I'm curious for those of you who have small children or have taught small children what sort of tunes you taught them in the beginning. My 7 year old boy came to me and wanted to learn a tune. (He is on month 8 of his suzuki lessons for violin and as yet has not smashed it over his knee - a remarkable feat considering he has a quick temper and the attention span of a ferret on crack) Needless to say I was thrilled at the idea of my kid wanting to have a few tunes with "the old man," so my mind scrambled for something simple he could get his ears and fingers around. We started off with Egan's Polka, mostly because I thought it would help him with his elbow/cross string mechanics and the melody was easy to remember. I am not a fiddle player, so I would love to hear other tune ideas that work well for small kids learning the basics.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Keep it simple. There are lots of easy songs and tunes that you can share with a youngster. They don't have to be session tunes (yet).
Nothing more joyful than sharing music with your child. Enjoy!!!!
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
JNE, what's worked best for most of the kids I've taught is sticking to melodies they already know. So it varies from kid to kid. Some go for the folksy standards like Bingo Was His Name-O, This Old Man, Amazing Grace, This Land is Your Land, etc. (Those particular tunes work well on fiddle.) Other's have simple classical themes stuck in their heads--Ode to Joy, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, that sort of thing. And some kids go straight to the telly theme songs (cartoons are ripe for picking).
If you really want to dive into Irish trad tunes, start them out on the tunes you play--that they've heard before. At 8 months into Suzuki lessons, I'd stick with easier tunes that sound good at slower speed--Inisheer, Arran Boat Song, Lucy Farr's, Maire's Wedding, etc.
And you can always get him started on penny whistle, which is easier to get a basic tune out of than fiddle.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
You lucky dog! My eldest son just wants to be in one of those R&B boy bands with the whole dancing and singing routine. I think it's just to get chicks. Did I mention he was only 8? Sigh.
My very first Irish tune ever on the fiddle was "Oh the Britches", give it to him in the key of D, it's ridiculously easy on the fiddle, or on the mando/GDAE tenor banjo as well. Start with the open D, not the higher one. That'll keep him busy for all of five seconds, I'm sure, but now you have a lovely Polka set to rip into with Egan's!
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Thanks Al and Will - those are good ideas. I should have been more specific in that the boy wants to learn Irish tunes. He has a remarkably good ear and was able to play the A section of Egan's back to me after only a few times through hearing it. I guess I'd better take advantage and plant a few tunes in his head now before the evil weeds of hip-hop and rock and roll take over...
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I'm interested in this as well. I've got a 6 year old and a 3 year old. I've surrounded them with instruments. Nothing takes. Then I brought a uke home and they won't put it down. They fight over it. Maybe it is the tiny size of it. Anyway, they love it. So I now have a pair of ukes. Anytime they hear music, they pick it up and play along. Sometimes they rhythm fits or a note or two fits and everyone is impressed.
I have no idea how to proceed, but the experimentation starts tonight.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
SWFL - I was hoping you'd chime in on this - The Britches is a good idea too, and so far, I've been able to convince my boy that the Disney Channel talent scouts are just as interested in a fiddle player as they would be dancing rap star. Keep yer fingers crossed for me.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My two boys had all sort of instruments laying around the house from day one, and they dabbled in several. But the older (who's now 18) didn't take off till we bought him an electric guitar when he was 11. This (and 30 years of teaching music) convinces me that most people are drawn to specific instruments--when they find the "right" one, they'll know it (and so will you).
That said, uke is a great starter instrument if strings are the thing.
JNE, most kids don't mind starting out on the non-Irish tunes I mentioned above (also, You Are My Sunshine is a great one). But if your son really wants the Irish stuff, there are lots of relatively simple polkas and O'Carolan pieces (e.g., Planxty Irwin, Si Beag Si Mhor) that work well on fiddle.
For reels and jigs, consider:
The Morning Star
Brendan McMahon's (The easy one in Em/G)
The Hare's Paw
The Lilting Banshee
My Darling Asleep
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Good stuff Will - thanks - I assume you mean McMahon's aka Banshee. I'm curious, with your boys was music a choice or was it always implied that they would have to pick an instrument at some point?
