As in the other night when i blew it totally going into the B part of Jig Runrig (finger slipped off the string) destroyed the rhythm so completely I messed up the guitar player and we had to clean the debris off the stage and start again. My normal strategy would be to play rhythm on a drone string for a second or two until I can pick up the tune again. What do the rest of you do ? Do you have a thought out stategy for these moments or is it just off the cuff ? I'm assuming, you understand, that there are others who (though it may be rare ) actually do make mistakes in performance.
I usually shout 'Oh Bugger, I'm off for another drink now,' and try and laugh it off, whilst running to the bar. No seriously, I do the same as you. Just try and come in again as soon as possible.
In Miltown Malbay (Willie Week) last year there was a concert series of sean-nois singers one evening. As the story goes, there was a young man on stage singing 'Skibberean', with a lovely voice with all the trills and scoops that a traditional Irish singer would do. Well, right in the middle of some verse he went blank, and there he stood in front of hundreds of people, all alone on the stage. And there he simply waited, still and calm and relaxed, waiting for that verse of a song he's sang a thousand times to come back to him. After several seconds of absolute silence, a man in the audience prompts him with the next verse and the singer thanks him in Irish and continues the song as if he'd never skipped a beat. As the song goes on, the verse 'It's well I do remember...' was modified to 'It's well I DON'T remember...' and it was a great laugh for everyone.
Don't worry, it's not rare. It happens to everyone sometime or another at all levels of ability and in all kinds of music. In just about every session I go to I can guarantee that at least one tune will fall apart, usually because of a memory lapse on someone's part, less commonly for technical reasons. Nobody minds, and it gets laughed off.
Anyone who has been around classical music for any length of time, either as a listener or player, could fill a book with accounts, often hilarious, of disasters or near-disasters in performance (I've had my personal moments). And this is where people are usually playing from the dots, when there shouldn't be any excuse. A good one was many years ago when they were recording a work for a wind octet by one of the madder mid-European composers - one of those atonal things that bends your ears right rotten. At the end of the recording session the clarinettist was putting his instrument away when he noticed to his horror that he had been using his B-flat instrument instead of the A required by the score. Every note he had played in the recording studio was therefore half a tone out. No-one had noticed, not even the conductor (who was also the composer!), so the player kept quiet, collected his fee, and the LP was eventually issued as recorded.
Trevor
Good thread Bob! As others here have attested, it does happen enough times to have some kinda plan.
You were on stage? Now that would possibly freak me, I think. we've got a local festival gig coming up, so now you've got me worried!!...nahh, not really.
When it happens to me, less on the flute than the box, it's when I'm doing a tune the other lads haven't got (they also do tunes I don't have).
If I get tripped up by mistake after mistake, I usually only then give up, grunt some expletive, then try to make light of it by pretending to throw away or break the flute/box. The other Woodmanites are sufficiently supportive to laugh along. I reckon it can do your street cred no damage if you make a laugh of it.
If I've only just started, then suddenly realise I've got myself into a pile of sh!t, I'll struggle through the tune once, rather than the customery three, then move on to a more forgiving tune.
If it's just a mistake or two in the middle of a tune, I just play through it - the last thing you want to do is break the rhythm of the tune, that people have probably come at least a couple of miles to hear you play, so just face it out.
But wishing I could practice what I preach, the answer might be prevention rather than cure, ie play tunes which you know that you know, keep the tricky ones for before or after the "official" session. I know that wasn't the case with your genuine Accident, Bob, but I'm just sharing my experience on this.
A Mistake-Free Second Half of the Year to All at The Session!!
Hope Willie Week and the Fleadh are kind to the Liver Parenchymal Cells of all our delegates, though I fear that not to be the case!
Danny.
Even playing a tune you can usually play in your sleep is no guarantee to a flawless performance. At last weekend at a Celtic Festival (the 7th years I had played, although my first on Concertina not harp) I went completely blank in the middle of a tune and made a right mess of it. My duo partner and I cut it short and simply chuckled "Oh well, we always stuff one tune up!". THe audience laughed along with us, and we quickly moved on.
It's not something that I would like to repeat on a regular basis, but having been in the audience in similar situations I think it does make the performer seem "more human".
Oh, I never fall apart in the middle of a tune. Never. Perfect every time. Stellar, every go round, with every note right where I wanted it.
*snort*
If you can get back on, do. If you can't, laugh, stop and start over again, in the case of a true train wreck. Then go home and practise the thing until your fingers bleed. *grin* That's my normal modus.
Some years ago our six-piece band train wrecked in the middle of a set, in front of several hundred people, including some Irish dignitaries and a skein of dancers in full stride. Three of us just--s-t-o-p-p-e-d-! And the backers came to a screeching halt on top of us.
