I don't know whether anybody else gets this. And please bear with me - it is, as I say, a 'bear-it-all' post, this one.
I've been playing this music now for a heck of a long time - the vast majority of my life (well, 4/5, almost exactly). I'm reasonably confident that, for a lot of that time, I've played 'OK'. I wouldn't put it any better than that, but 'OK', even so.
Just now, I can't play. I'm making a really horrible sound, it's nowhere near in time or in tune, the bow's crashing about and making all sorts of nasty, jangling noises. I'm going back to what I usually do in these situations - lots and lots of slow practice. *Really* slow. I try to practice slow in any case, in the hope of avoiding this periodic rubbish playing.
This sort of thing happens about once a year. Once I've got it licked, I usually find that my playing has improved from what it was before ... for a while ... btw, it quite often seems to happen after festivals of some sort or other ...
So, here's the questions:
* Does everyone experience this?
* Is it the festival to blame (going to it, that is)?
* What do *you* do about it?
* Why oh why does it happen?
* Is there anything that can be done to prevent it?
I sometimes find that this happens after a festival. Especially when i've been watching and listening to really good fiddle players for days on end.
My ear gets trained to hear the good players... so when i go to play it sounds worse than the last time i picked it up. (Even tho it's probably the same)
After a few weeks practice my ear gets used to my playing again... and hopefully my playing has improved with all the practice.
Yeah - I fally apart when there is a really good fiddley player in the room. Actually - the other day at a session, I started a tune and made a mistake at the very begining of the night...it was almost like a ball of twine unravelling - I just got worse and worse throught the night - mistake after mistake and by the end of the session I was embarrassed, mortified and miserable. I felt really c*ap and was tempted just to chuck the session cause I wasnt able to play. Its really annoying. But then again - I never really like how I sound anyway so it isnt that much of a fall from grace!
I think sometimes after listening to " top class players" we tend to become very critical of ourselves and the way we interpret our performance thus a bum note takes it,s toll heavily or a slip with bow or plec seems to trigger a catastrophe for the rest of the session. If it happens to me i usally just sit back and enjoy other peoples playing until i,ve relaxed enough to join in again without fluffing.
M
I go to sh*t if i drink coffee. Feels like there's gremlins between my brain and fingers. Rhythm goes to hell and all gittery, bum notes here and there, i even forget what i'm playing.
It's really annoying cause i really do love the taste of a good mug of coffee, but the musical aftermath is just unbearable.
Yes, this happens to me sometimes too. I just decide that perhaps this isn't the night for me to be practising and I open a bottle of wine and relax until it passes... That's how I became an alcoholic
One of the best fiddlers I ever met told me 25 years ago what he does.
Occasionally he would find the music getting a bit stale, or forced, or something was "missing". His answer was to simply put it down for a little while.
When he picked it up again, he usually found it had gotten its freshness back.
It worked for him, and he was most definately more than "okay".
Take it for what it is worth.
I think this happens when you're moving to a better level of playing. You can't play at all and then all of a sudden you're better than before. I've heard it happens to many people. Happens to me, too, and I'm not even an OK player yet.
Hmmm ... but does it have to happen *forever*? 'Swot it feels like.
Hey, some comforting thoughts so far. I'm not alone then?
I was also wondering if, what with playing all those countless hours in different sessions at festivals etc, it actually *damages* one's playing rather than helping?
I think that musicians, much like athletes (e.g. baseball and basketball players), go through "slumps": periods of time when they're simply off their game and don't perform at the level to which they've become accustomed. Of course, we for the most part lead significantly different lives than said athletes -- I for one don't have a multimillion dollars a year contract -- so the factors affecting us won't necessarily be quite the same. But certainly stress, overwork, personal/familial concerns can have their impacts.
Regarding festivals, this is my theory. I obviously don't know which one(s) you refer to, or their particular characteristics (indoor? outdoor? duration?), how much time you spend there and under what conditions, etc. But they can be a pretty significant break in your routine -- after all, you're away from familiar surroundings, perhaps not eating or resting at regular intervals, and you're subject to a lot of aural and visual stimuli. So your mind and body probably needs some time to process it all and return to "normal." Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, not even a quack, and have only played either role in mummer's plays.