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Kathleen Nesbits irish fiddle tutorial is good, it starts with basic tunes, will cpt is right once you get good on a tin whistle its so much easier to play other instruments! my opinion!
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Wow, congrats on getting him interested in it! Should we call him Jusa Youngun Eejit (JYE)?
When I've taught people their first Irish tunes, I try to pick tunes that are fairly simple, but have very common elements of the style. My current favorite to teach to beginners is Rolling In The Rye Grass, because of things like the GD string bounces, and the fact that you can teach a very simple variation in the A part to start getting that idea into their heads. (With a kid that young, I would teach it as "part of the tune", but explain that it's a variation, because it would be "boring" to play the same thing twice there...)
A fiddler that I play with has two fiddlin' kids that both started about that age, and they started with tunes like the Banshee, Merry Blacksmith, Sally Gardens, Kesh Jig, Connaughtman's Rambles, etc. And they handled it pretty well at age 7 or 8. Then again, they'd been listening to dad play their whole lives, and I could think of worse roll models for them!
I think the biggest problem for your son may be that he's learning from a banjo player
(Actually, I'm somewhat serious about that - you can teach him tunes, but he's ultimately going to need to learn fiddle ornamentation from a fiddler. When I teach at our tune learning session, I always try to talk about how the banjo is good for picking up notes, and such, but horrible for learning style from, because we can't articulate it the same way that instruments with sustain and continuous sound sources can - like wind instruments and fiddles, etc)
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My 10 year old son is learning fiddle at school and whistle at our session. He transfers the Irish stuff onto fiddle once he's got them in his head. Yes, it's a great feeling playing together and I hope he'll be better than me as he started younger. I'm just trying to encourage my 12 year old daughter down the same route with whistle/flute. We started with the marches Sean South (Roddy McCorley) and the Foggy Dew, the polkas already mentioned and jigs Lilting Banshee and Kesh.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Rev - one of my friends asked me why I wasn't teaching him the banjo - I replied "because that would cruel..."
I agree, a fiddle player should learn from a fiddle player eventually. Our suzuki teacher has been great so far, but she has no background in Irish/Scots music. Right now I'm just giggly happy to share the musical moments with my kid.
Maybe I can convince Will Puddy Tat to move away from the frozen tundra of Montana and down here to set up shop and teach lessons.
Simple, repetitive, and entrancing. Easy on fiddle.
My goal as a parent and teacher is to give kids opportunities to explore the world and discover for themselves what they're drawn to. So we never forced music on them, but the house is chock full of instruments and music being played. They could hardly move without bumping into a banjo, fiddle, guitar, or keyboard. Not to mention whistles, flutes, harmonicas, drums, etc. So if music was a choice, it was a bit of a Hobson's choice ("You can have any color Model T you want, as long as it's black").
Seriously, we never forced music on either of them, but it would've been hard for them to avoid being drawn to it.
When they were toddlers (they're only 15 months apart), both boys were already having fun with an electronic keyboard. Didn't take long for them to gravitate to the old cabinet grand piano in the living room. Both boys showed a knack for learning by ear (better than most of my students over the years), but the piano wasn't really grabbing them. On a lark we bought them an electric guitar for Christmas (reasoning that they listened mostly to music that features amped guitars, so maybe that instrument would resonate more with them). Zoom--off they went. The older one gets grumpy if he doesn't play several hours a day, and he regularly plays music with friends, has an acousitc guitar around his neck when he isn't plugged into his Mesa Boogie triple rectifier (which he paid for himself), and has even learned some trad tunes from the old man. The younger son also plays, but more just as a now-and-then hobby. They both dabble on the piano, too, often transferring tunes and songs from guitar to keyboard.
I got them both started on the basics of rock guitar (I played in a band from junior high onward), but not much beyond showing how to tune the thing, strum, and hold some power chords. Within six months (at age 11) Evan (the older of the two) was learning tunes from cds and off the web. Seven years later, he now teaches me the punk tunes that catch my ear. And I've played fiddle (electric) with him and his buddies at a local coffee house on some Green Day and Killswitch Engage songs. He's waffling between going to college for a degree in wildlife biology or sound engineering, or playing in a band for a year or two first. Whatever--it's his life. I'm sure he'll figure out what makes him happy.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
This is really cause for celebration, but the pint I'd buy you would taste awful by the time it got to Arizona from Florida.