In the awkward, omnivorous, gaping silence that followed, I leaned into my mic and muttered, just being honest as much as trying to be funny, "That's just to prove--in case you thought only a cd could sound this good--that this is *live* music." And everybody, even the dancers and the soundman, laughed. And we re-started the tune we were in when the locomotive left the rails, and this time sailed right through and rocked right on to the end of the set and got thunderous applause.
Seems to me you've got two options when you falter and the rest of the band keeps going: either keep the beat going on some innocuous note until you can slip into the melody again, or sit out the phrase, or that half of the tune, or even the whole tune, acting nonchalant all the while, like this was how you and your mates "arranged" it. Taking a drink or rosining the bow while the band carries on is a great ruse to make it look planned, until you're ready to pounce back in at the next logical break.....
Yup, it happens to us all, although my gang are handpicked for their ability to ignore what happens next to them and carry on regardless. As its a dance band, you can't really stop playing although the backing musicians can tell if I am making it up.
Rule number one - don't stop playing/singing.
Rule number two - glare at the person next to you.
Thanks all.. great stories. Don't you just love someone with the poise to stand unembarrassed on a stage and wait for the song to return. At a dance we probably would have recovered the rythym and played on but in this case we did stop and have a laugh.This is quite a low stress venue. It's an outdoor restaurant under a big tree down by the harbour. When we started up again I think we did the best ensemble rendition of those tunes that we had ever done. We like to do Jig Runrig,Scatter the Mud ( for contrast) and Connaught'sman Ramble (because it feels sort of like Jig Runrig ). Next time I'll try Will's line or "Oh Bugger I'm off for another drink now".
Bob
It's easier said than done but it's always best to carry on playing. When you are playing along with others, it's probably less nerve wracking than solo playing---although Angus Grant Jnr (Shooglenifty) once told me that you can never play a wrong note--it's the one after which is the problem. Therefore, if you're smart enough, you can always get yourself out of a tricky situation. The audience might even think its your own variation, especially if you repeat the mistake second time around.
Had a nightmare incident the once when we were playing in town. A huge gust of wind blew the sheet music everywhere and we didn't know this song well enough to continue without it, so there we are, dumbstruck, on the stage. We just carried on to the next tune and everybody thought it was the end of the set. Ah well, ignorance is bliss!
When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
As in the other night when i blew it totally going into the B part of Jig Runrig (finger slipped off the string) destroyed the rhythm so completely I messed up the guitar player and we had to clean the debris off the stage and start again. My normal strategy would be to play rhythm on a drone string for a second or two until I can pick up the tune again. What do the rest of you do ? Do you have a thought out stategy for these moments or is it just off the cuff ? I'm assuming, you understand, that there are others who (though it may be rare
) actually do make mistakes in performance.
Bob
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by bmcivor
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
I usually shout 'Oh Bugger, I'm off for another drink now,' and try and laugh it off, whilst running to the bar. No seriously, I do the same as you. Just try and come in again as soon as possible.
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Highly Strung!!
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
In Miltown Malbay (Willie Week) last year there was a concert series of sean-nois singers one evening. As the story goes, there was a young man on stage singing 'Skibberean', with a lovely voice with all the trills and scoops that a traditional Irish singer would do. Well, right in the middle of some verse he went blank, and there he stood in front of hundreds of people, all alone on the stage. And there he simply waited, still and calm and relaxed, waiting for that verse of a song he's sang a thousand times to come back to him. After several seconds of absolute silence, a man in the audience prompts him with the next verse and the singer thanks him in Irish and continues the song as if he'd never skipped a beat. As the song goes on, the verse 'It's well I do remember...' was modified to 'It's well I DON'T remember...' and it was a great laugh for everyone.
I found that to be very impressive and touching.
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Caoimghgin
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Don't worry, it's not rare. It happens to everyone sometime or another at all levels of ability and in all kinds of music. In just about every session I go to I can guarantee that at least one tune will fall apart, usually because of a memory lapse on someone's part, less commonly for technical reasons. Nobody minds, and it gets laughed off.
Anyone who has been around classical music for any length of time, either as a listener or player, could fill a book with accounts, often hilarious, of disasters or near-disasters in performance (I've had my personal moments). And this is where people are usually playing from the dots, when there shouldn't be any excuse. A good one was many years ago when they were recording a work for a wind octet by one of the madder mid-European composers - one of those atonal things that bends your ears right rotten. At the end of the recording session the clarinettist was putting his instrument away when he noticed to his horror that he had been using his B-flat instrument instead of the A required by the score. Every note he had played in the recording studio was therefore half a tone out. No-one had noticed, not even the conductor (who was also the composer!), so the player kept quiet, collected his fee, and the LP was eventually issued as recorded.
Trevor
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by lazyhound
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Good thread Bob! As others here have attested, it does happen enough times to have some kinda plan.
You were on stage? Now that would possibly freak me, I think. we've got a local festival gig coming up, so now you've got me worried!!...nahh, not really.
