I've recently discovered some ragtime tunes and tried them out at my local session. They go down very well and are extremely lively and catchy. Pig Ankle Rag, Dill Pickles Rag and Wild Cherries Rag are three greats. Has anyone else tried rag tunes out at sessions, and can anybody recommend some good ones? Listened to a Leroy Larson tape as well, and was very impressed.
Hey Rookie, welcome to the session. I must, however be the first one here to gently let you know that the general consensus around here is that Irish sessions are strictly for Irish music. (I tend to lean in this direction myself) However, many people here love all kinds of music and have experienced and/or played it at an Irish session once in a while.
Old Scot Joplin and his mates, eh? Lovely pieces of music, but I have to go along with Andee, for the most part, but maybe I wouldn't say 'strictly'.
Over here a session tends to be 95% solid Irish/Celtic (ie Celtic {and I hate the word, although it's useful at times} meaning Scottish, Gallego, Breton, Nova Scotia, etc.) then maybe 5% other novelty fun stuff - if someone was able to knock out some rags, ragas, reggae, Hungarian fiddle pieces, Italian tarantellas, and so on, great. Also these kind of things do get the audience cheering and clapping away, because they assume they're 'harder' to play than what they are used to hearing!
Ye'd be a bolder musician than me were you to set up a session based solely on those kind of tunes rather than sitting on the back of an established Irish session, until you got your chance to play your little repertoire of rags... which I'm sure is not the case.
I'm off to a dance music workshop in Devon in an hour or so, being run by a band The Grumbling Old Men (they'll be at the Sidmouth Festival in August), and the music we'll be looking at includes ragtime (and contra, and a few other things), but of course this is aimed at players who are interested in playing for dancers rather than session music as such.
However, in several sessions in and around Bristol (not all) we do mix in a little of non-Irish music, and it invariably goes down well.
Trevor
for ragtime tunes played on the mandolin, listen to Dave Swarbrick Rags reels and airs Topic TSCD517 (details of the tunes in the recording section on this site). He plays 2 rags.
Most sessions around here (Suffolk/Norfolk) are 'traditional music'. So anything goes, Irish, Old Time, Appalchian, morris rag..........even skiffle! There aren't enough of us to just play ITM. So we have a mix and enjoy it all.
I have no huge objection to the odd tune from a different tradition but why bother even learning these when you have about 10,000 irish tunes to get your head around??
Might be more acceptable if you took the rags and converted them to a reel or a jig - not unusual in diddley dee to borrow and steal from elsewhere.
I've always liked the old ragtime music of Scott Joplin. I love the Maple Leaf Rag, but would never dare play it in an Irish session. I don't think it would go over well in our current weekly session. The guys would probably wonder if I was doing drugs or something...Perhaps if someone played a ragtime tune at the new local old-time music session in Burlington, VT, it might be fine.
I agree with Breandan. There are thousands of great Irish tunes to keep me busy for a long time.......
I took an Appalachian fiddle class a little while back, and while I love the music,and the sound the fiddle can make in that style, I realized that not only are there thousands of Irish tunes to learn, but also it could take a lifetime to learn the techniques, the subltle things, and more about the music. I can't really dig into learning more than one style if I am going to do it right....
Ragtime tunes
Ragtime tunes
I've recently discovered some ragtime tunes and tried them out at my local session. They go down very well and are extremely lively and catchy. Pig Ankle Rag, Dill Pickles Rag and Wild Cherries Rag are three greats. Has anyone else tried rag tunes out at sessions, and can anybody recommend some good ones? Listened to a Leroy Larson tape as well, and was very impressed.
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Highly Strung!!
Re: Ragtime tunes
Hey Rookie, welcome to the session. I must, however be the first one here to gently let you know that the general consensus around here is that Irish sessions are strictly for Irish music. (I tend to lean in this direction myself) However, many people here love all kinds of music and have experienced and/or played it at an Irish session once in a while.
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Andee
Re: Ragtime tunes
Where are you from, Dan (Rookie)? I couldn't tell from your bio....
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Andee
Re: Ragtime tunes
Old Scot Joplin and his mates, eh? Lovely pieces of music, but I have to go along with Andee, for the most part, but maybe I wouldn't say 'strictly'.
Over here a session tends to be 95% solid Irish/Celtic (ie Celtic {and I hate the word, although it's useful at times} meaning Scottish, Gallego, Breton, Nova Scotia, etc.) then maybe 5% other novelty fun stuff - if someone was able to knock out some rags, ragas, reggae, Hungarian fiddle pieces, Italian tarantellas, and so on, great. Also these kind of things do get the audience cheering and clapping away, because they assume they're 'harder' to play than what they are used to hearing!
Ye'd be a bolder musician than me were you to set up a session based solely on those kind of tunes rather than sitting on the back of an established Irish session, until you got your chance to play your little repertoire of rags... which I'm sure is not the case.
D.
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Rudall the time
Re: Ragtime tunes
I'm off to a dance music workshop in Devon in an hour or so, being run by a band The Grumbling Old Men (they'll be at the Sidmouth Festival in August), and the music we'll be looking at includes ragtime (and contra, and a few other things), but of course this is aimed at players who are interested in playing for dancers rather than session music as such.
However, in several sessions in and around Bristol (not all) we do mix in a little of non-Irish music, and it invariably goes down well.
Trevor
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by Trevor Jennings
Re: Ragtime tunes
for ragtime tunes played on the mandolin, listen to Dave Swarbrick Rags reels and airs Topic TSCD517 (details of the tunes in the recording section on this site). He plays 2 rags.
# Posted on June 20th 2003 by paul95
Re: Ragtime tunes
Most sessions around here (Suffolk/Norfolk) are 'traditional music'. So anything goes, Irish, Old Time, Appalchian, morris rag..........even skiffle! There aren't enough of us to just play ITM. So we have a mix and enjoy it all.
# Posted on June 22nd 2003 by Fiiddle R
Re: Ragtime tunes
I have no huge objection to the odd tune from a different tradition but why bother even learning these when you have about 10,000 irish tunes to get your head around??
Might be more acceptable if you took the rags and converted them to a reel or a jig - not unusual in diddley dee to borrow and steal from elsewhere.
# Posted on June 24th 2003 by breandan
Re: Ragtime tunes
I've always liked the old ragtime music of Scott Joplin. I love the Maple Leaf Rag, but would never dare play it in an Irish session. I don't think it would go over well in our current weekly session. The guys would probably wonder if I was doing drugs or something...Perhaps if someone played a ragtime tune at the new local old-time music session in Burlington, VT, it might be fine.
I agree with Breandan. There are thousands of great Irish tunes to keep me busy for a long time.......
Joyce
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by JMH
Re: Ragtime tunes
I took an Appalachian fiddle class a little while back, and while I love the music,and the sound the fiddle can make in that style, I realized that not only are there thousands of Irish tunes to learn, but also it could take a lifetime to learn the techniques, the subltle things, and more about the music. I can't really dig into learning more than one style if I am going to do it right....
# Posted on June 25th 2003 by Andee
Re: Ragtime tunes
Try Ragtime Annie,Fiddling Around,Stone's Rag,Black And White Rag,Mineola Rag.They all sound good on the fiddle.David Meredith
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd