I get a strange experience every now and again when I learn a tune, and was wondering if any other members do, too. It's a two-step process. The first step involves being gripped by hearing a truly gorgeous, unusual-sounding tune, which affects you powerfully. And I mean one of those where you simply have to stop everything and learn it on the spot.
As you take out your instrument and you're listening to the tune over and over, you're wondering what's different about it - why does it sound so unusual... and then you work out the notes and find that the pattern itself isn't so unusual - perhaps the mode shifts are not the most common, but still... And you learn the tune and you're ecstatic to be playing such a wonderful melody... and yet the next time you listen to the recording, it's still amazingly wonderful, but there is just the slightest twinge inside of you... because the mystery of the tune is no more.
Do any of you know what I mean? I've just had it with the Humours of Swanlinbar from the Hidden Fermanagh Vol. 2 recording.
I went through a phase like that, where learning a tune was like finding the little man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. Something that was unfamilar, mysterious, and magical became familiar and "obvious" and plain as day.
But that was years ago. These days, the mystery and magic stays with a tune even after I learn it and can play it well. I'm not sure why, but if I had to guess, I'd say that my approach to playing the tunes has changed. Back then, when I learned a tune it was all about catching the tune and playing it back. I knew I "had" a tune when I could start it and the rest of the tune was laid out, predictable. Now, however, it's much more about following the tune as it unravels in front of me, letting it lead in different directions, so the sense of surprise and unfamiliar territory stays with me.
It's the difference between setting off at a trailhead on an old familiar trail, and sticking to that well-worn path the entire way, versus immediatly wandering off trail and bushwhacking. Bushwhacking brings back the mystery, even if ultimately you range over the same terrain that the trail winds through.
Either that, or my wife slipped hallucinogens into my porridge again....
Approve of your choice of listening, Doodle. For anybody interested, there will be a Hidden Fermanagh concert in The Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen on Sat 15th March. Many of the artists on the CDs will be appearing. Great night assured, be there!
Doodle, that happens to me all the time. Lately on the marches, 98 and 99. The wonder is that the tunes strike others when you play them the same way they struck you the first time you heard them.
This reminds me of a high school teacher I had who would hand out a test and let a deep quiet settle on the room, and then call our attention to the buzz of the ceiling lights. You didn't notice the buzz till he pointed it out, and then you couldn't get it out of your head.
Similarly, I liked Randall Bays 99 March until I realized how similar it is to What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor....
It's the "unattainable woman" - or man - syndrome, isn't it?
Likewise, the unattainable tune is typically encountered in the hands of someone much smarter and probably richer than you, with much more experience and backed up by advanced technical know-how - certainly if its golden cage is a top-notch CD.
Wrested into your grubby mitts by some untypical charm offensive, it will merely languish.
The Humours of Swanlinbar gets me every time. Haven't had time to learn it yet but I'll look at it tonight. Definitely one of the more interesting tunes I've heard in the last couple of years, one of those "thank you" tunes.
Herself can always tell when I get 'that feeling'. She ends up hanging on for dear life as I try to find a variety of recordings of the tune.
But I learn it and think it sounds great......and go back and listen to the original and sometimes get disappointed that my version doesn't quite sound right.
Then I seriously work on it and the enthusiasm gives way to the practise.....
The mystery unveiled
The mystery unveiled
Hi all,
I get a strange experience every now and again when I learn a tune, and was wondering if any other members do, too. It's a two-step process. The first step involves being gripped by hearing a truly gorgeous, unusual-sounding tune, which affects you powerfully. And I mean one of those where you simply have to stop everything and learn it on the spot.
As you take out your instrument and you're listening to the tune over and over, you're wondering what's different about it - why does it sound so unusual... and then you work out the notes and find that the pattern itself isn't so unusual - perhaps the mode shifts are not the most common, but still... And you learn the tune and you're ecstatic to be playing such a wonderful melody... and yet the next time you listen to the recording, it's still amazingly wonderful, but there is just the slightest twinge inside of you... because the mystery of the tune is no more.
Do any of you know what I mean? I've just had it with the Humours of Swanlinbar from the Hidden Fermanagh Vol. 2 recording.
But what a tune...
# Posted on February 24th 2008 by Doodle
Re: The mystery unveiled
I went through a phase like that, where learning a tune was like finding the little man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. Something that was unfamilar, mysterious, and magical became familiar and "obvious" and plain as day.
But that was years ago. These days, the mystery and magic stays with a tune even after I learn it and can play it well. I'm not sure why, but if I had to guess, I'd say that my approach to playing the tunes has changed. Back then, when I learned a tune it was all about catching the tune and playing it back. I knew I "had" a tune when I could start it and the rest of the tune was laid out, predictable. Now, however, it's much more about following the tune as it unravels in front of me, letting it lead in different directions, so the sense of surprise and unfamiliar territory stays with me.
It's the difference between setting off at a trailhead on an old familiar trail, and sticking to that well-worn path the entire way, versus immediatly wandering off trail and bushwhacking. Bushwhacking brings back the mystery, even if ultimately you range over the same terrain that the trail winds through.
Either that, or my wife slipped hallucinogens into my porridge again....
# Posted on February 24th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: The mystery unveiled
Approve of your choice of listening, Doodle. For anybody interested, there will be a Hidden Fermanagh concert in The Higher Bridges Gallery, Enniskillen on Sat 15th March. Many of the artists on the CDs will be appearing. Great night assured, be there!
# Posted on February 24th 2008 by strayaway
Re: The mystery unveiled
Doodle, that happens to me all the time. Lately on the marches, 98 and 99. The wonder is that the tunes strike others when you play them the same way they struck you the first time you heard them.
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by feardearg
Re: The mystery unveiled
Yes-
If it hits you it Hits you,
But after you learn it its just the the mystery
that is gone,,
jim,,,
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by FIDDLE4
Re: The mystery unveiled
This reminds me of a high school teacher I had who would hand out a test and let a deep quiet settle on the room, and then call our attention to the buzz of the ceiling lights. You didn't notice the buzz till he pointed it out, and then you couldn't get it out of your head.
Similarly, I liked Randall Bays 99 March until I realized how similar it is to What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor....
[don't you hate it when that happens?]
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: The mystery unveiled
It's the "unattainable woman" - or man - syndrome, isn't it?
Likewise, the unattainable tune is typically encountered in the hands of someone much smarter and probably richer than you, with much more experience and backed up by advanced technical know-how - certainly if its golden cage is a top-notch CD.
Wrested into your grubby mitts by some untypical charm offensive, it will merely languish.
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by nicholas
Re: The mystery unveiled
The Humours of Swanlinbar gets me every time. Haven't had time to learn it yet but I'll look at it tonight. Definitely one of the more interesting tunes I've heard in the last couple of years, one of those "thank you" tunes.
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: The mystery unveiled
Ah...lads after my own heart.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/4447
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by Kenny
Re: The mystery unveiled
Plus Brenda McCann could make Baa Baa Black Sheep sound like the world's greatest tune, a great fiddler all round.
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by Patkiwi
Re: The mystery unveiled
Herself can always tell when I get 'that feeling'. She ends up hanging on for dear life as I try to find a variety of recordings of the tune.
But I learn it and think it sounds great......and go back and listen to the original and sometimes get disappointed that my version doesn't quite sound right.
Then I seriously work on it and the enthusiasm gives way to the practise.....
# Posted on February 25th 2008 by zippydw