How many here know the comic Jeff Foxworthy (You just might be a redneck)? He used lines like, "If you need to check your belt buckle to remember your first name, you might be a redneck." Okay, I'm starting a list for the ITM players:
1. If your wife tells you she's headed to a session with her therapist and you offer to let her use your fiddle, you might be a trad player.
2. If someone mentions polka-dots and you think they're referring to the sheet music for "Sean Ryan's", you might be. . .
3. If someone asks if your remember the kid who lived next door and you say, no, but you know "The Kid On The Mountain", you might be. . .
4. If someone asks what kind of instrument you have and you reply "A Pratten" instead of "A flute," you might be. . .
5. If you can't remember the names of everyone in your spouse's family, but you can name over 500 tunes, you might be. . .
6. If someone says "The Unicorn" is their favorite Irish song and you break something, you might be. . .
7. If you think that a session is essentially a drinking binge set to music, you might be. . .
8. If your wife gets suspicious when you work late, but never worries when you tell her the session went until 2am, you might be. . .
"You might just be a Trad player"
- If getting banned from a tad forum for a couple of weeks leads to a drastic deterioration in written communication/ ability to utilise syntax structure..
If you roll your eyes when someone strikes up 200-year-old 12/8 E dorian dance tune from a remote region near the headwaters of the river Blackwater because it's "way over-played"...
When, if somebody suggests playing the Tarbolton Set you know the what reels to play.
If you refer to 'The Kerry Polka' as Egan's
If people ask you to play 'Míse Eíre' you know they mean Rosin Dubh and you also know that O'Riada didn't compose Rosin Dubh.
You know that Shoe the Donkey is really called Versevianna,
and you can play it properly,
You hate carrying an instrument uninvited into a pub as you feel that all eyes are on you, and somebody might ask you to play....which is why you went in there in the first place
Actually, I thought I was being the 'spirit' of temperence...even though I am increasingly appreciative of that particular fiddler you refer to!
My teacher got me reading a book called "The Lesson" by Victor Wooten (He is a Nashville bass player who apprently achieved a sense of 'enlightenment') A very interesting read that puts what we do here in a bit of perspective.
If you suffer from bouts of loud, uncontrollable and extremely creative cursing at the mere mention of "Wild Rover"...
If you cringe inwardly at the site of green plastic bowler hats...
If you find yourself doing donuts in a stolen car on a local publican's lawn at 4 in the morning...
If you wake up under your car at 7 in the morning and don't know how you got there...
If you think the following joke is funny:
You're driving down a country road not far out of town and you see a terrible bodhran player who haunts your local crossing the road in the company of a well-known folk festival organizer...Which one do you try to hit first?
The organizer, of course. Business before pleasure.
If your drinks bill for seven years of sessions at one a week only comes to $100, either you are extremely tiny or you are a past master at cadging your drinks.
Your tips, if the latter is the case, would no doubt be seized upon with the greatest of interest here.
If you feel uncomfortable walking around town carrying a guitar case, for fear that you'll be mistaken for a singer-songwriter.
If you actively discourage otherwise-capable musician friends from showing up at your local sesh expecting to play, if you think that they'll muck up the tunes. Double points if they mention the words "jam", "original song", "hand percussion", or "classically trained"... Triple points if said friends are also objects of carnal desire...
after prestonian - If you don't know any names for the tunes you play...and don't care.
Beanzy - Yup!.
-For us fretted instrument players: tuning is relative; you show up and see who's there and come up with something that fits.
-You would rather not play and just sit and listen to your mates, than muck something up by noodling along on stuff that you don't know.
You hear some guy giving a lecture on Ciaran Carson and are disappointed when he doesn't talk about "Last Night's Fun" or flute playing.
You think there is way too much complicated, tripe, overdone rhythm and not enough melody in most forms of popular music.
You laugh so hard you nearly cry at the scene in Braveheart with the Highland piper standing romantically on a hill in the Highlands and the sound you hear is the uilleann pipes.
If you are happy to spend five hours in a pub drinking diet coke all night for the sake of playing a few tunes...
If you pack light for a weekend away with the family but still can't quite bring yourself to leave the fiddle behind, even though the chance of finding someone to play with is virtually nil...
You Just Might Be A Trad Player
You Just Might Be A Trad Player
How many here know the comic Jeff Foxworthy (You just might be a redneck)? He used lines like, "If you need to check your belt buckle to remember your first name, you might be a redneck." Okay, I'm starting a list for the ITM players:
1. If your wife tells you she's headed to a session with her therapist and you offer to let her use your fiddle, you might be a trad player.