I think the Suzuki will do wonders for him. I don't see anything wrong with good technique and all that. It worked for me, I had tons of classical as a child, but when I wanted to learn Traditional music I got discouraged and lost all taste for classical. However the fun-duh-mentalz still serve me well today, and the Classical sound in the my fiddling has almost fully been rooted out and burnt at the stake, witch-hunt style.
I'm jealous but of course I'm so happy for ya dude, that's just great! Remember, no pushing (you know already) and just be thankful for what he does do, whatever it is. Now he'll remember playing Egan's with his father his whole life, no matter if it's the only tune he ever learns, or it's the first of hundreds, perhaps thousands?
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Happy Birthday as a first tuneby ear is good then he can play it for his mum or granda ma and see the pleasure it brings .This will encourage him to play more .
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
bazouki dave and the real tooty flutey (lol):
my dad was on the phone to his brother and it was his birthday...so dad asked whether i could play happy birthday down the phone coz i had my violin in my hand at the time
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My 3 1/2 year old graqnddaugter is taken with the harp. I just let her play with it, she is a natural on it, holds her hands just right without being told, is gentle, and just makes notes and plays two handed.
She plays half of Twinkle Little Star with one hand. No pressure, she does it by ear, since she knows the song. She played at the end of a concert Grainne Hambly had in our area and brought down the house. She's a ham, no stage fright. Today I am supposed to play at her nursery school, and she will "help" and sing Twinkle and Mary Had A Little Lamb. Her dad is an ex-pianist and now a drummer (hired gun, any kind of drumming, was in Riverdance, and now tours with a Ska band and a cabaret band). She got it from him, and music always being on..... she asked if she could go to Catskills Week with me, but is a bit young yet!
So for now, it's just exploring the thing for her, when and if she feels like it....but if she sees a harp, she's right there. Can't resist. Lessons in a few years if she is still interested.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I agree with DFJ and bazouki dave and the real tooty flutey. I played happy birthday on the harpsichord to my grandfather last saturday and I got a lot more praise than what was due.....
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I posted this recently on another site.. I'll put it here too...
Try out "I'se The Bye" (great big sea does a cover of it), I think that one is on two strings. There are lyrics for it out there if that makes it easier to play. I find that once I can hum something.. playing it and remembering it are a million times faster.
Out of what's on that site I suggest starting with Rakes of Mallow or Out on the Ocean. There's an easy old time one called "chase me charlie", and of course there are no end of examples on You tube for lessons and tunes!
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
You're lucky. My son hates Irish music. Probably b/c I like it. At least I finally got him to Lark Camp...and he loves it. I'm still hoping he'll find some joy in Irish tunes some day.
Anyway...let your son "shop" for a tune he wants to learn. Play several you like and ask him which one he'd like to try. Even if it isn't easy, you can teach it in small bits and eventually he'll get it. But at least it will be one HE picks and not one you choose for him.
So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I'm curious for those of you who have small children or have taught small children what sort of tunes you taught them in the beginning. My 7 year old boy came to me and wanted to learn a tune. (He is on month 8 of his suzuki lessons for violin and as yet has not smashed it over his knee - a remarkable feat considering he has a quick temper and the attention span of a ferret on crack) Needless to say I was thrilled at the idea of my kid wanting to have a few tunes with "the old man," so my mind scrambled for something simple he could get his ears and fingers around. We started off with Egan's Polka, mostly because I thought it would help him with his elbow/cross string mechanics and the melody was easy to remember. I am not a fiddle player, so I would love to hear other tune ideas that work well for small kids learning the basics.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Keep it simple. There are lots of easy songs and tunes that you can share with a youngster. They don't have to be session tunes (yet).
Nothing more joyful than sharing music with your child. Enjoy!!!!
