In the vernacular one might say, "I do not have my chops."
About a year ago I purchased a Low C whistle. Shortly after I had an injury on my right hand.
I am only now getting back to the Low C. The Low D is coming along well. To be honest I do not have my chops & wish not to cause further injury. So, I have temporarily stepped aside from our session.
I plan to play more music. Once I am satisfied with the progress I will be at every session. The question;
"Is it possible to improve your session playing while not actually playing in session?"
I am listening to as much music as I can. When I do play I work very hard at what all flute/whistle players want. Good tone (we love the Bottom D) while keeping my hands somewhat relaxed.
I would also like to travel to the big city & drink Guinness while 'listening' in on different sessions.
BTW "The Big City" includes Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sonoma (?), Reno (? ?)
My hope, of course, is to get my chops back. In the process it would be grand if I may become a better musician, develop my ear, & have a greater appreciation for what we all love.
Cheers!
"is it possible to improve your session playing while not actually playing in session?"
Per more than one teacher of greatness, James Kelly to name one, staying away from sessions is THE way to improve your playing. Is the primary goal to make the scene at the session, or is the primary goal to be a lovely traditional irish musician (which necessarily comprises, mastering the fundamentals of being a lovely musician, period)? If the primary goal is the latter, stay away from sessions. Once you are a l.t.i.m., you will be able to enjoy lovely sessions with like-minded players in any event.
Put another way, is it possible to improve your ear, understanding and playing if strapped to or dependant on a session or sessions? (Cat among the pidgeons?!, two cats, ceemonster included...) The progress you can make outside of that influence may pleasantly surprise you, but hopefully won't completely spoil your session addiction...
Hey, your legs and feet are alright aren't they? So go out and do some dancing...get physical with the music...
I think it is definitely possible to improve your session playing by practicing at home *up to a point*.
Certainly if you're at a point where you'd be "causing injury" with your playing in a session, then by all means, stay at home and get some proficiency with those whistles.
However, from my personal experience, my *session* playing generally only improves with practice *playing in sessions*! Proficiency with your instrument and techniques is only part of the battle. You have to learn how to be comfortable playing with other people. That can involve listening and adaptation, and it can involve dealing with nervousness as well.
My playing improves by leaps and bounds by playing with people that are more experienced than I am - that improvement comes much faster for me than home practice. But I find both to be important. Nowadays, I tend to do more practicing of tunes when I'm by myself, and the physical (and mental) techniques for playing come more from playing with other people - with the exception of when I'm working on one specific technique...
BTW, I find listening to be a practicable skill as well. Listening involves a lot more than just letting the music flow over you. Learning how to listen is something that a lot of people don't think about. Personally, I practice listening during my daily commute. I put the old mp3 player on random, so that it plays tracks that I am not real familiar with, and I practice listening the first time through the A part of a tune, then try to lilt along with the recording the second time to see how well I listened. Practicing that skill is important too, and you do get MUCH better at it!
Oh, and where I come from, people that play Irish tend to cringe when they hear the word "chops" used to describe someone's ability on an instrument... For me, it brings up images of mandolin players doing "boom-chuck" accompaniment in a bluegrass jam.
It's almost as grating as saying "that's a tasty tune"
my playing improves much more when I'm listening. Does it improve when I'm just listening? Yeah, definitely. I think technique is the key, and one of the reasons I Iove this music. The techniques involved do not need those regular top ups that more technically demanding music needs
When you listen to music: Listen! Close your eyes (if it helps) and concentrate! Listen for the timing. Try listening for each separate instrument. I trance-out when I listen to music this way. Now I have a hard time NOT listening when music is playing (i.e. there is NO background music to my ear). Learn the major intervals. Record your sessions you attend. For a monophonic instrument (whistles), the better you train your ear, the better a whistler you'll be.
I've found that if I can't sing a part, I usually can't whistle it either. Although this may just be me, though.
I agree, llig, I think listening to a lot of music is important to being able to play it well. Especially for those of us that didn't grow up around the music.
And I think once you get to a point of proficiency with your instrument, listening to great players can be ultra-useful in learning new techniques, and for getting the swing, lift, and drive ingrained.
But to get better at playing with other people, I really think the only way to do that is by actually playing with other people...
I didn't play much fiddle most of the winter - the first real slow down in the action since taking up irish music and the fiddle.
