I'm just picking up my fiddle (and my flute) for the first time in yrs, it used to be my violin - so changing modes!
I would like suggestions on building a set of songs I should get to know well, that I'm likely to encounter in sessions - ie popular commonly played, well known - the things I shouldn't NOT know when playing with others.
I've generally picked songs at random from books, or that I've heard which I like, but that doesn't mean anyone else knows them!
What are the bread and butter melodies any fiddler / flute player should have to hand?
I've learned that this depends on where you are. I visited County Clare for a month and discovered that there are "Clare" tunes, of which I knew about one third. Were I to live there, I would have grown up with ALL of those tunes, and been a much more involved participant. I would hope that you have a local session, which no doubt has its own standard tunes. Learn those so you can participate fully, and then join in the addiction of bringing tunes you learn outside these "session" tunes to your fellow musos.
There are thousands of tunes and you do have to be selective about which to learn (or at least which to learn first.) A good starting point is "Dow's list" http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/13056/ - 50 commonly played tunes - but it's only a start. Commonly played tunes vary depending on where you are in the world and the country. So you have to find somewhere to go and listen and do some recording if you can, and ask the names of tunes (after a set is finished, not during!)
Just play the Kerry polka and Harvest Home over and over and over..... thats what I do
Seriously though, there are so many tunes that you could learn the "standard" set and find that none of these tunes get played.
My advice.. go to the session a few times, talk with the folks there and ask them what tunes are commonly played at thier session and just concentrate on a couple of those tunes. Ask if you can record them as, not only do you have to contend with different tunes but also different variations of tunes.
Your better off being good at a couple of tunes than sh*te a a rake of 'em.
There are one or two Traditional Tunes,,
You can get off with in session all around Ireland,,
Easy Tunes-
*Not in sets just use the tunes,,
REELS
Drowesy Maggie
Saint Anne's reel
The maid behind the Bar
The humours of tulla
JIGS
Morrisons jig
The Kesh jig
Haste to the wedding
Saddle th pony
HORNPIPES
Harvest home
The boys of Bluehill
The home ruler
The friendly visit
SLIP_JIGS
The butterfly
Give us a drink of water
Kid on the mountain
Braney Branigans
PLANXTYS
Planxty Irwin
Sheebeg Sheemore
Lord Inchiquin
Hewlett
Hi
Get yourself the Foinn Seisiún books and cds. The tunes are all in sets and there are enough jigs , reels, polkas , slides to keep you going for years. Play along and if you can't keep up get yourself the Amazing Slowdowner and change the tempo to suit . you can increase to session speed at your own learning rate.
Jim(FIDDLE4)'s list is a great start - there are only three on there that I don't hear regularly at sessions in Queensland.
I don't find the Foinn Seisiun sets too common around the traps. Maybe that's different where they were produced? I also find some of the set choices not the ones I would make.
The slowplayers site is a great one - there are lots of other resources on the web if you have access.
You MUST NOT forget to play Jimmy Allen and Salmon Tails as well, at whatever session you go to (with a smattering of morris tunes to keep things bouncing along)!
Thank you all for fantastic advice and suggestions. I will go through the specific suggestions and lists too. ... actually it was the session members tune book that got me asking since i was a bit overwhelmed. So I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but this is definitely good guidance. Thanks.
J
As mentrioned by Domino above, the Foinn Seisiún books and CDs are an incredibe resource.
The tunes are all in sets but one of the things I like about the CDs is that although the tracks run into each other as per their sets,the are actually individual tracks on the CD, so if you are trying to learn a tunes that's in the middle of a set it's easy to do so.
Couldn't reccommend these more and they are great to play along with,next best thing you'll get to actually playing a session. http://comhaltas.ie/shop
Solid session standards
Solid session standards
I'm just picking up my fiddle (and my flute) for the first time in yrs, it used to be my violin - so changing modes!
I would like suggestions on building a set of songs I should get to know well, that I'm likely to encounter in sessions - ie popular commonly played, well known - the things I shouldn't NOT know when playing with others.
I've generally picked songs at random from books, or that I've heard which I like, but that doesn't mean anyone else knows them!
What are the bread and butter melodies any fiddler / flute player should have to hand?
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by jenny1
Re: Solid session standards
Welcome, jenny1. First off, we say "tunes" unless they have words. A quick way to find common session tunes is to click the following link:
http://www.thesession.org/members/#tunebook
It isn't perfect, but it does include many common session tunes.
And don't worry, nobody knows every single tune played at every session.
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by mickray
Re: Solid session standards
I've learned that this depends on where you are. I visited County Clare for a month and discovered that there are "Clare" tunes, of which I knew about one third. Were I to live there, I would have grown up with ALL of those tunes, and been a much more involved participant. I would hope that you have a local session, which no doubt has its own standard tunes. Learn those so you can participate fully, and then join in the addiction of bringing tunes you learn outside these "session" tunes to your fellow musos.
