I am trying to get re-inspired and re-energized with my playing . . . I think I have hit a bump in the road with my desire to practice. What tune would you suggest I start working on now to get me going again? I am thinking of a really upbeat reel or strathespey. Here's what I know so far:
Mason's Apron
Irishman's heart to the ladies
Limerock
Fisher's Hornpipe
Tam Lynne
King George VI
Julia Delaney
Grumpy Old Man, Grumpy Old Woman
The following URL is a list of the top-100 most-recorded tunes. Learn any 10 of these and you'll have more tunes in common with other session players than you do in the above list. http://www.irishtune.info/top-tunes.htm
The same site will also provide you with links to specific CD's on which these tunes can be found.
I like Chris's idea of choosing a few common session tunes. But some are easier on fiddle than others, and some of those are also good for really getting in the groove with your rhythm and bowing. In that light, any (or all) of the following would get you going:
Silver Spear
The Morning Dew
Speed the Plough
Sailor's Bonnet
Dunmore Lasses
Sally Gardens
Jenny Picking Cockles
The Bank of Ireland
Last Night's Fun
The Scholar
The Bantry Lasses
P.S. If you're more interested in strathspeys, Scottish fiddle, or just nice tunes (whether or not they get played in sessions), try to find a copy of Dougie MacLean's "Fiddle" album, or John McCusker's "Yella Hoose" and learn a track or two.
interesting site, chris. was loathe to discover 'Bucks of Oranmore' as the number one most played, er, recorded tune. i really do not like that tune, as well as a good number of other tunes on that list. and perhaps simply because they are so over played...
in response to your question, kp. it is my view that you don't pick tunes, but tunes pick you. how this happens is a mystery really. they just jump out at you. tunes that have jumped out at me lately: Slieve Russel (sp?), Beare Island.
best advice would be to simply hang out at a session with a pint in hand and listen. and jaysus, perhaps you outta forget about practicing for a while. if it aint happenin' it aint happenin...
LOL Brendan, but maybe he's not inspired to practice simply because he can't bear to hear Fisher's Hornpipe again....
There's an ongoing debate in this music where one side says, "Learn the tunes that call your name," and the other side says, "Learn every tune you can--the more you know, the more you get to play."
So what happened to me over the years (and years and years) is that I kept learning tunes that just grabbed me by the heart, and now and then picked up a tune just because a friend played it and wanted company. But now I want to learn every tune that crosses my path--because they *all* grab at my heartstrings. In other words, the more tunes you learn, the more you quicken to *all* of them (well, maybe not Atholl Highlanders ;o).
Of course, then you go and forget two for every new one you pick up. I figure by the time I'm 80, I'll have forgotten well over a thousand tunes....
Mm. I think tunes pick their own time -- a tune that I had no interest in six months ago raps me on the head and says "hey, learn me!" (Which is just as Brendan and Will are saying above.) KP, I'd say pick a fairly common session tune that you love but don't know how to play and learn it. In fact, why don't you learn the Concertina Reel and then go to Helena and play it over and over at Will's session? *giggle*
Beare Island -- I love that tune. I wonder if I remember how to play it?
I didn't realize there were any upbeat strathspeys. But might I suggest "Captain Campbell"-A dorian (one sharp). I always have a good time digging by bow in on it. Also a good upbeat march is "Boy's Lament for His Dragon"-D major. Don't be fooled, it's way too upbeat for a lament (unless he really didn't like his dragon). The Cottars put both of these tunes on their CD. Good reel is "A taste of Gaelic" -D major. This is also on the Cottars CD, as well as Buddy MacMaster's CD "The Judique Flyer".
I do believe I learn Irish tunes for other people, and Scottish - C/B tunes for myself.
Thanks, Ran
I think that if you can hear the tunes played really well, it's inspirational and makes you want to play them even better, so I suggest learning tunes from or with a CD. John McCusker's Frank's Reel, for instance, is quite common in sessions here, and is quite easy to pick up from whichever album it's on.
You should also try and listen to some Capercaillie - some of their tunes are very good for techniques and are so good you just want to keep playing them! On "Choice Language", Homer's Reel (Bm) is a good tune, as it is slow enough to pick up and to make you practise control, but quick enough to not be boring! Also, I strongly recommend "Capercaillie Live" for some top tune sets.