Much to my surprise my fiddle playing remarkably improved. I didn't have the physical stamina to play for hours and hours when I picked up again, but the way I was hearing phrasing in my head changed a great deal, and I found myself bowing tunes in new ways with no effort.
Somebody suggested that sometimes you need to let things settle. We absorb and absorb and absorb. I've been going to workshops and lessons and analyzing recordings intensely for more than 5 years. I believe the break allowed alot of that stuff to really take root.
On the matter of playing in sessions - loud large and out of control can really trash your playing. The opposite experience can be had too.
My legs are fine ceolachan, thanks. It is dance music after all. Reverend; Sorry about using the term 'chops'. I have always heard it but have no idea where it comes from.
I do look foward to playing in session - when the time is right. Nothing wrong with taking control now & again. Being a musician we can all appreciate this: when you play alone your greatest critic is in the room listening. In that case it is impossible to pawn anything off on another player. That said, I welcome all your advice. The idea of developing the skill of listening ~ the importance of playing with others ~ & if I get this right there is something beyond the session regarding technique.
Another part of playing alone is I am revisiting all those slow aires. The faster reels & jigs (mazurkas) I am playing more slowly than normal. With the faster speeds played in session I can push it to a point. Once I hit my limit the tone falls off something terrible. It is called rehabilitation & I do believe it the best course ~ in the long run. I am playing regularly with one other musician on a weekly basis. Just like they say in the movies, 'I will be back!'
Just saw your post _Steph_ Right on! the absorption ratio.
greenman; I do have some recor(dings)
Cheers!
God bless you revereand, and I'm inclinded to be in your camp, to a point ~ why do it in a vacuum, invite someone over to share the music with, at whatever speed that suits your current percieved disability. You could always make sure there's a six-pack or a single malt on hand, and maybe even some munchies. That is my favourite session, in a house with just a few folks so you can really 'listen' to what's happening, including with yourself and in contrast to those invited others. Hell, there are several cats here who I'm sure would be more than ready to retract their claws for good company, a good tune and a brew... (I'm more easily made submissive with a good single malt, favouring Islays, but it isn't a requirement where good company and music are concerned...)
I still think you should get out and exercise your lower limbs with a bit of dancing...
The bit about taking it away from the session, if you and a few others, or even one other, get 'tight' (I'm not so against the use of "chops", besides, the rev is sonewhere in the U.S. of A., to set his attitude geographically for starters.) ~ then the whole scene benefits, including the session. Good control and lift can be infectious and could, I only say 'could', improve the sessions you attend. However, mostly, session playing promotes bad practices ~ as someone suggested, lack of control, more manic than music. That isn't always the case, but it does, in my experience, tend to be more common than otherwise...
There is a real joy to be had in 'few' rather than 'many', and a house sesh is more along that line of being. You can control the numbers, and since it is your house sesh, you can direct it where you feel you need to go to get your CHOPS back in shape...
'Chops' refers to the jaws / cheeks and is not uncommon usage amongst brass and wind players ~ and not just amongst those of a jazz persuasion... With brass players it also tends to include the lips, the source for all buzzing....
chops. chops. chops. chops. CHOPS!!! it's accepted and common musicianspeak., fingernails notwithstanding.
so is, "woodshedding," which is what you do at home while you're staying out of the session, working on your chops.....that is, when you're not growing "big ears" (a jazz term that is a compliment to a player whose very perceiptive listening has paid off in their....chops) by listening to the greats on the home player of your choice!
I can't confirm this but I once heard that the term "woodshedding" was first coined by jazz musician Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. It was his term for serious, solitary practice. I rather like it, it implies that one is taking the tune "out to the woodshed" for a little first hand attention.
yes, parker apparently hung and hung and hung, around, watching the veterans when he was a kid wanting to play ....that, and woodshedding, created an "overnight" sensation.
this type of story was also told about kurt cobain, who as a kid in washington state lurked around band practices for his punk-guitar idols when he wasn't woodshedding. when he too became an "overnight" sensation, i believe it was the guitar player of the Melvins who said somjething like, hey, isn't that that kid who was always hanging around the garage at our practices???
Chops is a term I always heard from jazz players, and the Reverend obviously has had bad experiences with those types. He bristles at the term for the same reason my dog barks at the doorbell--it means that strangers are in the area!
