Given all the posts on this site, it may very well be that someone already mentioned this, but here goes. I mentioned in a prior post that I record my fiddle practices to check for problem areas and progress. I recently decided to try the whistle. So, I just purchased a Walton's whistle with accompanying CD and book. After trying some of the early tunes on the whistle, I noted that there were some good tunes at the end. The CD has a whistle player and a guitarist. So, I put the CD on and play the fiddle along with the whistle tunes. I would recommend this for new fiddlers as a way of working on timing, intonation and learning a tune. You can really tell when you are off and it is very enjoyable when you are spot on.
That sounds like a really good idea. Something that I've always liked doing is playing along with my favourite CDs; it can be a real blast if it's someone you really admire. Probably a bit more challenging than playing along with a tutor cd, but if you're unsure of being able to keep up, use one of the programmes around that slows the music down without altering the pitch, like Transcribe. It's really useful for getting used to playing with other people who don't stop if you lose the thread of the tune...you just have to pick it up and keep going. Really good training for consistency and listening to others without getting distracted.
I too recently learned a few tunes on the whistle, and interestingly I now play those tunes on the fiddle slightly differently, incorporating things like grace notes at points that arent as obvious on the fiddle as they are on the whistle. I suppose it offers another perspective from which to view the tune.
Aye Pearse, I used to think this was so obvious, but I was always surprised by the number of musicians whose record or CD collection consisted mostly of music being played on their chosen instrument.
I have a lot of those, but I have always gathered up loads of ALL other instruments too, cause I believe there's nothing like playing along with other instruments to hear how your own one sounds with them & you learn so much from this.
Plus, of course all that can be gleaned from just hearing the tunes being played, using the limitations or not, of each instrument & how that changes the tune each time.
I've always believed that it's hunkydory to learn tunes from whatever sources you can. But learning from sheet music or CDs is learning tunes, not learning music. Playing along with a CD is an exercise in keeping up and getting back on your horse if you fall off, but the dimension of interacting with other players is entirely absent, and 'tis this that makes good ITM sound good and (in a session anyway) a pleasure to play. I appear to be finding myself in agreement with Michael here. That's the last time I drink that cheap Christmas brandy on a Sunday.
I received a suggestion not long ago for another practice tool that has helped me at least as much as playing along with tapes and CDs.
My acquaintance reccommended using a metronome, at various tempos, while practicing a tune. I had never used one before, and I found that it brought into focus where I would speed up, where I would tend to kind of "slide through" passages wthout really attacking the notes, it seems to help my bowing structure, etc. Good stuff for me, anyway.
Being rather out of the mainstream in many ways, I am likely bringing up something very redundant, but I thought it might be helpful to other hackers like myself.
Someone gave me one of those clockwork jobs with a very loud click and a swinging arm. It's much better than one of those tiny electronic ones that you have to hunch over to see. This one would work for you 30 feet away! A metronome is certainly a very good fault-finding tool. I think that's its main use. You still have to work on your own internal one though!
I went and read the link llig (Michael?) put in this thread, and I agree with him 100%. Since I have played guitar for 40+ years, I have spent a lot of time playing in bands for audiences, especially in bars. You just can't beat playing live with other musicians. When things all come together it is magic. I think that is the reason that I submitted this post in the first place. Even though I was playing with a CD, I was getting a bit of that playing with others feeling. I guess my point was the whistle CD only has a whistle player and a guitarist, so when you practice with it, you are the only fiddle player. I have done my time playing with Kevin Burke's instructional tapes, but it is different to play along with a CD that does not have a fiddler. When it sounds bad, it's you. When it sounds good, it's you. So, in the absence of live human beings, it is a happy medium, and a good way to practice.
Good point pearse, many of the tutorials and books for this music can be used for any instrument. There is nothing in Matt Cranich's fiddle book that prevents a whistler from learning tunes from it! And, as you point out, same goes for whistle stuff. Mechanics of the ornamentation are different, but every tool that moves you forward is a good one!!!!
I have a couple of tunes now in wide circulation and can tell you that not every writing is fair to the original. Sometimes for convenience notes will be moved up or down to make a tune easier to play - mostly nowadays on fiddle - and the result is somewhat like frozen pizza from the grocery store, looks, feels, smells like it but it ain't real!
Tutor tapes/CDs etc also like to for cut corners to make it all work better for the seller, and thats exactly what is happening to ITM today. Money and the bottom line is turning it into something entirely alien to the original.
Get the original recording/dots and follow ON every instrument completely EVEN if writ in an odd key such as Bb or C or whatever.
Lately my missus loves to play the Foggy Dew on Violin - she is a Classical player - from hearing me learning it on the Concertina - but I am playing it the old way NOT off of some grabilcan Celtic bulls***t publication.
That's a tad harsh Mr U! If all people ever did was play off tutors that might be true, but any number of players accessing this site (including some very fine ones I might add) have had useful recourse to tutors, especially those without easy access to living breathing teachers. If people get the bug for this music they move along soon enough and find the human beings to play with and the fine recordings to listen to. It's a long road picking up this stuff from scratch and there's any number of ways to hone your skills.
On the other hand, where would we be without old curmudgeons waving their moth-eaten concertinas around their heads breathing fire and spitting black pudding as they watch their Muse "by a pimply age brought down"?! So good health to you and Mrs U.
Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Given all the posts on this site, it may very well be that someone already mentioned this, but here goes. I mentioned in a prior post that I record my fiddle practices to check for problem areas and progress. I recently decided to try the whistle. So, I just purchased a Walton's whistle with accompanying CD and book. After trying some of the early tunes on the whistle, I noted that there were some good tunes at the end. The CD has a whistle player and a guitarist. So, I put the CD on and play the fiddle along with the whistle tunes. I would recommend this for new fiddlers as a way of working on timing, intonation and learning a tune. You can really tell when you are off and it is very enjoyable when you are spot on.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by pearse
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
That sounds like a really good idea. Something that I've always liked doing is playing along with my favourite CDs; it can be a real blast if it's someone you really admire. Probably a bit more challenging than playing along with a tutor cd, but if you're unsure of being able to keep up, use one of the programmes around that slows the music down without altering the pitch, like Transcribe. It's really useful for getting used to playing with other people who don't stop if you lose the thread of the tune...you just have to pick it up and keep going. Really good training for consistency and listening to others without getting distracted.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Ger the Rigger
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
I too recently learned a few tunes on the whistle, and interestingly I now play those tunes on the fiddle slightly differently, incorporating things like grace notes at points that arent as obvious on the fiddle as they are on the whistle. I suppose it offers another perspective from which to view the tune.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Splendid Isolation
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Aye Pearse, I used to think this was so obvious, but I was always surprised by the number of musicians whose record or CD collection consisted mostly of music being played on their chosen instrument.
I have a lot of those, but I have always gathered up loads of ALL other instruments too, cause I believe there's nothing like playing along with other instruments to hear how your own one sounds with them & you learn so much from this.
Plus, of course all that can be gleaned from just hearing the tunes being played, using the limitations or not, of each instrument & how that changes the tune each time.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Just as long as we are talking only about using this a s a learning tool. Otherwise, beware ...
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/11775
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by ...
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
I've always believed that it's hunkydory to learn tunes from whatever sources you can. But learning from sheet music or CDs is learning tunes, not learning music. Playing along with a CD is an exercise in keeping up and getting back on your horse if you fall off, but the dimension of interacting with other players is entirely absent, and 'tis this that makes good ITM sound good and (in a session anyway) a pleasure to play. I appear to be finding myself in agreement with Michael here. That's the last time I drink that cheap Christmas brandy on a Sunday.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
I received a suggestion not long ago for another practice tool that has helped me at least as much as playing along with tapes and CDs.
My acquaintance reccommended using a metronome, at various tempos, while practicing a tune. I had never used one before, and I found that it brought into focus where I would speed up, where I would tend to kind of "slide through" passages wthout really attacking the notes, it seems to help my bowing structure, etc. Good stuff for me, anyway.
Being rather out of the mainstream in many ways, I am likely bringing up something very redundant, but I thought it might be helpful to other hackers like myself.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Piece
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Someone gave me one of those clockwork jobs with a very loud click and a swinging arm. It's much better than one of those tiny electronic ones that you have to hunch over to see. This one would work for you 30 feet away! A metronome is certainly a very good fault-finding tool. I think that's its main use. You still have to work on your own internal one though!
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Steve Shaw
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
I went and read the link llig (Michael?) put in this thread, and I agree with him 100%. Since I have played guitar for 40+ years, I have spent a lot of time playing in bands for audiences, especially in bars. You just can't beat playing live with other musicians. When things all come together it is magic. I think that is the reason that I submitted this post in the first place. Even though I was playing with a CD, I was getting a bit of that playing with others feeling. I guess my point was the whistle CD only has a whistle player and a guitarist, so when you practice with it, you are the only fiddle player. I have done my time playing with Kevin Burke's instructional tapes, but it is different to play along with a CD that does not have a fiddler. When it sounds bad, it's you. When it sounds good, it's you. So, in the absence of live human beings, it is a happy medium, and a good way to practice.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by pearse
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
"So, in the absence of live human beings,....." No Pearse, I'm not even going to go there!
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Ptarmigan
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Good point pearse, many of the tutorials and books for this music can be used for any instrument. There is nothing in Matt Cranich's fiddle book that prevents a whistler from learning tunes from it! And, as you point out, same goes for whistle stuff. Mechanics of the ornamentation are different, but every tool that moves you forward is a good one!!!!
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Well no actually.
I have a couple of tunes now in wide circulation and can tell you that not every writing is fair to the original. Sometimes for convenience notes will be moved up or down to make a tune easier to play - mostly nowadays on fiddle - and the result is somewhat like frozen pizza from the grocery store, looks, feels, smells like it but it ain't real!
Tutor tapes/CDs etc also like to for cut corners to make it all work better for the seller, and thats exactly what is happening to ITM today. Money and the bottom line is turning it into something entirely alien to the original.
Get the original recording/dots and follow ON every instrument completely EVEN if writ in an odd key such as Bb or C or whatever.
Lately my missus loves to play the Foggy Dew on Violin - she is a Classical player - from hearing me learning it on the Concertina - but I am playing it the old way NOT off of some grabilcan Celtic bulls***t publication.
# Posted on March 19th 2007 by Schlongbow
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
That's a tad harsh Mr U! If all people ever did was play off tutors that might be true, but any number of players accessing this site (including some very fine ones I might add) have had useful recourse to tutors, especially those without easy access to living breathing teachers. If people get the bug for this music they move along soon enough and find the human beings to play with and the fine recordings to listen to. It's a long road picking up this stuff from scratch and there's any number of ways to hone your skills.
On the other hand, where would we be without old curmudgeons waving their moth-eaten concertinas around their heads breathing fire and spitting black pudding as they watch their Muse "by a pimply age brought down"?! So good health to you and Mrs U.
# Posted on March 20th 2007 by Ger the Rigger
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
"Sometimes for convenience notes will be moved up or down to make a tune easier to play - mostly nowadays on fiddle - "
Maybe people just hate your tunes.
# Posted on March 20th 2007 by bb
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
bb - take your pills dear, you sound like an old maid gnawing on her lagerphone!
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by Schlongbow
Re: Fiddle Player? Buy a learn tin whistle CD
Whats a lagerphone?
# Posted on March 21st 2007 by bb