When it happens to me, less on the flute than the box, it's when I'm doing a tune the other lads haven't got (they also do tunes I don't have).
If I get tripped up by mistake after mistake, I usually only then give up, grunt some expletive, then try to make light of it by pretending to throw away or break the flute/box. The other Woodmanites are sufficiently supportive to laugh along. I reckon it can do your street cred no damage if you make a laugh of it.
If I've only just started, then suddenly realise I've got myself into a pile of sh!t, I'll struggle through the tune once, rather than the customery three, then move on to a more forgiving tune.
If it's just a mistake or two in the middle of a tune, I just play through it - the last thing you want to do is break the rhythm of the tune, that people have probably come at least a couple of miles to hear you play, so just face it out.
But wishing I could practice what I preach, the answer might be prevention rather than cure, ie play tunes which you know that you know, keep the tricky ones for before or after the "official" session. I know that wasn't the case with your genuine Accident, Bob, but I'm just sharing my experience on this.
A Mistake-Free Second Half of the Year to All at The Session!!
Hope Willie Week and the Fleadh are kind to the Liver Parenchymal Cells of all our delegates, though I fear that not to be the case!
Danny.
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Alf Tupper
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Even playing a tune you can usually play in your sleep is no guarantee to a flawless performance. At last weekend at a Celtic Festival (the 7th years I had played, although my first on Concertina not harp) I went completely blank in the middle of a tune and made a right mess of it. My duo partner and I cut it short and simply chuckled "Oh well, we always stuff one tune up!". THe audience laughed along with us, and we quickly moved on.
It's not something that I would like to repeat on a regular basis, but having been in the audience in similar situations I think it does make the performer seem "more human".
Just my two cents worth
Regards
Morgana
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Ptollemy
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Oh, I never fall apart in the middle of a tune. Never. Perfect every time. Stellar, every go round, with every note right where I wanted it.
*snort*
If you can get back on, do. If you can't, laugh, stop and start over again, in the case of a true train wreck. Then go home and practise the thing until your fingers bleed. *grin* That's my normal modus.
Zina
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Zina Lee
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Some years ago our six-piece band train wrecked in the middle of a set, in front of several hundred people, including some Irish dignitaries and a skein of dancers in full stride. Three of us just--s-t-o-p-p-e-d-! And the backers came to a screeching halt on top of us.
In the awkward, omnivorous, gaping silence that followed, I leaned into my mic and muttered, just being honest as much as trying to be funny, "That's just to prove--in case you thought only a cd could sound this good--that this is *live* music." And everybody, even the dancers and the soundman, laughed. And we re-started the tune we were in when the locomotive left the rails, and this time sailed right through and rocked right on to the end of the set and got thunderous applause.
Seems to me you've got two options when you falter and the rest of the band keeps going: either keep the beat going on some innocuous note until you can slip into the melody again, or sit out the phrase, or that half of the tune, or even the whole tune, acting nonchalant all the while, like this was how you and your mates "arranged" it. Taking a drink or rosining the bow while the band carries on is a great ruse to make it look planned, until you're ready to pounce back in at the next logical break.....
# Posted on July 4th 2003 by Will CPT
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Yup, it happens to us all, although my gang are handpicked for their ability to ignore what happens next to them and carry on regardless. As its a dance band, you can't really stop playing although the backing musicians can tell if I am making it up.
Rule number one - don't stop playing/singing.
Rule number two - glare at the person next to you.
# Posted on July 5th 2003 by geoffwright
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Thanks all.. great stories. Don't you just love someone with the poise to stand unembarrassed on a stage and wait for the song to return. At a dance we probably would have recovered the rythym and played on but in this case we did stop and have a laugh.This is quite a low stress venue. It's an outdoor restaurant under a big tree down by the harbour. When we started up again I think we did the best ensemble rendition of those tunes that we had ever done. We like to do Jig Runrig,Scatter the Mud ( for contrast) and Connaught'sman Ramble (because it feels sort of like Jig Runrig ). Next time I'll try Will's line or "Oh Bugger I'm off for another drink now".
Bob
# Posted on July 5th 2003 by bmcivor
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
It's easier said than done but it's always best to carry on playing. When you are playing along with others, it's probably less nerve wracking than solo playing---although Angus Grant Jnr (Shooglenifty) once told me that you can never play a wrong note--it's the one after which is the problem. Therefore, if you're smart enough, you can always get yourself out of a tricky situation. The audience might even think its your own variation, especially if you repeat the mistake second time around.
John
# Posted on July 6th 2003 by Johannes J
Re: When you fall apart in the middle of a tune..
Had a nightmare incident the once when we were playing in town. A huge gust of wind blew the sheet music everywhere and we didn't know this song well enough to continue without it, so there we are, dumbstruck, on the stage. We just carried on to the next tune and everybody thought it was the end of the set. Ah well, ignorance is bliss!
# Posted on July 7th 2003 by Highly Strung!!