If you look at the tune section here, you can find tunes which have been downloaded most frequently. This should give an indication of their popularity. Also, you could check out Mally's books, 100 essential Irish session tunes, 100 enduring session tunes, and 100 Evergreen session tunes and you'll get a good foundation there. http://www.mally.com/results.asp?CategoryID=1
I agree with Zina and Will, though, that certain tunes will "grab you" and want to be learned. So, I just tend to concentrate on those that I hear and like or I sometimes see a written tune which appeals to me after one or two shots. Often, I learn tunes when I need to i.e for a performance or with others. Sometimes, they do not appeal at all but they frequently grow on me.
I wouldn't necessarily learn all these old warhorses just for the sake of it. They will come to you, anyway, as you move around different sessions. It's good to know them, though, as you'll receive just as much scorn in some quarters for not knowing them as you would for introducing them into a set. "What do you mean? Surely, you know Paddy's Leather breeches!!!! " Sometimes, you can never win. :>))
My experience is that you only have to travel to a session only a few miles from your normal session haunts to find that virtually all the tunes are quite unfamiliar!
Trevor
Will said:
"...But now I want to learn every tune that crosses my path--because they *all* grab at my heartstrings. In other words, the more tunes you learn, the more you quicken to *all* of them"
Well put: what Will describes is very much what happened to me, too. I know I have the reputation here for saying "learn more tunes...learn more tunes!" but really it's more what Will articulated: I hear few tunes that I *don't* like and want to learn.
Trevor said:
"My experience is that you only have to travel to a session only a few miles from your normal session haunts to find that virtually all the tunes are quite unfamiliar"
Yes, very true. That's why I decided a long time ago to learn lots of tunes, because traveling, meeting new players, being reminded of old tunes learned-and-forgotten, is something I really enjoy.
Also, having a lot of tunes helped me learn to be much less uptight in an unfamiliar session, because I knew I'd be able to play on many/most of the sets that came up. That in turn helped me relax and enjoy listening to new tunes I didn't know.
The distinct downside of my only-learn-tunes-that-grab-me method, i must admit, is that i don't know enough common warhorse tunes. You can get away with this in chicago because there are so many great players for whom about any tune i happen to pick up they'll know (well, i probably got inspired to learn it from them anyway). but outside chicago, it becomes a bit more problematic, although i am often surprised by the number of tunes that i can play that i didn't even knew or had forgotten. on the flip side, i'm sometimes equally amazed by the number of tunes i don't know: i remember going to a few sessions in ireland where i didn't even recognize one tune that was being played. wierd. Anyway, i also utilize my method due to lack of time; just don't have that much time to be learning new tunes.
back to nursing my hangover. will not be learning any new tunes today...
My favourite tune which I heard in Milltown Malbay many years ago at a session led by Mick Hand is Fig for a Kiss, slip jig. I just find it lifts my spirits to play this tune. Its also quite an easy tune and goes very nicely after An tiochfaidh tu abhaile liom.
It could be taken further. As part of daily practise, spend half an hour or so working through O'Neill (I'd prefer the "1001"). 20 a day would see you through the book in less than 2 months, and then you're ready to start the process again.
The advantages I see in this are that you'll come across just about every technical problem you're ever likely to meet in Irish trad, you'll get acquainted with an enormous number of tunes (and possibly with a bit of luck a year or so later you'll have most of them in your head and fingers), you'll learn the structure of the tunes, you'll learn a large "vocabulary" of those little note sequences that are always coming up in The Music, and with experience you'll recognise the occasional bits in O'Neill where the transcriber wasn't too sure about the modality of a tune, and you'll do something about it.
You'll also realise that a few tunes are dogs (sorry, Fido!) and you'll not want to hear them again, but you'll also come across some real gems that you'll want to keep and play, and that makes it all worthwhile.
If you do try this, it's a good idea to pencil little memos on the pages of O'Neill so that you know how you're progressing.
Trevor, I did just that many years ago when I was living 20 miles from the nearest neighbor, not another musician within a hundred miles, and no electricity (working for the Forest Service). In the course of a summer, I did find a few tunes that aren't widely played but that should be, and I learned very quickly to hear the tunes in my head right off the page. But overall, it wasn't near as fun or productive as learning off another player or a recording. In written collections, and O'Neill's in particular, all the tunes tend to start looking the same--too formulaic, with the same weaknesses of transcription or stilted setting repeated over and over. Chalk it up to taste (or lack thereof), or forcing the music into written form, or just over-writing (trying to notate every ornament and grace note)--but playing through a book like that quickly turns to drudgery. I'd recommend it only if you're living alone in a cabin at 8,000 feet, 15 miles from the nearest road, with only mice, nuthatches, and the occasional elk for company....
