I'm new to sessions and have a question I haven't been able to get answered locally. I hope someone here can give an answer.
I notice tunes are often put together in medeleys- is this done with rhyme and reason or does one just put together tunes that sound and feel good together?
Rhythm as opposed to rhyme...... jigs with jigs, reels with reels etc.....
All rules can occasionally be broken, I'm guessing.....
I personally like for the tunes of a medley not to be too similar sounding to each other- it's bad enough that some people think our music all sounds the same as it is without that encouragement!
Thank Morn- Given that this music is dance music, it makes sense that rhythm guide the matching of tunes. And like you, I like it betteer when melodies are different.
and also most people refer to these aggregations of tunes as "sets" , as in sets of tunes.
I was discussing this very topic with someone recently trying to explain what makes a set appeal to me as a listener and could only think of examples of sets that grabbed me.. The is something deeply satisfying to me in the changeup between the tunes when it works or just lays dead on the floor when it doesn't.
It was "settage" that first hooked me on ITM -- the idea of set as "surprise meta-tune" if that makes sense to anyone. Even before I really ever tried to play ITM, I remember the very set that first hooked me played by Kevin Burke with the late Micheal O Dohmnaill live in a bar in Blooomington, Indiana in 1980ish. The set was Caislean Na Nor Bobby Casey's Hornpipe on If the Cap Fits. (the listing for the track is incorrectly listed on the recording list here on the site.) Two great tunes - One fabulous set. The changeup in this tune still takes my breath away, it's so sweet.
But's sets can be sly in similarities between tunes.. I love John Vesey and Eddie Cahill's Boys of Ballisodare/Duke of Leinster which I think turns on some swingy sort of scooting thing in the tempo of the Duke that is perfectly set up by the business in the Boys...
this is so subjective ... but ya know i know what I like .. so it must be art .
Many medleys in sessions have been put together by whoever was there before you (or I) came on the scene. A good many of these are copied from records. This normally is a guarantee that their tunes sound good together. It's not a good idea to introduce an individual medley featuring a tune that is already played in one of the group's medleys - they'll prefer it in their usual medley, and won't want to play it in yours as well.
But fear not, sometimes when the moon is full, these rules may be broken..!
Track 8 on the Edel Fox and Rónán O Flaherty album. The Connachtman's Rambles into The Sligo Maid. This is the only track on the album (as far as my memory serves me) which Rónán plays alone. He pulls of this change very well I think.
My husband and I have found that. as with most Cape Breton sets that we like so much, dancers really respond to rhythm changes within sets - as well as key changes. As with anything else, I would think moderation rules during the whole of a dance evening. Same with other so-called "tricks of the trade". Like Peter Barnes cautions - OVERDONE is more boring than not using musicality at all... but let your own sense guide, if it doesn't feel natural to you everyone else will surely pick up on that! Just my two bits...
Yes, that much is obvious- I think I'm asking if that's all there is to it, or if there are accepted practices guiding the pairing of tunes. I like to at least get an understanding of a tradition before I mess with it.
The responses have been both interesting and helpful. And I think I need to visit a few more sessions, to see how others are doing it.
"Many people actually hate stealing sets from recordings."
Many more, when it comes to the crunch, just can't think of any other tune to go into. Unfortunaely, I fall into both camps. I love the Tarbolton *reel*, but the Tarbolton *set*, as played by Michael Coleman and everyone since, I find - Lord grant me forgiveness for saying it - dreary as Hell. I am not condemning Coleman's own taste in tune juxtapostion (Heaven forbid! I'd be dismembered from the Michael Coleman cloning society. Oh Darn! I wasn't supposed to breathe a word. I'll have to arrange for all those who read this thread to disappear under mysterious circumstances now. Don't worry. You won't feel a thing.) - or mustard - but I feel that every good tune needs a frequent change of environment - even just the odd brief excursion. Playing the same sets over and over is like drinking with the same people every night, having the same conversation, watching the same episode of Richard and Judy...
But when I start off a set, at the end of the first tune, whatever tune, if any, I had in mind to follow it with, my fingers and my 'inner ear' lead me, against my will, into whatever tune i am used to hearing it or playing it with. Waht's a man to do? Some of us were born to be sheeps.
I like the Tarbolton set, but I first heard it on Martin Byrnes's LP, where his singing fiddle style (I can't improve on the sleevenotes here) and Reg Hall's piano carry it - and the other sets - along in a very exhilarating way. To be honest The Longford Collector and The Sailor's Bonnet strike me as rather weak tunes, but a lot depends on who's playing them.
Medeleys
Medeleys
I'm new to sessions and have a question I haven't been able to get answered locally. I hope someone here can give an answer.
I notice tunes are often put together in medeleys- is this done with rhyme and reason or does one just put together tunes that sound and feel good together?
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by Snakefingers
Re: Medeleys
Rhythm as opposed to rhyme...... jigs with jigs, reels with reels etc.....
All rules can occasionally be broken, I'm guessing.....
I personally like for the tunes of a medley not to be too similar sounding to each other- it's bad enough that some people think our music all sounds the same as it is without that encouragement!
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by morning star
Re: Medeleys
Thank Morn- Given that this music is dance music, it makes sense that rhythm guide the matching of tunes. And like you, I like it betteer when melodies are different.