Ben, you're lucky it happens to you only once a year. I go through this every week, two or three times on average. Sigh.
The danger in many festivals and big sessions is that they're loud (and typically fast, too). So we're tempted to bear down on the bow, grind out the tunes, and flail away to keep up.
That's just practicing bad habits.
I just caught myself doing that this weekend at a mid-size noisy session. As soon as I realized what was happening, I engaged my mental clutch and put it back into my "effortless" gear. Sure, suddenly no one else could hear me, but my playing immediately improved.
Heh, that's the catch 22, eh? Play loud and hard and it will sound like crap and everyone can hear you. Lighten up and play easy, and it will sound grand. But no one else will notice.
A story from Kevin Burke:
Box player: "Aargh, my playing sounds c*ap tonight. I can't do anything right."
Kevin: "No, you sound fine. No worries."
Box player: "Bah! my rolls are sh*te and my timing's off."
Kevin: "Really, I haven't noticed a thing. I think you sound grand."
Box player: "Bloody hell, I'm making a mess of every tune."
Kevin: "Now then, you're playing well. It's all in your head."
Box player: "Can you imagine a worse place for it to be, then?!"
Welcome to my world, Ben. Except you are lucky in that yours seems cyclical whereas I feel like that all the time. The standard of music here is so high that every time I go out to a session I think, "Wow, I really am rubbish at this." Willie Week, while amazing and fun, did not help, as the place was crawling with brilliant pipers. In the normal course of life I run into another piper (uilleanns, that is) once every four or five months so I'm not facing top class pipers all the time. Just top class everything else.
My other revelation at Willie Week (though "I suck" can hardly be counted as a revelation -- more like reinforcement of what I already knew) was that fast sessions are really bad for your playing. People have been telling me that for years but I finally got it. They force you to do whatever you have to do to get to the next note, you sacrificing lots of technique and accuracy to achieve that. I still maintain that slow and swingy sessions are beneficial and at this stage, a laid-back swingy pace is what I ought to aiming for. But right now, I too have been in one of those slump phases for over a year. My tunes just seem to be missing something, though I can't work out what's wrong or how to fix it.
So yeah, I just keep plugging away it, hoping it gets better, occasionally threatening to quit and then realizing my BF is right; I could quit for about a day and then suffer that irresistible impulse to pick up the bloody pipes again.
I meant to add that commiseration loves company. It is reassuring to see that people who I think are really great players (i.e. Will and Ben) have the same doubts.
Thanks, Will. Thanks The SilverSpear (I passed through Edinburgh just under a fornight ago). Thanks everybody.
And I must admit, it's a little better this evening. Not right, but better. I had about 10 minutes where it suddenly clicked again. Funnily enough, a bit like Will's story, it came right when I'd just about given up and was just playing away kind of listlessly - or, looked at another way, 'effortlessly'.
I'm a proponent of the "have a cup of tea" solution put forward by free-feet.
But seriously, the last time this happened to me I changed the strings on the fiddle and it worked. Sometimes it really is the instrument.
Other times it helps me to play slowly, practice some scales and double stops, set the metronome for 50bpm for a reel (try it! tough but useful), or even better, learn a slow tune. There's a lot of pretty waltzes out there, and they're just as hard to play well as anything else. Not to mention airs.
And sometimes it helps to put it down for a little bit, or practice the second instrument a while.
There's also the analytic thing of trying to figure out what's going wrong and to correct it. A while ago I was making a pretty nasty sound and couldn't figure out what it was, but (an older fiddler told me) I had the bow too close to the bridge and wasn't bowing straight anyway. So, back to the drawing board. A nice piece of advice I got from Paddy Jones of Tralee was, you should be able to see the end of the fingerboard between the bowstick and the hair.
The classical violinist Benjamin Schmidt put it like this: "a musician's best friends are a good tape recorder, a metronome, and a mirror."
I'v heard regularily among fellow musicians the idea of progress as a series of "plateaux" leading us step by step to our goals. It then comes to my mind that after having been on one of these steps for an extended period of time, getting weary of it can bring on a certain self-consciousness that will get in the way of the satisfaction of simply playing. Put otherwise, patience comes to an end, and I want to move on to bigger and better things.