"You'll also realise that a few tunes are dogs" -- ah, well. A lot of the ways tunes are notated are what's to be blamed for that, I think, rather than the actual tune itself. Sometimes I hear tunes being played by a muso that strike me as totally different from the way I first heard them and though the first time through I was unimpressed with the tune, the second time I'm seized with the need to learn such a great tune! Who knows whether that's because I'm now a different muso from the one who heard the first hearing or if the setting was different or if it was the playing of either muso to blame, but though there *are* tunes that are dogs, generally I'd say a great player can make wolves of them all...
I take your point, Will, about the tunes being formulaic and starting to look the same (in print, at any rate). That might explain why one or two people on this forum (no names, no pack drill!) have said that the tunes are all the same and that "diddly music" is easy Btw, Will, many thanks for revealing how you acquired your encyclopaedic knowledge of tunes!
Yes, Zina, I agree. The great musos, of whatever genre or period, can take the most unpromising material and turn it into a masterpiece. Not just the performers, the composers as well. And players do develop and acquire a feeling for tunes they didn't use to like. It can work the other way, too; a tune that gets too much exposure can end up being loathed by all and sundry.
One advantage of collections such as O'Neill is that the Irish trad musician doesn't need books of technical studies to work through like the classical players do; it's already there in The Music, and when you've learned a tune you can go to the session or wherever and perform it. Off hand, the only classical violin studies I can think of that can also be played in performance are the 24 virtuoso caprices by Paganini, and there are probably fewer than 1% of classical violinists who can do them justice.
I do have a copy of O'Neill's but it wasn't written for the short sighted. :>)) Of course, you can get them all in ABC format and print out larger copies, these days.
I do like to have spells working my way through tune books, though, and agree that there are benefits as Trevor suggests. However, the better tunes don't always reveal themselves after one or two plays, i.e you might have to give a "dog" lots of love and patience before it starts to wag its tail at you. :>))
I agree with that, John. On many an occasion I've played a tune through from the dots, written it off as uninspired and uninspiring, only to hear a rendition on a CD some time later and think "fantastic tune, must learn it!"...
When I first started playing the fiddle (some years after giving up on the classical stuff), I used to play through tunebooks, which was, as Will says, a largely unsatisfactory experience. The tunes that would jump out at me were, almost always (even if I was unaware of it at the time), those that I'd heard on recordings.
These days, if I learn a tune from the dots (only), I'll spend maybe a week "absorbing" the tune, letting its character develop as if I'd been hearing it a session for a while. It's probably a reflection on my limitations as a player, but I find that even then, it takes months of having it "in the repertoire" before such a tune feels as natural as one that's been learnt from a recording or a session.
No matter what type of music you're considering, the dots are only broad guidelines. It's comparable to a car journey where you're using something like a 4 miles-to-the-inch map. It will certainly tell you how to get from A to B, but it won't tell you the beauty of the scenery, of the little villages and cottages, of the old churches, etc. You only see these things by actually travelling the route.
Trevor
John, I agree with your point about the size of the print in O'Neill. The only thing is, it could encourage a quicker memory!
I use special prescription glasses for reading music (especially with reference to my orchestral work), and have done so for many years. Normally I use bi-focals, and these are an entertaining disaster as far as reading music on a stand is concerned. With bi-focals I'm liable to "see" anything from 4 to 6 lines on the stave, and notes and accidentals can mysteriously and suddenly disappear, or duplicate themselves. Even when not reading the dots, as in a session, and I'm wearing bi-focals, I don't look at my fiddle, for I'll as like as not see 3 or 5 strings, and God knows where my fingers seem to be placed!
Trevor
New Tune Needed!
New Tune Needed!
Hi All!
I am trying to get re-inspired and re-energized with my playing . . . I think I have hit a bump in the road with my desire to practice. What tune would you suggest I start working on now to get me going again? I am thinking of a really upbeat reel or strathespey. Here's what I know so far:
Mason's Apron
Irishman's heart to the ladies
Limerock
Fisher's Hornpipe
Tam Lynne
King George VI
Julia Delaney
Grumpy Old Man, Grumpy Old Woman
HELP! Thanks!
KP
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by KP
Re: New Tune Needed!
Do em all.
-P
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Pádraig
Re: New Tune Needed!
KP:
The following URL is a list of the top-100 most-recorded tunes. Learn any 10 of these and you'll have more tunes in common with other session players than you do in the above list.
http://www.irishtune.info/top-tunes.htm
The same site will also provide you with links to specific CD's on which these tunes can be found.
chris smith
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by coyotebanjo
Re: New Tune Needed!