2. If someone mentions polka-dots and you think they're referring to the sheet music for "Sean Ryan's", you might be. . .
3. If someone asks if your remember the kid who lived next door and you say, no, but you know "The Kid On The Mountain", you might be. . .
4. If someone asks what kind of instrument you have and you reply "A Pratten" instead of "A flute," you might be. . .
5. If you can't remember the names of everyone in your spouse's family, but you can name over 500 tunes, you might be. . .
6. If someone says "The Unicorn" is their favorite Irish song and you break something, you might be. . .
7. If you think that a session is essentially a drinking binge set to music, you might be. . .
8. If your wife gets suspicious when you work late, but never worries when you tell her the session went until 2am, you might be. . .
Okay, your turn!
# Posted on April 2nd 2009 by Ailin
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If your instrument case has stickers that say things like "Chláir" or "Bhaile Átha Cliath", you might be...
If you find yourself repeatedly explaining that the word uillinn means 'elbow' in Irish, you might be...
If you cringe when someone calls it a "jam session", you might be...
If you know at least 3 names for almost every one of the tunes you know, you might be...
If you know exactly how many drinks can make you a better player, and how many drinks beyond that is a bad idea, you might be...
If you find yourself lilting tunes in the shower, you might be...
# Posted on April 2nd 2009 by Reverend
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you grab your whistle for a quick tune when you come to a traffic light...
# Posted on April 2nd 2009 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
if over half your debit charges are from your local...
# Posted on April 2nd 2009 by airport
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
if you can't read music and you could care less what "mixolydian" means
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Hup
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you have more than one case for the same instrument which you have systamatically gutted and customised on several occasions..
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Terrible Grammar..Multiple Cases - Single instrument - Many customisations ..
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
"You might just be a Trad player"
- If getting banned from a tad forum for a couple of weeks leads to a drastic deterioration in written communication/ ability to utilise syntax structure..
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
An intense period of Verbose(ness) and MULTIPLE contributions seems the way foward
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Miss Mulligan
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you don't know any names for the tunes you play...
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by prestonian
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you roll your eyes when someone strikes up 200-year-old 12/8 E dorian dance tune from a remote region near the headwaters of the river Blackwater because it's "way over-played"...
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by fidkid
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you know that a banshee actually lilts instead of wailing....
If every time you travel around Ireland, you find yourself humming tunes that are named after the little towns you just drove through...
If you know what somebody means when they say "hey, let's play the pitchforks"...
If you know that Danny Boy was actually written by an Englishman living in America...
If you know more about Michael Coleman and Seamus Ennis than you do about your own grandparents...
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Reverend
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
...if you think half the postings on this site are overblown tripe...
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by gone
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Now, now Sean.
Play nice
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by zippydw
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
When, if somebody suggests playing the Tarbolton Set you know the what reels to play.
If you refer to 'The Kerry Polka' as Egan's
If people ask you to play 'Míse Eíre' you know they mean Rosin Dubh and you also know that O'Riada didn't compose Rosin Dubh.
You know that Shoe the Donkey is really called Versevianna,
and you can play it properly,
You hate carrying an instrument uninvited into a pub as you feel that all eyes are on you, and somebody might ask you to play....which is why you went in there in the first place
If you agree with SeanMc's posting.
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Free Reed
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Now, Now Free Reed
The site serves many needs. One must be a bit open minded
Play nice
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by zippydw
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Just to be fair, zippy, they only said that HALF the postings are tripe
To continue with that theme:
If you know what somebody means when they refer to the "mustard board"...
If you get bent out of shape when someone brings up using sheet music...
If you could spend hours arguing the relative merits of practicing scales and arpeggios vs. just practicing tunes...
If you secretly agree with almost everything a particular fiddler from Edinburgh says, but wishes he would be a bit less gruff in his postings...
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Reverend
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Actually, I thought I was being the 'spirit' of temperence...even though I am increasingly appreciative of that particular fiddler you refer to!
My teacher got me reading a book called "The Lesson" by Victor Wooten (He is a Nashville bass player who apprently achieved a sense of 'enlightenment') A very interesting read that puts what we do here in a bit of perspective.
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by zippydw
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
A "particular fiddler from Edinburgh". Now Who might that be?
No, that is incorrect because Who is on first base.
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
The underblown tripe is perfectly enjoyable too.
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
I am in the outer circle of ITM players.
This means my computer hasn't got the accents to spell "Mise Eire" fully, and I am deeply entrenched in the belief that it means "Miss Ireland".
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by nicholas
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Back to our program...
If you suffer from bouts of loud, uncontrollable and extremely creative cursing at the mere mention of "Wild Rover"...