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by Snakefingers
Re: Medeleys
and also most people refer to these aggregations of tunes as "sets" , as in sets of tunes.
I was discussing this very topic with someone recently trying to explain what makes a set appeal to me as a listener and could only think of examples of sets that grabbed me.. The is something deeply satisfying to me in the changeup between the tunes when it works or just lays dead on the floor when it doesn't.
It was "settage" that first hooked me on ITM -- the idea of set as "surprise meta-tune" if that makes sense to anyone. Even before I really ever tried to play ITM, I remember the very set that first hooked me played by Kevin Burke with the late Micheal O Dohmnaill live in a bar in Blooomington, Indiana in 1980ish. The set was Caislean Na Nor Bobby Casey's Hornpipe on If the Cap Fits. (the listing for the track is incorrectly listed on the recording list here on the site.) Two great tunes - One fabulous set. The changeup in this tune still takes my breath away, it's so sweet.
But's sets can be sly in similarities between tunes.. I love John Vesey and Eddie Cahill's Boys of Ballisodare/Duke of Leinster which I think turns on some swingy sort of scooting thing in the tempo of the Duke that is perfectly set up by the business in the Boys...
this is so subjective ... but ya know i know what I like .. so it must be art
.
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by ratbiscuit
Re: Medeleys
Many medleys in sessions have been put together by whoever was there before you (or I) came on the scene. A good many of these are copied from records. This normally is a guarantee that their tunes sound good together. It's not a good idea to introduce an individual medley featuring a tune that is already played in one of the group's medleys - they'll prefer it in their usual medley, and won't want to play it in yours as well.
But fear not, sometimes when the moon is full, these rules may be broken..!
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by nicholas
Re: Medeleys
its a good thing to change key w/ each tune, otherwise people think you're playing a 10 minute tune.
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by rob_handel
Re: Medeleys
Many people actually hate stealing sets from recordings.
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by slainte
Re: Medeleys
Example of nice change between a jig and a reel;
Track 8 on the Edel Fox and Rónán O Flaherty album. The Connachtman's Rambles into The Sligo Maid. This is the only track on the album (as far as my memory serves me) which Rónán plays alone. He pulls of this change very well I think.
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by proinsiasrua
Re: sets
My husband and I have found that. as with most Cape Breton sets that we like so much, dancers really respond to rhythm changes within sets - as well as key changes. As with anything else, I would think moderation rules during the whole of a dance evening. Same with other so-called "tricks of the trade". Like Peter Barnes cautions - OVERDONE is more boring than not using musicality at all... but let your own sense guide, if it doesn't feel natural to you everyone else will surely pick up on that! Just my two bits...
# Posted on January 14th 2007 by vonnieestes
Re: Medeleys
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4947/comments#comment103903
# Posted on January 15th 2007 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Medeleys
Yes, it's done with the rhyme and reason of putting together tunes that sound and feel good together?
# Posted on January 15th 2007 by llig leahcim
Re: Medeleys
Yes, that much is obvious- I think I'm asking if that's all there is to it, or if there are accepted practices guiding the pairing of tunes. I like to at least get an understanding of a tradition before I mess with it.
The responses have been both interesting and helpful. And I think I need to visit a few more sessions, to see how others are doing it.
# Posted on January 15th 2007 by Snakefingers
Re: Medeleys
"Many people actually hate stealing sets from recordings."
Many more, when it comes to the crunch, just can't think of any other tune to go into. Unfortunaely, I fall into both camps. I love the Tarbolton *reel*, but the Tarbolton *set*, as played by Michael Coleman and everyone since, I find - Lord grant me forgiveness for saying it - dreary as Hell. I am not condemning Coleman's own taste in tune juxtapostion (Heaven forbid! I'd be dismembered from the Michael Coleman cloning society. Oh Darn! I wasn't supposed to breathe a word. I'll have to arrange for all those who read this thread to disappear under mysterious circumstances now. Don't worry. You won't feel a thing.) - or mustard - but I feel that every good tune needs a frequent change of environment - even just the odd brief excursion. Playing the same sets over and over is like drinking with the same people every night, having the same conversation, watching the same episode of Richard and Judy...
But when I start off a set, at the end of the first tune, whatever tune, if any, I had in mind to follow it with, my fingers and my 'inner ear' lead me, against my will, into whatever tune i am used to hearing it or playing it with. Waht's a man to do? Some of us were born to be sheeps.
# Posted on January 15th 2007 by ragaman
Re: Medeleys
OK - the 'Richard and Judy' bit was taking it a trifle too far.
# Posted on January 15th 2007 by ragaman
Re: Medeleys
Ye I kno what you mean about the Tarbolton set
# Posted on January 17th 2007 by peter wsll
Re: Medeleys
I like the Tarbolton set, but I first heard it on Martin Byrnes's LP, where his singing fiddle style (I can't improve on the sleevenotes here) and Reg Hall's piano carry it - and the other sets - along in a very exhilarating way. To be honest The Longford Collector and The Sailor's Bonnet strike me as rather weak tunes, but a lot depends on who's playing them.
# Posted on January 17th 2007 by nicholas
Re: Medeleys
N.B. - I like those tunes, don't get me wrong!
# Posted on January 17th 2007 by nicholas