I wasn't trying to say that 'chops' is an unacceptable term or anything. I knew exactly what TheMuse was trying to say.
But Al, you're right, I bristle at the use of the term in the same way that I do when someone sitting in a session asks "what is that song?" after a set of tunes... Or comes walking in and asks "is this an open jam?"
It's just that 'chops' is a term that I hear used to to talk about players of forms of music other than Irish, and so it raises my awareness that the person might not be particularly familiar with Irish music.
As I mentioned, I hear the term used mostly to talk about bluegrass mandolin accompaniment, which occasionally rears its ugly head in Irish sessions around here, and is never a welcome addition. (Just google "bluegrass chops", and you'll see what I'm talking about).
I am willing to stand corrected if you tell me that 'chops' is often used in Irish music to describe a person's ability. It just doesn't seem to be that way around where I live.
Hallelujah! ~ pass the mustard... Actually, some well known old sources also dabbled in that realm of music too ~ jazz, or more as they called it, 'dance bands'...including sax... One night it would be ceili band, then next night it would be dance band... One night it would be the fiddle, the next night it would be the sax... It's a crazy world that sometimes just doesn't have the sense we'd like it to have...as we percieve things...
I know exactly what you mean, Pete, I bristle when I hear some of those terms myself, for the same reasons. As my dog would say: "Bow-wow-wow," strangers in the area, possible danger lurks at the door! (Of course, I have a Maltese, so when you picture this fierce creature, picture the "tin whistle" of the dog world!)
LOL ceolachan, we constantly have to battle that stereotype, especially out here in the wild wild west.
Then again, a lot of people on this side of the pond think that y'all are a bunch of stuck up powdered wigs, living in the renaissance. (Not those of us that know better, of course...)
What's wrong with powdered wigs and the Renaissance? I'm off to fix chitlins and gravy and barbecue a possum while I'm at it...maybe a grey squirrel or two too... So how is your coon skin cap Pete? And how do you manage to keep your powder dry?
Well, that should keep folks at a distance... I remember being out with a stupid Irish setter who got it in his mind to chase down a skunk and give it a good shake. Have you ever seen the cloud a skunk can make? That was hell, he was an overly friendly dog anyway. We used up a lot of tomato juice and other things trying to cure the result. That dog was left outside tied to a run for ages with us ignoring the whining...
You know, from a distance, I kind of like the smell of skunk, so you're welcome around here. I'll leave the powdered wigs in the boxed, unless you want to play dress-up... I'll get the blue wode out and we can have a tatoo session in the good ol' fashioned way, drawing blood...
I am getting so hungry I forgot why I came here. I will freely admit to being a new comer to Irish traditional music. I have only played about 20 years. But if you really want to check credentials . . . I grew up on southern cooking & some of the culinary masterpieces mentioned here . . . I don't think I would want to sink my 'chops' into. Frankly I have never heard of anyone eating possum. How is it prepared?
The Value of listening
The Value of listening
In the vernacular one might say, "I do not have my chops."
About a year ago I purchased a Low C whistle. Shortly after I had an injury on my right hand.
I am only now getting back to the Low C. The Low D is coming along well. To be honest I do not have my chops & wish not to cause further injury. So, I have temporarily stepped aside from our session.
I plan to play more music. Once I am satisfied with the progress I will be at every session. The question;
"Is it possible to improve your session playing while not actually playing in session?"
I am listening to as much music as I can. When I do play I work very hard at what all flute/whistle players want. Good tone (we love the Bottom D) while keeping my hands somewhat relaxed.
I would also like to travel to the big city & drink Guinness while 'listening' in on different sessions.
BTW "The Big City" includes Sacramento, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Sonoma (?), Reno (? ?)
My hope, of course, is to get my chops back. In the process it would be grand if I may become a better musician, develop my ear, & have a greater appreciation for what we all love.
Cheers!
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Random_notes
Re: The Value of listening
"is it possible to improve your session playing while not actually playing in session?"
Per more than one teacher of greatness, James Kelly to name one, staying away from sessions is THE way to improve your playing. Is the primary goal to make the scene at the session, or is the primary goal to be a lovely traditional irish musician (which necessarily comprises, mastering the fundamentals of being a lovely musician, period)? If the primary goal is the latter, stay away from sessions. Once you are a l.t.i.m., you will be able to enjoy lovely sessions with like-minded players in any event.
