I was wondering if anyone had any experience of exposing the public to the music =).
Usually, a couple of times a year, we arrange a train journey session, stopping at various pubs along the way. It's generally met with good cheer by people along the way. Or else they're just too terrified of a bunch of tipsy, accordian-wielding musicians to protest.
Also, during the summer, we travel from a festival in Northumberland to one in Devon. Takes all day, and many platform sessions occur along the way.
Anyone else ever do this? And what kind of response do you get?
Sounds brilliant!
You should post it in the Sessions section of this site, with full timetable details (and what carriage you're in) - you might get a few extra heads turning up for a few tunes on the way.
You get this sometimes on buses or trains from Dublin on the way to the Fleadh, up country wherever.
Danny
It was with a student guild's norwegian folk group, and we got a free hike with the coastal liner in return for playing for the passengers and tourists. My to-be wife didn't have to show her ticket as she boarded the vessel, as she was carrying a fiddle.
Our group stayed overnight in various towns along the coast, busking the streets, and playing for some odd dance sessions.
(The repertoire of irish music was rather limited, allthough it has extended with the growing interest in irish music. )
We've also played aboard trains, plains and full-rig sailing ships! I find that playing on the street with the right gang of people can be very rewarding, because of all the feedback you get and you know people only hang around because they enjoy....
Nothing so organized. I've had a few sessions on the tube - on the way home from gigs or other sessions. I've been know to play alone on the upper decks of deserted night buses. A driver once threatened to throw me off the bus for tapping my foot too loud - so I crossed my legs.
I am usually willing to comply with requests from less inhibited members of the public for a tune. A couple of months ago I was sharing a station platform with a band of merry youths. As I sat, staring hard at my crossword, one of them, noticing my mandolin, announced that it was his friend's 18th birthday and asked me to play a tune for him. I extracted the beast from its case and launched into a reel. Then, mid-tune, the birthday boy himself requested that I play 'Happy Birthday' for him. No accounting for taste... Still, I regard it as a healthy challenge to try and make a tune like that sound interesting.
This isn't irish, but a similar thing happens with morris dancing in san francisco/oakland california. They will occasionally set up a day where they travel from pub to pub and perform morris dancing, play morris tunes and partake of hearty beverages. It's typically all planned out and people can join in for portions of the day. Out there they use a combination of BART (bay area rapid transit) and busses to get between locations.
California? There's Morris Dancing in Vladivostok. A Morris side, of which the late Jeff Giddings, a former instrument-making tutor at the university in which I now sit was a member, did a tour on the Trans-Siberian Railway, disembarking at each stop to dance on the platforms.
I was in Sheffield recently, where at a festival there was a morris tour, apparently for "morris dancers and those with strong livers". Suddenly becomes so clear =)
Domhniaill - I'll see if I can find any specifics, but be warned, it'll be in the depths of rural Shropshire. Scary...
Catriona
There's nothing scary about the depths of rural Shrophire,
It's God's own county and still relatively unspoilt by being a long way from London if not Telford.
I'm only REALLY telling this story to get the joke in, but one day in Los Angeles a couple of years back, we had just finished helping a friend move from one apartment to another. There are but a handful of real pubs in L.A., and we went to one of them. We had just got our pints, when a couple of busloads of Morris dancers showed up, with musicians in tow. They completely took over the courtyard. Jon and I quite enjoyed the music and the performance (I didn't play The Music back then), but Ray complained bitterly, and to this day he complains just as bitterly when we bring it up. So you get different reactions, I suppose.
Anyway:
Q. Why do Morris dancers wear bells on their legs?
A. So blind people can hate them too.
Travelled to Edinburgh a feww years ago on a busking adventure. Empty carriage so started playin' and were received really well by a young family. Wouldn't try it all time though (anyone else who's suffered Scotrail at it's worst will agree). Also, Isle of Man is great for session-public transport cross- pollination.
The music vs. the people =)
The music vs. the people =)
I was wondering if anyone had any experience of exposing the public to the music =).
Usually, a couple of times a year, we arrange a train journey session, stopping at various pubs along the way. It's generally met with good cheer by people along the way. Or else they're just too terrified of a bunch of tipsy, accordian-wielding musicians to protest.
Also, during the summer, we travel from a festival in Northumberland to one in Devon. Takes all day, and many platform sessions occur along the way.
Anyone else ever do this? And what kind of response do you get?