Playing at a festival can generate a certain apprehention that will undoubtedly bring on a tightening of discipline and assiduity relative to his/her instrument, with the associated technique. Once the stage job is done, either you feel lighter (I'm one of those), or you end up with post-partum syndrome.
As accustomed as you might be with the accoustic context, as confident as you are with your habitual playing conditions, the stage experience with sonud amplification, effects (if used), monitors and the overall sonic context inherent to it can seriously put a player out of balance. All of a sudden you don't sound anything like what you're used to hearing from your own playing. The best way to solve this is to practice amplified once in a while, and work on learning how to use a mixing board in order to get the best sound possible out of any sound system.
I use steel strings that last me up to eight months, and their decline is very slow and gradual. When I do end up changeing strings, I get the impression of having reached a new plateau in my playing, and I think this might not be totally untrue. The handicap of playing a difficult instrument might be a good method to seek out and obtain the best sound possible in poor conditions.
If you don't want to amplify, put on a wide-brimmed hat. I've played in a cowboy hat a few times, and the sound is really different. I think the brim "catches" more sound by your ears.
There's a book having to do with Zen and music (forgot the title). I find that when I am at a session and am trying hard, I don't like my sound so much, then when I empty myself (NO! Not that way!!), play lighter, it comes together much better.
Ooooooooo wyogal, I've always hated the sound of my fiddle from under a wide-brimmed hat. Had thought it was just me, but I always took me Akabru off to play. If I didn't, I soon did! ... but nobody else hears it any different, just the player.
... but I don't think it is anything like hearing yourself back as recorded ... a process I like heaps better (warts and all) because it is more like other people might hear you.
I find self-recording helpful - you can focus on the sound in the
abstract. You're not using any brain cells on technique or listening to
other people. I only do it maybe every two months when I'm practicing.
Sometimes it's surprisingly bad and sometimes the opposite.
I also videoed my myself - just once - and saw there were a few
odd-looking things to fix. That's probably _still_ the case -
just more subtle problems now.
I think a lot of people dont take into consideration their body rhythms.
practising when one is tired,or run down is not helpful.
perhaps getting some vitamin pills might be helpful,and look at your diet.
I would practise technique,and leave the tunes for a while,
practise in front of a mirror, just in case you can spot something you are doing that is different from normal,your body/arm position might be different.
sportsmen when they lose form,have to analyse[ by looking at themselves] body action etc,hups ideas sound good.Dick Miles
... yep Hup, really good idea but it takes a bit of getting used to seeing yourself as other people see you also. Very very revealing to see where you're okay, and where you're going off and why. I've got a wittle white wig I have been known to put on fer the purpose!!! Makes the process just that wittle bit less serious, hey! It shouldn't be tooooooooooo serious.
On the question of slow practise. I love practising slowly. It does help your musical ideas etc , but I find that no amount of slow practise will help me pick a tune at a session at pace. Its a different mindset to me, and its in the here and now and i'm better off forgetting the practise and trying to play at speed, if that makes sense. No?
Thanks, dickens. That was a real comfort. You've actually cheered me up. I'd totally forgotten about any impact (forgive the pun) that there may have been on my playing from the fact that someone drove their car into the back of mine in slow moving traffic on Wednesday night. I'm fine ... but how come I didn't think of that?
So, thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious to me.
I know what you mean, benhall, and I think it is more how you hear yourself, and think you sound, than how you really sound.
But there is also something to the idea of a slump in performance. I like the sts analogy of slumps in baseball players, they go through dry spells where they couldn't swing to hit a basketball, and then, all of a sudden (just when you bench them on your fantasy baseball team) they have a week where they hit two homers, steal two bases, and their average soars. I was just thinking last night, that I am playing better than I ever have, but I still stink! In fact, I am glad of how ignorant I was when first starting, or I might never have carried my guitar into that first session.
Just hang in there, keep plugging away, and it will pass.
That is a good way to look at it, Al. If I had known, after I had been playing a year or so, what I know now about the music and sessions, I would have been too terrified to go near a session. I've made a lot of friends at sessions, met my BF at one, and had some good times.
The flip side of that is that I probably would get on with some folk better if I'd not played at their sessions but in the long run have made more friends than enemies.