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: The Value of listening
Put another way, is it possible to improve your ear, understanding and playing if strapped to or dependant on a session or sessions?
(Cat among the pidgeons?!, two cats, ceemonster included...) The progress you can make outside of that influence may pleasantly surprise you, but hopefully won't completely spoil your session addiction...
Hey, your legs and feet are alright aren't they? So go out and do some dancing...get physical with the music...
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by ceolachan
Hey, only one pidgeon, and with a funked wing too... MEOW!!!
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
I think it is definitely possible to improve your session playing by practicing at home *up to a point*.
Certainly if you're at a point where you'd be "causing injury" with your playing in a session, then by all means, stay at home and get some proficiency with those whistles.
However, from my personal experience, my *session* playing generally only improves with practice *playing in sessions*! Proficiency with your instrument and techniques is only part of the battle. You have to learn how to be comfortable playing with other people. That can involve listening and adaptation, and it can involve dealing with nervousness as well.
My playing improves by leaps and bounds by playing with people that are more experienced than I am - that improvement comes much faster for me than home practice. But I find both to be important. Nowadays, I tend to do more practicing of tunes when I'm by myself, and the physical (and mental) techniques for playing come more from playing with other people - with the exception of when I'm working on one specific technique...
BTW, I find listening to be a practicable skill as well. Listening involves a lot more than just letting the music flow over you. Learning how to listen is something that a lot of people don't think about. Personally, I practice listening during my daily commute. I put the old mp3 player on random, so that it plays tracks that I am not real familiar with, and I practice listening the first time through the A part of a tune, then try to lilt along with the recording the second time to see how well I listened. Practicing that skill is important too, and you do get MUCH better at it!
Pete
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
Oh, and where I come from, people that play Irish tend to cringe when they hear the word "chops" used to describe someone's ability on an instrument... For me, it brings up images of mandolin players doing "boom-chuck" accompaniment in a bluegrass jam.
It's almost as grating as saying "that's a tasty tune"
Pete
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
my playing improves much more when I'm listening. Does it improve when I'm just listening? Yeah, definitely. I think technique is the key, and one of the reasons I Iove this music. The techniques involved do not need those regular top ups that more technically demanding music needs
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by llig leahcim
Re: The Value of listening
When you listen to music: Listen! Close your eyes (if it helps) and concentrate! Listen for the timing. Try listening for each separate instrument. I trance-out when I listen to music this way. Now I have a hard time NOT listening when music is playing (i.e. there is NO background music to my ear). Learn the major intervals. Record your sessions you attend. For a monophonic instrument (whistles), the better you train your ear, the better a whistler you'll be.
I've found that if I can't sing a part, I usually can't whistle it either. Although this may just be me, though.
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by beretta
Re: The Value of listening
I agree, llig, I think listening to a lot of music is important to being able to play it well. Especially for those of us that didn't grow up around the music.
And I think once you get to a point of proficiency with your instrument, listening to great players can be ultra-useful in learning new techniques, and for getting the swing, lift, and drive ingrained.
But to get better at playing with other people, I really think the only way to do that is by actually playing with other people...
Pete
# Posted on September 10th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
I didn't play much fiddle most of the winter - the first real slow down in the action since taking up irish music and the fiddle.
Much to my surprise my fiddle playing remarkably improved. I didn't have the physical stamina to play for hours and hours when I picked up again, but the way I was hearing phrasing in my head changed a great deal, and I found myself bowing tunes in new ways with no effort.
Somebody suggested that sometimes you need to let things settle. We absorb and absorb and absorb. I've been going to workshops and lessons and analyzing recordings intensely for more than 5 years. I believe the break allowed alot of that stuff to really take root.
On the matter of playing in sessions - loud large and out of control can really trash your playing. The opposite experience can be had too.
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by _Steph_
Re: The Value of listening
I think listening while you're playing is the key thing. Trying to get your playing to blend in. Being responsive to the other players.
Playing in a session is one way of learning. Playing to records at home is another.
What helped me was combining these by taping sessions I was playing in and then practicing along with the recorings.
\())
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by greenman
Re: The Value of listening
dings
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by greenman
Re: The Value of listening
My legs are fine ceolachan, thanks. It is dance music after all. Reverend; Sorry about using the term 'chops'. I have always heard it but have no idea where it comes from.
