the positive in it because at the end of the day, it'll be a whole lot more rewarding.
Novelty Tunes
Novelty Tunes
This is a category of tunes that are hard to define. Some of you will get what I mean, though.
To me a "novelty tune" is something which has been composed/contrived to be "cute" or maybe "descriptive" or "theatrical". It might also be a tune borrowed from another tradition (or from classical, pop etc) and played in a rather misunderstood and hackneyed way. I think in recent times some tunes are also contrived to sound "edgy" or "wierd".
I think some players have great "novelty tune" radar and it annoys them to hear these tunes. (Others think they are great, I realise.)
It was interesting to note that a couple of the tunes mentioned in the Old People thread would fall into this category for me, and I am also annoyed by them, as I said there. I think that one of the problems I have with a certain sector of tunes played by some of the players who consider themselves to be flashy (and in many cases young) is that their choice of tunes often fall into this category to my ear. They are catchy, but lack any grounding in the tradition as I perceive it. This pi**es me off just as much as the "novelty" stuff played by the other crowd. There are new tunes I like, of course, and some of them are wierd, but few of them are likely to have any real staying power in my repertoire, I suspect.
When I was younger I travelled a lot and got interested in loads of different kinds of trad music. I still am interested, but I wouldn't take it down to my local Irish music session, and I don't really want to hear it there. I couldn't understand, though, why people weren't that interested In this music in a session context when I was younger. But they just perceived it as a bunch of "novelty tunes."
As usual, I think it boils down to trying to understand the "agenda" of a particular session and then deciding whether you will enjoy playing within this, rather than moaning about a session, or trying to change its course as it stands.
# Posted on May 30th 2006 by kris
Re: Novelty Tunes
Examples please?
i.e. which novelty tunes should we all be learning, so we can p1ss off these flashy youngsters.
# Posted on May 30th 2006 by geoffwright
Re: Novelty Tunes
ah you're jus jealous
# Posted on May 30th 2006 by Scrappy the Godo
Re: Novelty Tunes
I have just sat in front of my computer playing Brown Girl In The Ring. Am I the only pudding headed plonker on this site or has Larsheen developed a super virus that jumps out of the pc and puddles your brain? Don't think of elephants.......
# Posted on May 30th 2006 by len
Re: Novelty Tunes
Hi Kris. I’m getting from your post that you wouldn't be particularly fond of the old novelty tune!
i think it was interesting when you said <i>"I think some players have great "novelty tune" radar and it annoys them to hear these tunes. (Others think they are great, I realise.) " <i/> this shows the obvious; that the liking of novelty tunes (as you call them) is entirely down to taste. You enlarged on that point by putting it within the context of the tradition.
True, nowadays a "novelty tune" would seem out of place within our (mainly) jigs and reels tradition. What is important to note however, is that the tradition was not always a jigs and reels game. in 1900's Donegal for example, there were a very even match of reels, jigs, mazurkas, highlands (and related forms), airs, waltzes, lancers, quadrilles, and as you call them: novelty tunes.
This is because to a society relatively isolated from the mass communication we have today, music was music. they would have been aware possibly of classical, and later, the very beginnings of popular music due to radio but i believe they wouldn't have especially seen music in a generic context thus the in or out of the tradition argument to them wouldn't have been, and evidently wasn't, a topic of concern.
Synonyms of the word "novelty" are freshness, innovation, originality, uniqueness, etc.. They would have given the musicians a place to explore other expressions, and stimulate their minds with new possibilities technical and otherwise. in a time frame where the musicians chief role was to play for dancers, i feel that the novelty tune would have played an integral part in keeping the music interesting for them so the importance of the form cannot be understated.
When I first heard novelty tunes I though, my God, there actually is humour in the rigid world of traditional music. Music, as in the life which it reflects, is for the livin'. The only negativity that can arise from a collection of pitches and durations that form a genre called the novelty tune, is the possible failure to mis-interpret what they're about.
My opinion is that the only way to approach and appreciate traditional/folk music of any kind is not to decide on weather or not you like it. That is largely irrelevant. Concentrate on what the music is trying to say to you and try finding the positive in it because at the end of the day, it'll be a whole lot more rewarding.
Peace Dude.
MT.
# Posted on May 31st 2006 by martin t