Of course, now I'm apprehensive about going to a sessions as I've zero confidence in my playing but yeah, maybe that will pass.
Ahem...well, pardon my tardy uptake. Al and Spear, it's VERY encouraging to hear that I'm not the only one who approaches my local sesh with fear and apprehension sometimes (I won't say "loathing", as I realize now that I've got friends there, both players and punters...and they keep asking me to come back, so I guess that I'm not THAT bad...). But yes, sometimes it's a trial.
Benhall - a while back I spent an afternoon at some event with a friend who's a top-notch blues/rock guitarist (he should probably be out touring or something) watching Bill Kirchen (who's much, much better than his recordings reveal, like most of those folks). I asked him if when he got home he'd practice or put the guitars away for good in the closet, and he said that he'd "...eat some dinner, drink a couple of beers, and probably fall asleep on the couch". So like Clear Drops said earlier: "...hey! It shouldn't be tooooooooooo serious".
-It happens to everyone, and It'll pass.
Ah, but don't jump to the conclusion that because I am not satisfied with my playing, that I fear going to the session, or don't enjoy myself. Sessions are, and should be, fun. I might get a few butterflies going to an unfamiliar session, but don't feel like anyone is judging me at my favorite gathering. It is mostly during practicing that I get frustrated.
And thank the Lord for those kind people who took me under their wing when I was getting started, and instead of judging me, nurtured and encouraged me. It was because of them that I didn't fear the session, because of them I learned new tunes, and because of them that my playing improved.....
Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I don't know whether anybody else gets this. And please bear with me - it is, as I say, a 'bear-it-all' post, this one.
I've been playing this music now for a heck of a long time - the vast majority of my life (well, 4/5, almost exactly). I'm reasonably confident that, for a lot of that time, I've played 'OK'. I wouldn't put it any better than that, but 'OK', even so.
Just now, I can't play. I'm making a really horrible sound, it's nowhere near in time or in tune, the bow's crashing about and making all sorts of nasty, jangling noises. I'm going back to what I usually do in these situations - lots and lots of slow practice. *Really* slow. I try to practice slow in any case, in the hope of avoiding this periodic rubbish playing.
This sort of thing happens about once a year. Once I've got it licked, I usually find that my playing has improved from what it was before ... for a while ... btw, it quite often seems to happen after festivals of some sort or other ...
So, here's the questions:
* Does everyone experience this?
* Is it the festival to blame (going to it, that is)?
* What do *you* do about it?
* Why oh why does it happen?
* Is there anything that can be done to prevent it?
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I sometimes find that this happens after a festival. Especially when i've been watching and listening to really good fiddle players for days on end.
My ear gets trained to hear the good players... so when i go to play it sounds worse than the last time i picked it up. (Even tho it's probably the same)
After a few weeks practice my ear gets used to my playing again... and hopefully my playing has improved with all the practice.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by davydd
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Yeah - I fally apart when there is a really good fiddley player in the room. Actually - the other day at a session, I started a tune and made a mistake at the very begining of the night...it was almost like a ball of twine unravelling - I just got worse and worse throught the night - mistake after mistake and by the end of the session I was embarrassed, mortified and miserable. I felt really c*ap and was tempted just to chuck the session cause I wasnt able to play. Its really annoying. But then again - I never really like how I sound anyway so it isnt that much of a fall from grace!
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by bb
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
*fall* obviously - oops -time for bed..
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by bb
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I think sometimes after listening to " top class players" we tend to become very critical of ourselves and the way we interpret our performance thus a bum note takes it,s toll heavily or a slip with bow or plec seems to trigger a catastrophe for the rest of the session. If it happens to me i usally just sit back and enjoy other peoples playing until i,ve relaxed enough to join in again without fluffing.
M
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by pencross
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I've just realised that I can't even spell today.
(again)
Try "bare-it-all"
Ho ho hum
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I go to sh*t if i drink coffee. Feels like there's gremlins between my brain and fingers. Rhythm goes to hell and all gittery, bum notes here and there, i even forget what i'm playing.
It's really annoying cause i really do love the taste of a good mug of coffee, but the musical aftermath is just unbearable.