I do look foward to playing in session - when the time is right. Nothing wrong with taking control now & again. Being a musician we can all appreciate this: when you play alone your greatest critic is in the room listening. In that case it is impossible to pawn anything off on another player. That said, I welcome all your advice. The idea of developing the skill of listening ~ the importance of playing with others ~ & if I get this right there is something beyond the session regarding technique.
Another part of playing alone is I am revisiting all those slow aires. The faster reels & jigs (mazurkas) I am playing more slowly than normal. With the faster speeds played in session I can push it to a point. Once I hit my limit the tone falls off something terrible. It is called rehabilitation & I do believe it the best course ~ in the long run. I am playing regularly with one other musician on a weekly basis. Just like they say in the movies, 'I will be back!'
Just saw your post _Steph_ Right on! the absorption ratio.
greenman; I do have some recor(dings)
Cheers!
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Random_notes
Re: The Value of listening
God bless you revereand, and I'm inclinded to be in your camp, to a point ~ why do it in a vacuum, invite someone over to share the music with, at whatever speed that suits your current percieved disability. You could always make sure there's a six-pack or a single malt on hand, and maybe even some munchies. That is my favourite session, in a house with just a few folks so you can really 'listen' to what's happening, including with yourself and in contrast to those invited others. Hell, there are several cats here who I'm sure would be more than ready to retract their claws for good company, a good tune and a brew...
(I'm more easily made submissive with a good single malt, favouring Islays, but it isn't a requirement where good company and music are concerned...)
I still think you should get out and exercise your lower limbs with a bit of dancing...
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
The bit about taking it away from the session, if you and a few others, or even one other, get 'tight' (I'm not so against the use of "chops", besides, the rev is sonewhere in the U.S. of A., to set his attitude geographically for starters.) ~ then the whole scene benefits, including the session. Good control and lift can be infectious and could, I only say 'could', improve the sessions you attend. However, mostly, session playing promotes bad practices ~ as someone suggested, lack of control, more manic than music. That isn't always the case, but it does, in my experience, tend to be more common than otherwise...
There is a real joy to be had in 'few' rather than 'many', and a house sesh is more along that line of being. You can control the numbers, and since it is your house sesh, you can direct it where you feel you need to go to get your CHOPS back in shape...
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
'Chops' refers to the jaws / cheeks and is not uncommon usage amongst brass and wind players ~ and not just amongst those of a jazz persuasion... With brass players it also tends to include the lips, the source for all buzzing....
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
chops. chops. chops. chops. CHOPS!!! it's accepted and common musicianspeak., fingernails notwithstanding.
so is, "woodshedding," which is what you do at home while you're staying out of the session, working on your chops.....that is, when you're not growing "big ears" (a jazz term that is a compliment to a player whose very perceiptive listening has paid off in their....chops) by listening to the greats on the home player of your choice!
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: The Value of listening
I can't confirm this but I once heard that the term "woodshedding" was first coined by jazz musician Charlie "Yardbird" Parker. It was his term for serious, solitary practice. I rather like it, it implies that one is taking the tune "out to the woodshed" for a little first hand attention.
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Murph
Re: The Value of listening
yes, parker apparently hung and hung and hung, around, watching the veterans when he was a kid wanting to play ....that, and woodshedding, created an "overnight" sensation.
this type of story was also told about kurt cobain, who as a kid in washington state lurked around band practices for his punk-guitar idols when he wasn't woodshedding. when he too became an "overnight" sensation, i believe it was the guitar player of the Melvins who said somjething like, hey, isn't that that kid who was always hanging around the garage at our practices???
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceemonster
Re: The Value of listening
Chops is a term I always heard from jazz players, and the Reverend obviously has had bad experiences with those types. He bristles at the term for the same reason my dog barks at the doorbell--it means that strangers are in the area!
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: The Value of listening
I wasn't trying to say that 'chops' is an unacceptable term or anything. I knew exactly what TheMuse was trying to say.
But Al, you're right, I bristle at the use of the term in the same way that I do when someone sitting in a session asks "what is that song?" after a set of tunes... Or comes walking in and asks "is this an open jam?"
It's just that 'chops' is a term that I hear used to to talk about players of forms of music other than Irish, and so it raises my awareness that the person might not be particularly familiar with Irish music.