~
# Posted on March 28th 2003 by Caitriona
Re: The music vs. the people =)
No, I haven't, Cait, but it sounds like a great deal of fun!
# Posted on March 29th 2003 by linda
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Sounds brilliant!
You should post it in the Sessions section of this site, with full timetable details (and what carriage you're in) - you might get a few extra heads turning up for a few tunes on the way.
You get this sometimes on buses or trains from Dublin on the way to the Fleadh, up country wherever.
Danny
# Posted on March 29th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: The music vs. the people =)
I met my wife this way, 14 years ago.
It was with a student guild's norwegian folk group, and we got a free hike with the coastal liner in return for playing for the passengers and tourists. My to-be wife didn't have to show her ticket as she boarded the vessel, as she was carrying a fiddle.
Our group stayed overnight in various towns along the coast, busking the streets, and playing for some odd dance sessions.
(The repertoire of irish music was rather limited, allthough it has extended with the growing interest in irish music. )
We've also played aboard trains, plains and full-rig sailing ships! I find that playing on the street with the right gang of people can be very rewarding, because of all the feedback you get and you know people only hang around because they enjoy....
# Posted on March 30th 2003 by FiddleTramp
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Nothing so organized. I've had a few sessions on the tube - on the way home from gigs or other sessions. I've been know to play alone on the upper decks of deserted night buses. A driver once threatened to throw me off the bus for tapping my foot too loud - so I crossed my legs.
I am usually willing to comply with requests from less inhibited members of the public for a tune. A couple of months ago I was sharing a station platform with a band of merry youths. As I sat, staring hard at my crossword, one of them, noticing my mandolin, announced that it was his friend's 18th birthday and asked me to play a tune for him. I extracted the beast from its case and launched into a reel. Then, mid-tune, the birthday boy himself requested that I play 'Happy Birthday' for him. No accounting for taste... Still, I regard it as a healthy challenge to try and make a tune like that sound interesting.
# Posted on March 30th 2003 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: The music vs. the people =)
This isn't irish, but a similar thing happens with morris dancing in san francisco/oakland california. They will occasionally set up a day where they travel from pub to pub and perform morris dancing, play morris tunes and partake of hearty beverages. It's typically all planned out and people can join in for portions of the day. Out there they use a combination of BART (bay area rapid transit) and busses to get between locations.
# Posted on March 30th 2003 by A1dan
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Is there Morris Dancing in California?
Blimey I don't believe it.
Pray tell us English more.
# Posted on March 30th 2003 by timjellies
Re: The music vs. the people =)
California? There's Morris Dancing in Vladivostok. A Morris side, of which the late Jeff Giddings, a former instrument-making tutor at the university in which I now sit was a member, did a tour on the Trans-Siberian Railway, disembarking at each stop to dance on the platforms.
# Posted on March 30th 2003 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Sounds fantastic.
I was in Sheffield recently, where at a festival there was a morris tour, apparently for "morris dancers and those with strong livers". Suddenly becomes so clear =)
Domhniaill - I'll see if I can find any specifics, but be warned, it'll be in the depths of rural Shropshire. Scary...
~
# Posted on March 31st 2003 by Caitriona
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Catriona
There's nothing scary about the depths of rural Shrophire,
It's God's own county and still relatively unspoilt by being a long way from London if not Telford.
# Posted on March 31st 2003 by timjellies
Re: The music vs. the people =)
I'm only REALLY telling this story to get the joke in, but one day in Los Angeles a couple of years back, we had just finished helping a friend move from one apartment to another. There are but a handful of real pubs in L.A., and we went to one of them. We had just got our pints, when a couple of busloads of Morris dancers showed up, with musicians in tow. They completely took over the courtyard. Jon and I quite enjoyed the music and the performance (I didn't play The Music back then), but Ray complained bitterly, and to this day he complains just as bitterly when we bring it up. So you get different reactions, I suppose.
Anyway:
Q. Why do Morris dancers wear bells on their legs?
A. So blind people can hate them too.
---Michael B.
# Posted on April 3rd 2003 by MichaelBolton
Re: The music vs. the people =)
Travelled to Edinburgh a feww years ago on a busking adventure. Empty carriage so started playin' and were received really well by a young family. Wouldn't try it all time though (anyone else who's suffered Scotrail at it's worst will agree). Also, Isle of Man is great for session-public transport cross- pollination.
F.M.F.
# Posted on April 4th 2003 by folkmasterflex