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by AlBrown
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
JNE, what's worked best for most of the kids I've taught is sticking to melodies they already know. So it varies from kid to kid. Some go for the folksy standards like Bingo Was His Name-O, This Old Man, Amazing Grace, This Land is Your Land, etc. (Those particular tunes work well on fiddle.) Other's have simple classical themes stuck in their heads--Ode to Joy, Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring, that sort of thing. And some kids go straight to the telly theme songs (cartoons are ripe for picking).
If you really want to dive into Irish trad tunes, start them out on the tunes you play--that they've heard before. At 8 months into Suzuki lessons, I'd stick with easier tunes that sound good at slower speed--Inisheer, Arran Boat Song, Lucy Farr's, Maire's Wedding, etc.
And you can always get him started on penny whistle, which is easier to get a basic tune out of than fiddle.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
And a big heartfelt congrats on hearing the magic question from your son! It's okay to grin ear to ear and do a little happy dance.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
You lucky dog! My eldest son just wants to be in one of those R&B boy bands with the whole dancing and singing routine. I think it's just to get chicks. Did I mention he was only 8? Sigh.
My very first Irish tune ever on the fiddle was "Oh the Britches", give it to him in the key of D, it's ridiculously easy on the fiddle, or on the mando/GDAE tenor banjo as well. Start with the open D, not the higher one. That'll keep him busy for all of five seconds, I'm sure, but now you have a lovely Polka set to rip into with Egan's!
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Thanks Al and Will - those are good ideas. I should have been more specific in that the boy wants to learn Irish tunes. He has a remarkably good ear and was able to play the A section of Egan's back to me after only a few times through hearing it. I guess I'd better take advantage and plant a few tunes in his head now before the evil weeds of hip-hop and rock and roll take over...
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I'm interested in this as well. I've got a 6 year old and a 3 year old. I've surrounded them with instruments. Nothing takes. Then I brought a uke home and they won't put it down. They fight over it. Maybe it is the tiny size of it. Anyway, they love it. So I now have a pair of ukes. Anytime they hear music, they pick it up and play along. Sometimes they rhythm fits or a note or two fits and everyone is impressed.
I have no idea how to proceed, but the experimentation starts tonight.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by abuteague
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
SWFL - I was hoping you'd chime in on this - The Britches is a good idea too, and so far, I've been able to convince my boy that the Disney Channel talent scouts are just as interested in a fiddle player as they would be dancing rap star. Keep yer fingers crossed for me.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My two boys had all sort of instruments laying around the house from day one, and they dabbled in several. But the older (who's now 18) didn't take off till we bought him an electric guitar when he was 11. This (and 30 years of teaching music) convinces me that most people are drawn to specific instruments--when they find the "right" one, they'll know it (and so will you).
That said, uke is a great starter instrument if strings are the thing.
JNE, most kids don't mind starting out on the non-Irish tunes I mentioned above (also, You Are My Sunshine is a great one). But if your son really wants the Irish stuff, there are lots of relatively simple polkas and O'Carolan pieces (e.g., Planxty Irwin, Si Beag Si Mhor) that work well on fiddle.
For reels and jigs, consider:
The Morning Star
Brendan McMahon's (The easy one in Em/G)
The Hare's Paw
The Lilting Banshee
My Darling Asleep
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Sounds like he'll be better than you pretty soon. Cool!
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by kennedy
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Good stuff Will - thanks - I assume you mean McMahon's aka Banshee. I'm curious, with your boys was music a choice or was it always implied that they would have to pick an instrument at some point?
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Kathleen Nesbits irish fiddle tutorial is good, it starts with basic tunes, will cpt is right once you get good on a tin whistle its so much easier to play other instruments! my opinion!
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by lilyot
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Wow, congrats on getting him interested in it! Should we call him Jusa Youngun Eejit (JYE)?
When I've taught people their first Irish tunes, I try to pick tunes that are fairly simple, but have very common elements of the style. My current favorite to teach to beginners is Rolling In The Rye Grass, because of things like the GD string bounces, and the fact that you can teach a very simple variation in the A part to start getting that idea into their heads. (With a kid that young, I would teach it as "part of the tune", but explain that it's a variation, because it would be "boring" to play the same thing twice there...)
A fiddler that I play with has two fiddlin' kids that both started about that age, and they started with tunes like the Banshee, Merry Blacksmith, Sally Gardens, Kesh Jig, Connaughtman's Rambles, etc. And they handled it pretty well at age 7 or 8. Then again, they'd been listening to dad play their whole lives, and I could think of worse roll models for them!
I think the biggest problem for your son may be that he's learning from a banjo player
(Actually, I'm somewhat serious about that - you can teach him tunes, but he's ultimately going to need to learn fiddle ornamentation from a fiddler. When I teach at our tune learning session, I always try to talk about how the banjo is good for picking up notes, and such, but horrible for learning style from, because we can't articulate it the same way that instruments with sustain and continuous sound sources can - like wind instruments and fiddles, etc)
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Reverend
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My 10 year old son is learning fiddle at school and whistle at our session. He transfers the Irish stuff onto fiddle once he's got them in his head. Yes, it's a great feeling playing together and I hope he'll be better than me as he started younger. I'm just trying to encourage my 12 year old daughter down the same route with whistle/flute. We started with the marches Sean South (Roddy McCorley) and the Foggy Dew, the polkas already mentioned and jigs Lilting Banshee and Kesh.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by FiddleFi
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Rev - one of my friends asked me why I wasn't teaching him the banjo - I replied "because that would cruel..."
I agree, a fiddle player should learn from a fiddle player eventually. Our suzuki teacher has been great so far, but she has no background in Irish/Scots music. Right now I'm just giggly happy to share the musical moments with my kid.
Maybe I can convince Will Puddy Tat to move away from the frozen tundra of Montana and down here to set up shop and teach lessons.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
"That would BE cruel" Damn, mistyped the punch line again...
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Do you not think you should make him practice his scales before starting on tunes?
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
JNE, the McMahon's I'm thinking of is this one: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1981
Simple, repetitive, and entrancing. Easy on fiddle.
My goal as a parent and teacher is to give kids opportunities to explore the world and discover for themselves what they're drawn to. So we never forced music on them, but the house is chock full of instruments and music being played. They could hardly move without bumping into a banjo, fiddle, guitar, or keyboard. Not to mention whistles, flutes, harmonicas, drums, etc. So if music was a choice, it was a bit of a Hobson's choice ("You can have any color Model T you want, as long as it's black").
Seriously, we never forced music on either of them, but it would've been hard for them to avoid being drawn to it.
When they were toddlers (they're only 15 months apart), both boys were already having fun with an electronic keyboard. Didn't take long for them to gravitate to the old cabinet grand piano in the living room. Both boys showed a knack for learning by ear (better than most of my students over the years), but the piano wasn't really grabbing them. On a lark we bought them an electric guitar for Christmas (reasoning that they listened mostly to music that features amped guitars, so maybe that instrument would resonate more with them). Zoom--off they went. The older one gets grumpy if he doesn't play several hours a day, and he regularly plays music with friends, has an acousitc guitar around his neck when he isn't plugged into his Mesa Boogie triple rectifier (which he paid for himself), and has even learned some trad tunes from the old man. The younger son also plays, but more just as a now-and-then hobby. They both dabble on the piano, too, often transferring tunes and songs from guitar to keyboard.
I got them both started on the basics of rock guitar (I played in a band from junior high onward), but not much beyond showing how to tune the thing, strum, and hold some power chords. Within six months (at age 11) Evan (the older of the two) was learning tunes from cds and off the web. Seven years later, he now teaches me the punk tunes that catch my ear. And I've played fiddle (electric) with him and his buddies at a local coffee house on some Green Day and Killswitch Engage songs. He's waffling between going to college for a degree in wildlife biology or sound engineering, or playing in a band for a year or two first. Whatever--it's his life. I'm sure he'll figure out what makes him happy.
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
This is really cause for celebration, but the pint I'd buy you would taste awful by the time it got to Arizona from Florida.