How about St. Anne's Reel?
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Max Becher
Re: New Tune Needed!
Suggest Miss Lyall Strathspey and George IV.
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by cathrynb
Re: New Tune Needed!
I like Chris's idea of choosing a few common session tunes. But some are easier on fiddle than others, and some of those are also good for really getting in the groove with your rhythm and bowing. In that light, any (or all) of the following would get you going:
Silver Spear
The Morning Dew
Speed the Plough
Sailor's Bonnet
Dunmore Lasses
Sally Gardens
Jenny Picking Cockles
The Bank of Ireland
Last Night's Fun
The Scholar
The Bantry Lasses
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: New Tune Needed!
P.S. If you're more interested in strathspeys, Scottish fiddle, or just nice tunes (whether or not they get played in sessions), try to find a copy of Dougie MacLean's "Fiddle" album, or John McCusker's "Yella Hoose" and learn a track or two.
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: New Tune Needed!
interesting site, chris. was loathe to discover 'Bucks of Oranmore' as the number one most played, er, recorded tune. i really do not like that tune, as well as a good number of other tunes on that list. and perhaps simply because they are so over played...
in response to your question, kp. it is my view that you don't pick tunes, but tunes pick you. how this happens is a mystery really. they just jump out at you. tunes that have jumped out at me lately: Slieve Russel (sp?), Beare Island.
best advice would be to simply hang out at a session with a pint in hand and listen. and jaysus, perhaps you outta forget about practicing for a while. if it aint happenin' it aint happenin...
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Brendan
Re: New Tune Needed!
LOL Brendan, but maybe he's not inspired to practice simply because he can't bear to hear Fisher's Hornpipe again....
There's an ongoing debate in this music where one side says, "Learn the tunes that call your name," and the other side says, "Learn every tune you can--the more you know, the more you get to play."
So what happened to me over the years (and years and years) is that I kept learning tunes that just grabbed me by the heart, and now and then picked up a tune just because a friend played it and wanted company. But now I want to learn every tune that crosses my path--because they *all* grab at my heartstrings. In other words, the more tunes you learn, the more you quicken to *all* of them (well, maybe not Atholl Highlanders ;o).
Of course, then you go and forget two for every new one you pick up. I figure by the time I'm 80, I'll have forgotten well over a thousand tunes....
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Will Harmon
Re: New Tune Needed!
Mm. I think tunes pick their own time -- a tune that I had no interest in six months ago raps me on the head and says "hey, learn me!" (Which is just as Brendan and Will are saying above.) KP, I'd say pick a fairly common session tune that you love but don't know how to play and learn it. In fact, why don't you learn the Concertina Reel and then go to Helena and play it over and over at Will's session? *giggle*
Beare Island -- I love that tune. I wonder if I remember how to play it?
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: New Tune Needed!
I didn't realize there were any upbeat strathspeys. But might I suggest "Captain Campbell"-A dorian (one sharp). I always have a good time digging by bow in on it. Also a good upbeat march is "Boy's Lament for His Dragon"-D major. Don't be fooled, it's way too upbeat for a lament (unless he really didn't like his dragon). The Cottars put both of these tunes on their CD. Good reel is "A taste of Gaelic" -D major. This is also on the Cottars CD, as well as Buddy MacMaster's CD "The Judique Flyer".
I do believe I learn Irish tunes for other people, and Scottish - C/B tunes for myself.
Thanks, Ran
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Ran
Re: New Tune Needed!
I think that if you can hear the tunes played really well, it's inspirational and makes you want to play them even better, so I suggest learning tunes from or with a CD. John McCusker's Frank's Reel, for instance, is quite common in sessions here, and is quite easy to pick up from whichever album it's on.
You should also try and listen to some Capercaillie - some of their tunes are very good for techniques and are so good you just want to keep playing them! On "Choice Language", Homer's Reel (Bm) is a good tune, as it is slow enough to pick up and to make you practise control, but quick enough to not be boring! Also, I strongly recommend "Capercaillie Live" for some top tune sets.
Tize.
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by tbag
Re: New Tune Needed!
If you look at the tune section here, you can find tunes which have been downloaded most frequently. This should give an indication of their popularity. Also, you could check out Mally's books, 100 essential Irish session tunes, 100 enduring session tunes, and 100 Evergreen session tunes and you'll get a good foundation there.
http://www.mally.com/results.asp?CategoryID=1
I agree with Zina and Will, though, that certain tunes will "grab you" and want to be learned. So, I just tend to concentrate on those that I hear and like or I sometimes see a written tune which appeals to me after one or two shots. Often, I learn tunes when I need to i.e for a performance or with others. Sometimes, they do not appeal at all but they frequently grow on me.