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by jtrout
Re: Solid session standards
You might also take a gander at
http://www.slowplayers.org/SCTLS/etiquette.html
if you are new to Irish sessions. (So you don't make the same mistakes I did!)
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by mickray
Re: Solid session standards
There are thousands of tunes and you do have to be selective about which to learn (or at least which to learn first.) A good starting point is "Dow's list" http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/13056/ - 50 commonly played tunes - but it's only a start. Commonly played tunes vary depending on where you are in the world and the country. So you have to find somewhere to go and listen and do some recording if you can, and ask the names of tunes (after a set is finished, not during!)
Good luck!
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by buttons 'n' whistles
Re: Solid session standards
Just play the Kerry polka and Harvest Home over and over and over..... thats what I do
Seriously though, there are so many tunes that you could learn the "standard" set and find that none of these tunes get played.
My advice.. go to the session a few times, talk with the folks there and ask them what tunes are commonly played at thier session and just concentrate on a couple of those tunes. Ask if you can record them as, not only do you have to contend with different tunes but also different variations of tunes.
Your better off being good at a couple of tunes than sh*te a a rake of 'em.
Above all though...have fun girl
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by session savage
Re: Solid session standards
There are one or two Traditional Tunes,,
You can get off with in session all around Ireland,,
Easy Tunes-
*Not in sets just use the tunes,,
REELS
Drowesy Maggie
Saint Anne's reel
The maid behind the Bar
The humours of tulla
JIGS
Morrisons jig
The Kesh jig
Haste to the wedding
Saddle th pony
HORNPIPES
Harvest home
The boys of Bluehill
The home ruler
The friendly visit
SLIP_JIGS
The butterfly
Give us a drink of water
Kid on the mountain
Braney Branigans
PLANXTYS
Planxty Irwin
Sheebeg Sheemore
Lord Inchiquin
Hewlett
Hope some are of use to you,,
jim,,
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by FIDDLE4
Re: Solid session standards
Hi
Get yourself the Foinn Seisiún books and cds. The tunes are all in sets and there are enough jigs , reels, polkas , slides to keep you going for years. Play along and if you can't keep up get yourself the Amazing Slowdowner and change the tempo to suit . you can increase to session speed at your own learning rate.
# Posted on February 9th 2008 by domino
Re: Solid session standards
Jim(FIDDLE4)'s list is a great start - there are only three on there that I don't hear regularly at sessions in Queensland.
I don't find the Foinn Seisiun sets too common around the traps. Maybe that's different where they were produced? I also find some of the set choices not the ones I would make.
The slowplayers site is a great one - there are lots of other resources on the web if you have access.
Eno
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by bc_box_player
Re: Solid session standards
You MUST NOT forget to play Jimmy Allen and Salmon Tails as well, at whatever session you go to (with a smattering of morris tunes to keep things bouncing along)!
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by geoffwright
Re: Solid session standards
Thank you all for fantastic advice and suggestions. I will go through the specific suggestions and lists too. ... actually it was the session members tune book that got me asking since i was a bit overwhelmed. So I'm still a bit overwhelmed, but this is definitely good guidance. Thanks.
J
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by jenny1
Re: Solid session standards
by the way - tunes - I've always assumed they all had words... somewhere. Is that not right?
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by jenny1
Re: Solid session standards
Nope, no words!
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by whistleblower
Re: Solid session standards
And some don't even have names...poor things...
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by ceolachan
"gan ainm"
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by ceolachan
Re: Solid session standards
Here are some collections of tunes in PDF format:
John Walsh’s collection of common Irish session tunes: http://www.ceolas.org/pub/tunes/tunes.pdf/SessionTunes.pdf
A collection of well known traditional Scottish tunes:
http://www.mcowen.net/fiddlezone/photos/SSSTunes.pdf
Paul Fackler’s collection of Cape Breton fiddle tunes:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~pfackler/Music/CBTunes.pdf
(and the table of contents for this collection)
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~pfackler/Music/CBTunesContents.pdf
Links to some other tunes-books:
http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/#pdf
And a vast set of tune-books:
http://www.library.yale.edu/~mkoth/webtunes.htm
Happy playing!
# Posted on February 10th 2008 by neddiescotus
Re: Solid session standards
As mentrioned by Domino above, the Foinn Seisiún books and CDs are an incredibe resource.
The tunes are all in sets but one of the things I like about the CDs is that although the tracks run into each other as per their sets,the are actually individual tracks on the CD, so if you are trying to learn a tunes that's in the middle of a set it's easy to do so.
Couldn't reccommend these more and they are great to play along with,next best thing you'll get to actually playing a session. http://comhaltas.ie/shop
# Posted on February 12th 2008 by Eamonn Croke