I'm fine if i drink tea though.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by freefeet
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Yes, this happens to me sometimes too. I just decide that perhaps this isn't the night for me to be practising and I open a bottle of wine and relax until it passes... That's how I became an alcoholic
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by bowburner
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
One of the best fiddlers I ever met told me 25 years ago what he does.
Occasionally he would find the music getting a bit stale, or forced, or something was "missing". His answer was to simply put it down for a little while.
When he picked it up again, he usually found it had gotten its freshness back.
It worked for him, and he was most definately more than "okay".
Take it for what it is worth.
Good luck.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by Piece
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I think this happens when you're moving to a better level of playing. You can't play at all and then all of a sudden you're better than before. I've heard it happens to many people. Happens to me, too, and I'm not even an OK player yet.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by sbhikes
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Hmmm ... but does it have to happen *forever*? 'Swot it feels like.
Hey, some comforting thoughts so far. I'm not alone then?
I was also wondering if, what with playing all those countless hours in different sessions at festivals etc, it actually *damages* one's playing rather than helping?
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I think that musicians, much like athletes (e.g. baseball and basketball players), go through "slumps": periods of time when they're simply off their game and don't perform at the level to which they've become accustomed. Of course, we for the most part lead significantly different lives than said athletes -- I for one don't have a multimillion dollars a year contract -- so the factors affecting us won't necessarily be quite the same. But certainly stress, overwork, personal/familial concerns can have their impacts.
Regarding festivals, this is my theory. I obviously don't know which one(s) you refer to, or their particular characteristics (indoor? outdoor? duration?), how much time you spend there and under what conditions, etc. But they can be a pretty significant break in your routine -- after all, you're away from familiar surroundings, perhaps not eating or resting at regular intervals, and you're subject to a lot of aural and visual stimuli. So your mind and body probably needs some time to process it all and return to "normal." Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, not even a quack, and have only played either role in mummer's plays.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by sts
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Ben, you're lucky it happens to you only once a year. I go through this every week, two or three times on average. Sigh.
The danger in many festivals and big sessions is that they're loud (and typically fast, too). So we're tempted to bear down on the bow, grind out the tunes, and flail away to keep up.
That's just practicing bad habits.
I just caught myself doing that this weekend at a mid-size noisy session. As soon as I realized what was happening, I engaged my mental clutch and put it back into my "effortless" gear. Sure, suddenly no one else could hear me, but my playing immediately improved.
Heh, that's the catch 22, eh? Play loud and hard and it will sound like crap and everyone can hear you. Lighten up and play easy, and it will sound grand. But no one else will notice.
A story from Kevin Burke:
Box player: "Aargh, my playing sounds c*ap tonight. I can't do anything right."
Kevin: "No, you sound fine. No worries."
Box player: "Bah! my rolls are sh*te and my timing's off."
Kevin: "Really, I haven't noticed a thing. I think you sound grand."
Box player: "Bloody hell, I'm making a mess of every tune."
Kevin: "Now then, you're playing well. It's all in your head."
Box player: "Can you imagine a worse place for it to be, then?!"
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by Will Harmon
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Welcome to my world, Ben. Except you are lucky in that yours seems cyclical whereas I feel like that all the time. The standard of music here is so high that every time I go out to a session I think, "Wow, I really am rubbish at this." Willie Week, while amazing and fun, did not help, as the place was crawling with brilliant pipers. In the normal course of life I run into another piper (uilleanns, that is) once every four or five months so I'm not facing top class pipers all the time. Just top class everything else.
My other revelation at Willie Week (though "I suck" can hardly be counted as a revelation -- more like reinforcement of what I already knew) was that fast sessions are really bad for your playing. People have been telling me that for years but I finally got it. They force you to do whatever you have to do to get to the next note, you sacrificing lots of technique and accuracy to achieve that. I still maintain that slow and swingy sessions are beneficial and at this stage, a laid-back swingy pace is what I ought to aiming for. But right now, I too have been in one of those slump phases for over a year. My tunes just seem to be missing something, though I can't work out what's wrong or how to fix it.
So yeah, I just keep plugging away it, hoping it gets better, occasionally threatening to quit and then realizing my BF is right; I could quit for about a day and then suffer that irresistible impulse to pick up the bloody pipes again.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I meant to add that commiseration loves company. It is reassuring to see that people who I think are really great players (i.e. Will and Ben) have the same doubts.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Thanks, Will. Thanks The SilverSpear (I passed through Edinburgh just under a fornight ago). Thanks everybody.