I wouldn't necessarily learn all these old warhorses just for the sake of it. They will come to you, anyway, as you move around different sessions. It's good to know them, though, as you'll receive just as much scorn in some quarters for not knowing them as you would for introducing them into a set. "What do you mean? Surely, you know Paddy's Leather breeches!!!! " Sometimes, you can never win. :>))
John
# Posted on December 31st 2003 by Johnny Jay
Re: New Tune Needed!
My experience is that you only have to travel to a session only a few miles from your normal session haunts to find that virtually all the tunes are quite unfamiliar!
Trevor
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
In addition to the Malley series that John mentioned there are also the useful Foinn Seisi
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
Belgrave of course! Not Blegrave!
Trevor
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
Will said:
"...But now I want to learn every tune that crosses my path--because they *all* grab at my heartstrings. In other words, the more tunes you learn, the more you quicken to *all* of them"
Well put: what Will describes is very much what happened to me, too. I know I have the reputation here for saying "learn more tunes...learn more tunes!" but really it's more what Will articulated: I hear few tunes that I *don't* like and want to learn.
Trevor said:
"My experience is that you only have to travel to a session only a few miles from your normal session haunts to find that virtually all the tunes are quite unfamiliar"
Yes, very true. That's why I decided a long time ago to learn lots of tunes, because traveling, meeting new players, being reminded of old tunes learned-and-forgotten, is something I really enjoy.
Also, having a lot of tunes helped me learn to be much less uptight in an unfamiliar session, because I knew I'd be able to play on many/most of the sets that came up. That in turn helped me relax and enjoy listening to new tunes I didn't know.
chris smith
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by coyotebanjo
Re: New Tune Needed!
The distinct downside of my only-learn-tunes-that-grab-me method, i must admit, is that i don't know enough common warhorse tunes. You can get away with this in chicago because there are so many great players for whom about any tune i happen to pick up they'll know (well, i probably got inspired to learn it from them anyway). but outside chicago, it becomes a bit more problematic, although i am often surprised by the number of tunes that i can play that i didn't even knew or had forgotten. on the flip side, i'm sometimes equally amazed by the number of tunes i don't know: i remember going to a few sessions in ireland where i didn't even recognize one tune that was being played. wierd. Anyway, i also utilize my method due to lack of time; just don't have that much time to be learning new tunes.
back to nursing my hangover. will not be learning any new tunes today...
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by Brendan
Re: New Tune Needed!
My favourite tune which I heard in Milltown Malbay many years ago at a session led by Mick Hand is Fig for a Kiss, slip jig. I just find it lifts my spirits to play this tune. Its also quite an easy tune and goes very nicely after An tiochfaidh tu abhaile liom.
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by MollyB
Re: New Tune Needed!
Open O'Neils up at a random page and play down it as part of your practise. You will always find something to inspire you.
# Posted on January 1st 2004 by geoffwright
Re: New Tune Needed!
That's an interesting idea of Geoff's.
It could be taken further. As part of daily practise, spend half an hour or so working through O'Neill (I'd prefer the "1001"). 20 a day would see you through the book in less than 2 months, and then you're ready to start the process again.
The advantages I see in this are that you'll come across just about every technical problem you're ever likely to meet in Irish trad, you'll get acquainted with an enormous number of tunes (and possibly with a bit of luck a year or so later you'll have most of them in your head and fingers), you'll learn the structure of the tunes, you'll learn a large "vocabulary" of those little note sequences that are always coming up in The Music, and with experience you'll recognise the occasional bits in O'Neill where the transcriber wasn't too sure about the modality of a tune, and you'll do something about it.
You'll also realise that a few tunes are dogs (sorry, Fido!) and you'll not want to hear them again, but you'll also come across some real gems that you'll want to keep and play, and that makes it all worthwhile.
If you do try this, it's a good idea to pencil little memos on the pages of O'Neill so that you know how you're progressing.