If you cringe inwardly at the site of green plastic bowler hats...
If you find yourself doing donuts in a stolen car on a local publican's lawn at 4 in the morning...
If you wake up under your car at 7 in the morning and don't know how you got there...
If you think the following joke is funny:
You're driving down a country road not far out of town and you see a terrible bodhran player who haunts your local crossing the road in the company of a well-known folk festival organizer...Which one do you try to hit first?
The organizer, of course. Business before pleasure.
....You might be a trad player.
# Posted on April 3rd 2009 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
How about "You Just Might Be A Trad Snob"?
If you sigh and refuse to play when a newbie launches into the Boys of Blue Hill, the Kesh, or other old chestnut...
You make fun of punters who request Danny Boy....
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by AlBrown
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you hear "dotted line" and you think of notes on a piece of music paper.
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by fauxcelt
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you've ever driven 4 hours to play tunes for two and not even get comped a beer for it, and were happy to do it, ...
If someone mentions The Hag with the Money and you think of someone other than your spouse and her mother ...
If you've ever tuned your violin to Eb, but can't remember the last time you tuned to A=440, you might be a trad player ...
If you're the only person in your workplace to deliberately avoid Irish pubs on St. Patrick's Day ...
If you're a musician and you think the "Cycle of Fifths" has something to do with Lance Armstrong, you might ...
If someone reverses two notes in a familiar tune and you sit around thinking 'Oooh. Nice variation.' ...
If you've ever uttered the phrase "Alright, who's turn is it to play Danny Boy?" ...
If someone says Polka and you don't think of Wierd Al and Lawrence Welk,..
If you know more than 8 polkas and don't speak German or Polish ...
If you categorize tunes not by title or genre, but what dead person you got your variations from ...
If you don't think of 9/8 as "odd meter" ...
If you and the local pub owner have been trading the same 100 dollars back and forth every week for seven years ...
If you've never played catch with your son on Sunday afternoons because "there's somewhere you have to be..."
If most of your friends wonder why you always use that stupid pronunciation of "session" ...
If someone says "good crack" and you don't think of getting high ...
If you've never been to Ireland but talk funny anyway ...
If you can name all the counties of Ireland but not place more than three of them on a map ...
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by jwvansteenwyk
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If your drinks bill for seven years of sessions at one a week only comes to $100, either you are extremely tiny or you are a past master at cadging your drinks.
Your tips, if the latter is the case, would no doubt be seized upon with the greatest of interest here.
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by nicholas
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you feel uncomfortable walking around town carrying a guitar case, for fear that you'll be mistaken for a singer-songwriter.
If you actively discourage otherwise-capable musician friends from showing up at your local sesh expecting to play, if you think that they'll muck up the tunes. Double points if they mention the words "jam", "original song", "hand percussion", or "classically trained"... Triple points if said friends are also objects of carnal desire...
after prestonian - If you don't know any names for the tunes you play...and don't care.
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by tomw
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you really don't give a hoot wheter that last invention sounds awful, as long as it keeps going after & nobody complains.
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by Beanzy
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Beanzy - Yup!.
-For us fretted instrument players: tuning is relative; you show up and see who's there and come up with something that fits.
-You would rather not play and just sit and listen to your mates, than muck something up by noodling along on stuff that you don't know.
# Posted on April 4th 2009 by tomw
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
You hear some guy giving a lecture on Ciaran Carson and are disappointed when he doesn't talk about "Last Night's Fun" or flute playing.
You think there is way too much complicated, tripe, overdone rhythm and not enough melody in most forms of popular music.
You laugh so hard you nearly cry at the scene in Braveheart with the Highland piper standing romantically on a hill in the Highlands and the sound you hear is the uilleann pipes.
# Posted on April 6th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
Someone tells you what town they are from and you think, "That's a great wee tune!"
# Posted on April 6th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
If you run out of fuel on the way TO a gig you just might be . . .
If you run out of fuel RETURNING from a gig . . .
If you go to your guitar case for spare strings and havn't any . . .
If you open your guitar case before a gig and find no guitar in it . . .
If your simply just looking for your guitar before a gig . . .
If your looking for the PA Mixer Amp befor a wedding gig . . .
Which of the above do you think are true?
# Posted on April 7th 2009 by lisaniska
Re: You Just Might Be A Trad Player
a pretty safe bet but.....all of the above ?
If you are happy to spend five hours in a pub drinking diet coke all night for the sake of playing a few tunes...
If you pack light for a weekend away with the family but still can't quite bring yourself to leave the fiddle behind, even though the chance of finding someone to play with is virtually nil...
# Posted on April 13th 2009 by sashiko calico