And I must admit, it's a little better this evening. Not right, but better. I had about 10 minutes where it suddenly clicked again. Funnily enough, a bit like Will's story, it came right when I'd just about given up and was just playing away kind of listlessly - or, looked at another way, 'effortlessly'.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Heh, I might just have to revise my mantra:
"Play listlessly, with ennui, despondent."
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by Will Harmon
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I'm a proponent of the "have a cup of tea" solution put forward by free-feet.
But seriously, the last time this happened to me I changed the strings on the fiddle and it worked. Sometimes it really is the instrument.
Other times it helps me to play slowly, practice some scales and double stops, set the metronome for 50bpm for a reel (try it! tough but useful), or even better, learn a slow tune. There's a lot of pretty waltzes out there, and they're just as hard to play well as anything else. Not to mention airs.
And sometimes it helps to put it down for a little bit, or practice the second instrument a while.
There's also the analytic thing of trying to figure out what's going wrong and to correct it. A while ago I was making a pretty nasty sound and couldn't figure out what it was, but (an older fiddler told me) I had the bow too close to the bridge and wasn't bowing straight anyway. So, back to the drawing board. A nice piece of advice I got from Paddy Jones of Tralee was, you should be able to see the end of the fingerboard between the bowstick and the hair.
The classical violinist Benjamin Schmidt put it like this: "a musician's best friends are a good tape recorder, a metronome, and a mirror."
Good luck.
# Posted on August 10th 2008 by ewallace
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I'v heard regularily among fellow musicians the idea of progress as a series of "plateaux" leading us step by step to our goals. It then comes to my mind that after having been on one of these steps for an extended period of time, getting weary of it can bring on a certain self-consciousness that will get in the way of the satisfaction of simply playing. Put otherwise, patience comes to an end, and I want to move on to bigger and better things.
Playing at a festival can generate a certain apprehention that will undoubtedly bring on a tightening of discipline and assiduity relative to his/her instrument, with the associated technique. Once the stage job is done, either you feel lighter (I'm one of those), or you end up with post-partum syndrome.
As accustomed as you might be with the accoustic context, as confident as you are with your habitual playing conditions, the stage experience with sonud amplification, effects (if used), monitors and the overall sonic context inherent to it can seriously put a player out of balance. All of a sudden you don't sound anything like what you're used to hearing from your own playing. The best way to solve this is to practice amplified once in a while, and work on learning how to use a mixing board in order to get the best sound possible out of any sound system.
I use steel strings that last me up to eight months, and their decline is very slow and gradual. When I do end up changeing strings, I get the impression of having reached a new plateau in my playing, and I think this might not be totally untrue. The handicap of playing a difficult instrument might be a good method to seek out and obtain the best sound possible in poor conditions.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Fanning
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
If you don't want to amplify, put on a wide-brimmed hat. I've played in a cowboy hat a few times, and the sound is really different. I think the brim "catches" more sound by your ears.
There's a book having to do with Zen and music (forgot the title). I find that when I am at a session and am trying hard, I don't like my sound so much, then when I empty myself (NO! Not that way!!), play lighter, it comes together much better.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Wyogal
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Ooooooooo wyogal, I've always hated the sound of my fiddle from under a wide-brimmed hat. Had thought it was just me, but I always took me Akabru off to play. If I didn't, I soon did! ... but nobody else hears it any different, just the player.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
... but I don't think it is anything like hearing yourself back as recorded ... a process I like heaps better (warts and all) because it is more like other people might hear you.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I'm not brave enough to record myself playing ITM!!!!!!hahaha
seriously.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Wyogal
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I find self-recording helpful - you can focus on the sound in the
abstract. You're not using any brain cells on technique or listening to
other people. I only do it maybe every two months when I'm practicing.
Sometimes it's surprisingly bad and sometimes the opposite.
I also videoed my myself - just once - and saw there were a few
odd-looking things to fix. That's probably _still_ the case -
just more subtle problems now.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Hup
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I think a lot of people dont take into consideration their body rhythms.
practising when one is tired,or run down is not helpful.
perhaps getting some vitamin pills might be helpful,and look at your diet.