Trevor
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
Trevor, I did just that many years ago when I was living 20 miles from the nearest neighbor, not another musician within a hundred miles, and no electricity (working for the Forest Service). In the course of a summer, I did find a few tunes that aren't widely played but that should be, and I learned very quickly to hear the tunes in my head right off the page. But overall, it wasn't near as fun or productive as learning off another player or a recording. In written collections, and O'Neill's in particular, all the tunes tend to start looking the same--too formulaic, with the same weaknesses of transcription or stilted setting repeated over and over. Chalk it up to taste (or lack thereof), or forcing the music into written form, or just over-writing (trying to notate every ornament and grace note)--but playing through a book like that quickly turns to drudgery. I'd recommend it only if you're living alone in a cabin at 8,000 feet, 15 miles from the nearest road, with only mice, nuthatches, and the occasional elk for company....
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: New Tune Needed!
"You'll also realise that a few tunes are dogs" -- ah, well. A lot of the ways tunes are notated are what's to be blamed for that, I think, rather than the actual tune itself. Sometimes I hear tunes being played by a muso that strike me as totally different from the way I first heard them and though the first time through I was unimpressed with the tune, the second time I'm seized with the need to learn such a great tune! Who knows whether that's because I'm now a different muso from the one who heard the first hearing or if the setting was different or if it was the playing of either muso to blame, but though there *are* tunes that are dogs, generally I'd say a great player can make wolves of them all...
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: New Tune Needed!
I take your point, Will, about the tunes being formulaic and starting to look the same (in print, at any rate). That might explain why one or two people on this forum (no names, no pack drill!) have said that the tunes are all the same and that "diddly music" is easy
Btw, Will, many thanks for revealing how you acquired your encyclopaedic knowledge of tunes!
Yes, Zina, I agree. The great musos, of whatever genre or period, can take the most unpromising material and turn it into a masterpiece. Not just the performers, the composers as well. And players do develop and acquire a feeling for tunes they didn't use to like. It can work the other way, too; a tune that gets too much exposure can end up being loathed by all and sundry.
One advantage of collections such as O'Neill is that the Irish trad musician doesn't need books of technical studies to work through like the classical players do; it's already there in The Music, and when you've learned a tune you can go to the session or wherever and perform it. Off hand, the only classical violin studies I can think of that can also be played in performance are the 24 virtuoso caprices by Paganini, and there are probably fewer than 1% of classical violinists who can do them justice.
Trevor
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
I do have a copy of O'Neill's but it wasn't written for the short sighted. :>)) Of course, you can get them all in ABC format and print out larger copies, these days.
http://ecf-guest.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/oneills/
I do like to have spells working my way through tune books, though, and agree that there are benefits as Trevor suggests. However, the better tunes don't always reveal themselves after one or two plays, i.e you might have to give a "dog" lots of love and patience before it starts to wag its tail at you. :>))
John
# Posted on January 4th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: New Tune Needed!
I agree with that, John. On many an occasion I've played a tune through from the dots, written it off as uninspired and uninspiring, only to hear a rendition on a CD some time later and think "fantastic tune, must learn it!"...
When I first started playing the fiddle (some years after giving up on the classical stuff), I used to play through tunebooks, which was, as Will says, a largely unsatisfactory experience. The tunes that would jump out at me were, almost always (even if I was unaware of it at the time), those that I'd heard on recordings.
These days, if I learn a tune from the dots (only), I'll spend maybe a week "absorbing" the tune, letting its character develop as if I'd been hearing it a session for a while. It's probably a reflection on my limitations as a player, but I find that even then, it takes months of having it "in the repertoire" before such a tune feels as natural as one that's been learnt from a recording or a session.
# Posted on January 5th 2004 by rog
Re: New Tune Needed!
No matter what type of music you're considering, the dots are only broad guidelines. It's comparable to a car journey where you're using something like a 4 miles-to-the-inch map. It will certainly tell you how to get from A to B, but it won't tell you the beauty of the scenery, of the little villages and cottages, of the old churches, etc. You only see these things by actually travelling the route.
Trevor
# Posted on January 5th 2004 by Trevor Jennings
Re: New Tune Needed!
John, I agree with your point about the size of the print in O'Neill. The only thing is, it could encourage a quicker memory!
I use special prescription glasses for reading music (especially with reference to my orchestral work), and have done so for many years. Normally I use bi-focals, and these are an entertaining disaster as far as reading music on a stand is concerned. With bi-focals I'm liable to "see" anything from 4 to 6 lines on the stave, and notes and accidentals can mysteriously and suddenly disappear, or duplicate themselves. Even when not reading the dots, as in a session, and I'm wearing bi-focals, I don't look at my fiddle, for I'll as like as not see 3 or 5 strings, and God knows where my fingers seem to be placed!
Trevor
# Posted on January 5th 2004 by Trevor Jennings