As I mentioned, I hear the term used mostly to talk about bluegrass mandolin accompaniment, which occasionally rears its ugly head in Irish sessions around here, and is never a welcome addition. (Just google "bluegrass chops", and you'll see what I'm talking about).
I am willing to stand corrected if you tell me that 'chops' is often used in Irish music to describe a person's ability. It just doesn't seem to be that way around where I live.
Pete
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
Hallelujah! ~ pass the mustard... Actually, some well known old sources also dabbled in that realm of music too ~ jazz, or more as they called it, 'dance bands'...including sax... One night it would be ceili band, then next night it would be dance band... One night it would be the fiddle, the next night it would be the sax... It's a crazy world that sometimes just doesn't have the sense we'd like it to have...as we percieve things...
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
From this side of the Atlantic bog you're still cowboys and indians Rev, especially in your neck of the toolies... Yeeha!
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
I know exactly what you mean, Pete, I bristle when I hear some of those terms myself, for the same reasons. As my dog would say: "Bow-wow-wow," strangers in the area, possible danger lurks at the door! (Of course, I have a Maltese, so when you picture this fierce creature, picture the "tin whistle" of the dog world!)
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: The Value of listening
LOL ceolachan, we constantly have to battle that stereotype, especially out here in the wild wild west.
Then again, a lot of people on this side of the pond think that y'all are a bunch of stuck up powdered wigs, living in the renaissance. (Not those of us that know better, of course...)
Pete
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
Y'all making pork CHOPS tonight? Say what now? Should I bring the applesauce?
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: The Value of listening
See? The value of listening. All my tummy heard was chops and it was off to the races...or the grill, as the case may be.
No but seriously, isn't the session.org great?
Before today, I thought I was the only craicpot trying to lilt in the car to strange sets I don't know yet.
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: The Value of listening
"craicpot" - LOL
Pete
# Posted on September 11th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
What's wrong with powdered wigs and the Renaissance? I'm off to fix chitlins and gravy and barbecue a possum while I'm at it...maybe a grey squirrel or two too... So how is your coon skin cap Pete? And how do you manage to keep your powder dry?
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
Oh Lawdy, I cants afford one of dem fancy COON skin caps - I has to settle fer roadkill skunk fer keepin my noggin warm
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
Well, that should keep folks at a distance... I remember being out with a stupid Irish setter who got it in his mind to chase down a skunk and give it a good shake. Have you ever seen the cloud a skunk can make? That was hell, he was an overly friendly dog anyway. We used up a lot of tomato juice and other things trying to cure the result. That dog was left outside tied to a run for ages with us ignoring the whining...
You know, from a distance, I kind of like the smell of skunk, so you're welcome around here. I'll leave the powdered wigs in the boxed, unless you want to play dress-up... I'll get the blue wode out and we can have a tatoo session in the good ol' fashioned way, drawing blood...
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: The Value of listening
I agree, ceolachan, the smell of skunk can be quite pleasant. The smell of *a* skunk, on the other hand ...
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by benhall.1
Re: The Value of listening
I am getting so hungry I forgot why I came here. I will freely admit to being a new comer to Irish traditional music. I have only played about 20 years. But if you really want to check credentials . . . I grew up on southern cooking & some of the culinary masterpieces mentioned here . . . I don't think I would want to sink my 'chops' into. Frankly I have never heard of anyone eating possum. How is it prepared?
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by Random_notes
Re: The Value of listening
with ketchup... is there any other way?
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
How's it prepared?
Why, the possum-bilities are endless
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by benhall.1
Re: The Value of listening
Oh, I know that tune, "The Ketchup On The Possum".
It's in D, right? Slip Jig?
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: The Value of listening
Yeah. You play it dead slow.
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by benhall.1
Re: The Value of listening
What were we talking about again?
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: The Value of listening
Game over, Al wins. Just look at the "Re:" header and then his post.
Game over man, game over.
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: The Value of listing
No ...
I don't get it ...
But then, I wasn't listening ...
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by benhall.1
Re: The Value of listening
What????
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by AlBrown
Re: The Value of listening
Oh, I'm sorry... were we still talking? How rude of us to interrupt!
# Posted on September 12th 2007 by Reverend
Re: The Value of listening
I often find myself agreeing with you, Pete. Good point!
# Posted on September 21st 2007 by Random_notes