I would practise technique,and leave the tunes for a while,
practise in front of a mirror, just in case you can spot something you are doing that is different from normal,your body/arm position might be different.
sportsmen when they lose form,have to analyse[ by looking at themselves] body action etc,hups ideas sound good.Dick Miles
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Dick Miles
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
... yep Hup, really good idea but it takes a bit of getting used to seeing yourself as other people see you also. Very very revealing to see where you're okay, and where you're going off and why. I've got a wittle white wig I have been known to put on fer the purpose!!! Makes the process just that wittle bit less serious, hey! It shouldn't be tooooooooooo serious.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Clear Drops
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
On the question of slow practise. I love practising slowly. It does help your musical ideas etc , but I find that no amount of slow practise will help me pick a tune at a session at pace. Its a different mindset to me, and its in the here and now and i'm better off forgetting the practise and trying to play at speed, if that makes sense. No?
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by chuneboi slim
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
i'm bringing my cowboy hat to my next session.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by LuidÃn
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Thanks, dickens. That was a real comfort. You've actually cheered me up.
I'd totally forgotten about any impact (forgive the pun) that there may have been on my playing from the fact that someone drove their car into the back of mine in slow moving traffic on Wednesday night. I'm fine ... but how come I didn't think of that?
So, thank you for pointing out what should have been obvious to me.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Mind you, this sort of thing still happens to me, even when I haven't had a bump recently ...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
I know what you mean, benhall, and I think it is more how you hear yourself, and think you sound, than how you really sound.
But there is also something to the idea of a slump in performance. I like the sts analogy of slumps in baseball players, they go through dry spells where they couldn't swing to hit a basketball, and then, all of a sudden (just when you bench them on your fantasy baseball team) they have a week where they hit two homers, steal two bases, and their average soars. I was just thinking last night, that I am playing better than I ever have, but I still stink! In fact, I am glad of how ignorant I was when first starting, or I might never have carried my guitar into that first session.
Just hang in there, keep plugging away, and it will pass.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
That is a good way to look at it, Al. If I had known, after I had been playing a year or so, what I know now about the music and sessions, I would have been too terrified to go near a session. I've made a lot of friends at sessions, met my BF at one, and had some good times.
The flip side of that is that I probably would get on with some folk better if I'd not played at their sessions but in the long run have made more friends than enemies.
Of course, now I'm apprehensive about going to a sessions as I've zero confidence in my playing but yeah, maybe that will pass.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Ahem...well, pardon my tardy uptake. Al and Spear, it's VERY encouraging to hear that I'm not the only one who approaches my local sesh with fear and apprehension sometimes (I won't say "loathing", as I realize now that I've got friends there, both players and punters...and they keep asking me to come back, so I guess that I'm not THAT bad...). But yes, sometimes it's a trial.
Benhall - a while back I spent an afternoon at some event with a friend who's a top-notch blues/rock guitarist (he should probably be out touring or something) watching Bill Kirchen (who's much, much better than his recordings reveal, like most of those folks). I asked him if when he got home he'd practice or put the guitars away for good in the closet, and he said that he'd "...eat some dinner, drink a couple of beers, and probably fall asleep on the couch". So like Clear Drops said earlier: "...hey! It shouldn't be tooooooooooo serious".
-It happens to everyone, and It'll pass.
# Posted on August 12th 2008 by tomw
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Ah, but it *is* deadly serious these days, isn't it, tomw? And thereby hangs another discussion topic that I'll probably post soon ...
# Posted on August 12th 2008 by ethical blend
Re: Periodic rubbishness - a bear-it-all matter
Ah, but don't jump to the conclusion that because I am not satisfied with my playing, that I fear going to the session, or don't enjoy myself. Sessions are, and should be, fun. I might get a few butterflies going to an unfamiliar session, but don't feel like anyone is judging me at my favorite gathering. It is mostly during practicing that I get frustrated.
And thank the Lord for those kind people who took me under their wing when I was getting started, and instead of judging me, nurtured and encouraged me. It was because of them that I didn't fear the session, because of them I learned new tunes, and because of them that my playing improved.....
# Posted on August 12th 2008 by AlBrown