I think the Suzuki will do wonders for him. I don't see anything wrong with good technique and all that. It worked for me, I had tons of classical as a child, but when I wanted to learn Traditional music I got discouraged and lost all taste for classical. However the fun-duh-mentalz still serve me well today, and the Classical sound in the my fiddling has almost fully been rooted out and burnt at the stake, witch-hunt style.
I'm jealous but of course I'm so happy for ya dude, that's just great! Remember, no pushing (you know already) and just be thankful for what he does do, whatever it is. Now he'll remember playing Egan's with his father his whole life, no matter if it's the only tune he ever learns, or it's the first of hundreds, perhaps thousands?
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I mean, I got discouraged by my classical teachers when I wanted to learn traditional.
It was the scales, llig, THE SCALES!
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Hmph. The last time I went anywhere near a scale, I broke it. Too many pints (porter and Ben and Jerry's, both).....
# Posted on May 12th 2008 by Will CPT
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Happy Birthday as a first tuneby ear is good then he can play it for his mum or granda ma and see the pleasure it brings .This will encourage him to play more .
# Posted on May 13th 2008 by bazouki dave and the real tooty flutey
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
bazouki dave and the real tooty flutey (lol):
my dad was on the phone to his brother and it was his birthday...so dad asked whether i could play happy birthday down the phone coz i had my violin in my hand at the time
my uncle absolutely loved it!
so yeah, "happy birthday" is a good start!
# Posted on May 13th 2008 by D.J.F.
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My 3 1/2 year old graqnddaugter is taken with the harp. I just let her play with it, she is a natural on it, holds her hands just right without being told, is gentle, and just makes notes and plays two handed.
She plays half of Twinkle Little Star with one hand. No pressure, she does it by ear, since she knows the song. She played at the end of a concert Grainne Hambly had in our area and brought down the house. She's a ham, no stage fright. Today I am supposed to play at her nursery school, and she will "help" and sing Twinkle and Mary Had A Little Lamb. Her dad is an ex-pianist and now a drummer (hired gun, any kind of drumming, was in Riverdance, and now tours with a Ska band and a cabaret band). She got it from him, and music always being on..... she asked if she could go to Catskills Week with me, but is a bit young yet!
So for now, it's just exploring the thing for her, when and if she feels like it....but if she sees a harp, she's right there. Can't resist. Lessons in a few years if she is still interested.
# Posted on May 13th 2008 by irisnevins
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I agree with DFJ and bazouki dave and the real tooty flutey. I played happy birthday on the harpsichord to my grandfather last saturday and I got a lot more praise than what was due.....
# Posted on May 13th 2008 by mehitabel23
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
I posted this recently on another site.. I'll put it here too...
Try out "I'se The Bye" (great big sea does a cover of it), I think that one is on two strings. There are lyrics for it out there if that makes it easier to play. I find that once I can hum something.. playing it and remembering it are a million times faster.
also...
Ger the Rigger
Oh yes... and then there is.... this..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/
- when you think he might be ready for it. Gives a great source for hearing tunes!
Out of what's on that site I suggest starting with Rakes of Mallow or Out on the Ocean. There's an easy old time one called "chase me charlie", and of course there are no end of examples on You tube for lessons and tunes!
Have fun!!
# Posted on May 13th 2008 by Kylies
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
You're lucky. My son hates Irish music. Probably b/c I like it. At least I finally got him to Lark Camp...and he loves it. I'm still hoping he'll find some joy in Irish tunes some day.
Anyway...let your son "shop" for a tune he wants to learn. Play several you like and ask him which one he'd like to try. Even if it isn't easy, you can teach it in small bits and eventually he'll get it. But at least it will be one HE picks and not one you choose for him.
# Posted on May 14th 2008 by banjobabe
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
Hey that's a great idea Banjobabe - he's quite fond of Spongebob, perhaps he can pick a tune off that show...
# Posted on May 14th 2008 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: So my son says "Dad, will you teach me a tune?"
My favorite Spongebob tune is The Dingle Regatta: (commercial at beginning)
http://admin.nick.com/turbonick/index.jhtml?extvideoid=25265
# Posted on May 14th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler