To be or not to be, that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
Some of us have been blessed with music from birth, around us, sung to us, bounced to it, rocked by it, and some have not had that gift, grace and pleasure. Rhythm starts in the womb, hard wired into us from the pulsing heartbeat and circulation we share with our mother. But that can soon be lost in a world devoid of support once we go through that great shock of exiting that warmth and being pushed out into the cold. The blessing is if there's a welcome with swaddling that includes affection and music... Not everyone is so blessed.
In my travels I've loved seeing a mother with her child in her hands sharing musical noises as she dances the baby with a steps and a little gentle bouncing, or seeing someone sing or play music for their baby ~ or holding hands dancing with a wee one but adjusting steps and sways to the very short feet and balance insecurities of the child ~ and when they have the self confidence to join in with the adults, not wanting to be lifted or coddled, but wanting to be firmly on their own feet, however short their steps might be ~ or a small one giving their all to a song or a tune... Such joy and confidence is planted and nurtured, grows and is healthy in the right environment, with decent care and attention. ( ~ but not to the O.T.T. excess that breeds arrogant, self-centered, inconsiderate brats! )
Not all are so lucky, where it seems to come easy and natural, where understanding becomes innate, not always easily voiced or explained. That doesn't mean that those without this education and nurture from birth can't make them second nature, can't feel them as deeply. In an open system, where there are no barriers, preconceptions or biases anyone can be 'converted', can come into the fold and to these traditions and take them on, adopt them and be adopted by them. You can take them on, bring them in, and work them in deeply, nurturing the growth of that understanding yourself, though it is much easier with help from knowledgeable others. With passion, patience, repetition and humility, with a more concerted effort than the above 'au naturel' means you can make those rhythms a part of your own heart, you can gain an understanding and appreciation and ability with the soul of these traditions we share a care about.
While we all agree the immense value of ears, sometimes even the mechanical can help, sometimes there are shortcuts that can aid in gaining that understanding more quickly, sometimes, as we all learn by different means, many different approaches to that understanding can help secure it sooner. While understanding can be innate when taken on from birth, as we get older that ability becomes impaired. We can learn language naturally as a babe, but as an adult it becomes more laboured, and if there is even a slight hint of a learning disability, then more varied means to get the message across, the understanding, may be needed. Take sheet music, notation, which some boohoo. It is a beautiful graphic representation of rhythm, and some people learn better graphically than aurally. And dance, making that rhythm physical, for others this is the better way. But the best way is to unify all ways toward achieving understanding that embeds itself deep ~ aurally, physically, visually... I always found it inspirational how the majority of older musicians I'd the pleasure of knowing over time in Ireland enjoyed watching the dance they played for, as well as enjoying dance themselves. Their pleasure was threefold
Music is such a wonderful blessing we have in life, but I have known those that were not so blessed with it in their home, and it seems a terrible disability to me to have been denied music, or to find no pleasure in it in any form. Having worked with learning disabled children and adults the ones who seemed the happiest all had the joy of music and/or dance in them, they loved it and it moved them…
So, where is this going? I know, another ramble from me, but there is a purpose. I’d love to see your means, whether ‘au naturel’, a family steeped in music and its rhythms, or how you struggled and by what means to take this on and make it your own ~ or what means you use as a teacher to get it into and under the skin of those who’ve come to you seeking guidance. What has worked best? What has been useful, or useless in your mind and experience. How best can a person absorb and make second nature this blessing music, and/or dance? What is most important here?
Without having to say, but I’ll do it anyway, to me what is most important is the spirit and character of it, the humour, the welcome, which is something ever present in my times sharing it with the bearers of tradition, the sweet and interesting bearers of that flame…
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Beautifully put! Although my ancestors were fiddlers, I unfortunately did not grow up on the east coast of Canada. I came as an adult 10 years ago. I spent the first 8 years in Cape Breton where I met many musicians who were unwelcoming and unreceptive. Even a few who "came from away" as well made comments such as, "It was not easy for me to get the music and I'm sure not going to make it easy for you". Fortunatlely, I came to PEI- the gentle island that has received me with open arms. My playing and music has flourished as has my life and my spirit! So, you see, it can be learned and can be healed and nurtured in the proper environment.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Nice one CC...
Not to everyone's liking or percieved need, when I do find myself in a teaching situation I try to approach in as completely as possible. For instance, I will always include some element of dance, if just a simple 32 bar one to show how the phrases and rhythms relate between the music and the dance, and a few steps and phrases worth of sean nos stepping. I often also introduce them to basic bodhran beats, again to make the rhythm something physical, and because I believe that understanding will help them, in particular with the different rhythms and the articulation of the music, how to speak it. That benefit, in my reasoning, includes the plectrum, the bow and other methods of articulating that help define and support that heartbeat that is integral to this music... I do my best to help them connect to that and then translate that into giving life to their music, with the intent that they will eventually be able to not worry about it and will make it second nature, like walking... I also try to keep it open, to learn from them, who are best able to show me what they need and how they best learn. I'm not wanting clones, I want them to be able to make their own informed choices and to find their own personal voice in this music...
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
I'm with you on this one Ceol .
My daughter started dancing in the womb and music from day zero .
She is 19 well ajusted , writes her own songs , sings songs from the shows ,has no fear on stage and clog and tap and modern dances .
We always believed in this full approach to music and dance ,the brain and the heart neither will work without the other.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
You make me doubt my credentials as a music teacher, C. Not that I didn't already doubt them. I have one mandolin pupil; I am the only other mandolin player in town and happen to have been playing longer than him - that's my only qualification.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Remember hearing the song first as the theme music for the BBC programme of the same name. Now I play it as a 3/2 with lots of drive and at a fair lick. Yummy!
Damned if I know where I got the music from; it sort of 'happened' when I was down on my luck on Maggie's Farm in the 80s - unemployed. Needed something to stop me going cuckoo.
Dad used to play the box as a youth but didn't do much with it after that . Maybe it's genetic who knows?
Anyway I'm self taught; my style and mistakes are all my own.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
CC -
I'm from the mainland, NS and have a great love for fiddle tunes, especially those played in Cape Breton. Like you, I was not "steeped in the tradition" as they say and it wasn't until the ripe ol age of 25 when I had my first lesson, although I had classical training as a child. Since the very beginning, I have found that the musicians with whom I took lessons or workshops to be very generous with the music, eager to teach those who are eager to learn, and the people in general to be very warm and welcoming as well. It's unfortunate that you did not have a similar experience in Cape Breton, but I am glad that you found it on PEI. It's such a lovely little corner of the Maritimes.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Lovely post, Ceol. As usual.
As you know, I didn't grow up with this music in a family steeped in the tradition, but in a weird way I DID grow up with it. My dad loved "Celtic" music and always had albums of the Chieftains, Natalie McMaster, Eileen Ivers, and others. They were my favourite albums. I remember being a young teenager and while my peers in their angsty teenage anger got into their death metal, I in my angsty teenage anger got into Dougie MacLean. I didn't know he was from Scotland or where Dunkeld was or even that Caledonia was another name for Scotland, but nevertheless I thought that song captured the confusion and stress of being 15. Even though I find that song rating 11 on the cheese-o-meter these days, I still have to smile every time I hear it and think that life can be really weird sometimes.
My love this music (unlike a lot of people's love of death metal, luckily) never faded when I went to uni. Then it was a lonely pursuit because none of my mates were into it and I hadn't yet found the community of Irish musicians. I went to Ireland between my third and fourth year of uni for three months and if there was ever a singular life changing experience, that was the first one. There I found sessions and wow, people playing Irish music and loved going to sessions and just sitting and listening to them play. I saw folk playing the uilleann pipes, a sound I'd loved for many years, even to the point of buying the Titanic soundtrack because there were pipes on it, and used to ask them how it worked (how many times a week must they have fielded THAT question!). I remember thinking, "I could never play that. It sounds too hard. I'm not that musical." But it remained fixed in my mind anyway, even when I went back to the States. I found the local sessions in my area and made friends with a piper. He recommended going to the Northeast Tionol in the Catskills and it was while I was hanging out at that, surrounded by all this music and all the pipers, that I decided I had to learn how to play the damned things. It had to be done. Someone gave me a go on their set and all I could manage, barely, was a scale, but it was the most fun I'd ever had playing a scale. A pipemaker at the Tionol told me that he had a practice set available and that was that.
Since then I've moved around quite a lot so that experience of playing with a group of friends year in and year out is not one I've had. The longest I was anywhere was Edinburgh for nearly two years. Some places I've lived have been wonderfully supportive of learning the music, while in others it has felt like a long, lonely, uphill struggle, like what CC described above.
Sometimes, a lot of the time really, I feel I still suck badly and limp along with the tunes, but then recently I have been experiencing moments when the circumstances and the people are right and it all just gels. Then I feel I do have wings and I can fly. Last night's session had those moments and I'm still buzzing from it. Myself and the guitarist connected in a way I never had done before with anyone and the tunes just had wings -- we could play off each other, dance around each other. Even punters in the pub noticed and came up to us afterwards, saying it was like we were one musical entity. It was a buzz, as I said. I'd never played like that before. Surely every one who has been around for long enough finds that experience but it's amazing, the first time it happens.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Well said ceolachan, and although most hide behind their masks of anonymity on this site, I know pretty well who are the ones I'd actually want to play music with!
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Silver Spear - I can relate to your experience when the tunes just pour out of you effortlessly... it *is* truly amazing! I'm a relatively new fiddler and at times, I get frustrated with my playing since everyone around me always seems to be light years ahead of me. But at my last session, not only did my fingers hit the right spots at the right time (a big step for me!) but the music coming through my instrument had a lift and energy that until then was just beyond my grasp. It was if I had crossed some invisible threshold and got a glimpse what this music really is. Now, to keep that going…..
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
~ I had good experiences on Cape Breton Island too, but was aware of the tensions and personality conflicts just the same, including between those who were union and those who weren't. It was still heaven to be in that buzz, music and dance-wise...
Along the tales of Silver Spear, there are some folks that seem to reach out and take you in with their music, where you know they are listening, understanding where you are at, and they come to you and answer, but more, with a welcome, they make you part of what they are doing, and by that very act you suddenly are a better musician, at one with this other. Once there that union is such a wonderful high, who needs drugs. Music is the perfect drug for me, especially when you make such connections with it. It just feels natural, second nature at such times, au naturel, back to the roots of it all, connected...
That's an art, a magic I want, I strive for, to be able to do that for others...
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
about a month ago gam linked me to this great video;
" . . . Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3V6zNER4g
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Fishing successful! I was ready to believe Mr. C was going to give us a long dissertation on the glorious benefits of set dancing at Naturalist camps. The mental image is horrifying. It’ll take weeks to scrub from my mind.
Is that your Lancer or are you just glad to see me?
Eight hand reel…HEY! Watch your hands!
Sixteen hand reel? What kind of party is this, anyway?
Advance and Retire? ...and then a cigarette?
Show the Lady: OK, I think you lads have shown her just about enough already…
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
The 'au naturel' in that meaning, yes, bare naked, exposed for all our folds and wrinkles, in the raw ~ and musically too ~ to gain enough self confidence, through the care and nurture of ourselves and others, that we don't mind the warts too much, that those things we can't change are O.K., are part of the music being personal and live, so we can move forward, aware but not dissuaded, willing to learn and grow. Back to a Maritime term for the proof of a thing being real, connected to the roots and soil ~ 'dirt'. Those imperfections are proof of life...
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
In all seriousness, (or at least a modest amount) I think many of us Yanks, or former Yanks like herself The Spear, have similar backgrounds. Certainly no official ‘in the music’ upbringing, but snippets and samples of the music all around, enough to entice. I’m lucky, I have musical family to start with.
My Father remembers his Grandmother sitting around the kitchen table in their row house in Philly, playing the concertina while Grandpop would dance with the kids. He can’t recall exact tunes, and didn’t play this music until he caught the bug from me a few years back, but the link is there for us. I think she’d excuse our generational break.
My real addiction came with my first son’s birth, about ten years ago now. The fiddle came out of the closet, the old classical childhood training was dusted off and then disregarded when its usefulness was up, found the locals, made friends, and am now the prime local conspirator by default. The authorities know of my whereabouts.
What helped me? Madness? Obsessive compulsive tune disorder?
Probably. The heart wanted what it wanted, and told the ears and brain how it was going to be, and #1 ‘made it so’. I still listen to the music all the time, like a fiend. Can’t stress that enough. There’s no other way to get it than to listen to it. Let yourself absorb it. I want to play the music so I listen to the music. If you love it, you will do it, you can’t help yourself. Immersion therapy. It goes in the ears and out the fingers.
…and yes, the feet too.
We’ve built ourselves a community here now. My father, my friends, my mother sang a song yesterday at session. We even had the dancers stop by the visit with us, they had something going on up the highway that got out early and raided our session, had a great time. The publican even pushed the big table out of the way and they were off.
Yes, tunes, songs and dancers all in the same session, in SW Florida.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
For sure Mr. C, that's what nurtures the individuals and the musical community itself, that warm feeling of camaraderie that lets people be themselves without fear, to give it a go and try without any scorn or mockery. That makes a true community, a family.
Indeed. If not for those that I found ten years ago, I would not be here to do the same for the folks coming to us now, like I did back then.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
With maybe a little patience for 'slagging' with heart... I only tease people I like, but I do realize I need to be careful as to whether or not they know that...
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Some folks born to music waste it too, or take it for granted. My wish is for that character and humour to cross with the sharing of the music, believing that is an integral part of the tradition, the life and craic of it. I still remember well one family steeped in the traditions of Donegal, lovely people whose children weren't the least bit interested. They're children and grandchildren were nice enough people, but along with a lack of interest in the music they also refused homemade bread. For them their elders made sure they always had bought from the shop sliced bread in plastic bags.
You don't need to follow the same tradition you were raised with, but the blessing of any music through life improves your chances to take it on personally and find your place in it, whatever music you choose. But, I also believe there are other ways to find your own way to and through music, to make it your own, whether or not you were blessed with its presence at home and from birth.
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
I too found the images conjured up by the title of this discussion too disturbing to think about.
How VERY dare you, sir !
But good points made, when we got past these insinuations.
Obsessive Compulsive Tune Disorder.
Hmmmmm.
I shall use the abbreviation in front of the consultant, and see if it raises an eyebrow.
Along with Instrument Acquisition Syndrome.
Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel
)
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/7365
To be or not to be, that is the question,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
Some of us have been blessed with music from birth, around us, sung to us, bounced to it, rocked by it, and some have not had that gift, grace and pleasure. Rhythm starts in the womb, hard wired into us from the pulsing heartbeat and circulation we share with our mother. But that can soon be lost in a world devoid of support once we go through that great shock of exiting that warmth and being pushed out into the cold. The blessing is if there's a welcome with swaddling that includes affection and music... Not everyone is so blessed.
In my travels I've loved seeing a mother with her child in her hands sharing musical noises as she dances the baby with a steps and a little gentle bouncing, or seeing someone sing or play music for their baby ~ or holding hands dancing with a wee one but adjusting steps and sways to the very short feet and balance insecurities of the child ~ and when they have the self confidence to join in with the adults, not wanting to be lifted or coddled, but wanting to be firmly on their own feet, however short their steps might be ~ or a small one giving their all to a song or a tune... Such joy and confidence is planted and nurtured, grows and is healthy in the right environment, with decent care and attention. ( ~ but not to the O.T.T. excess that breeds arrogant, self-centered, inconsiderate brats!
Not all are so lucky, where it seems to come easy and natural, where understanding becomes innate, not always easily voiced or explained. That doesn't mean that those without this education and nurture from birth can't make them second nature, can't feel them as deeply. In an open system, where there are no barriers, preconceptions or biases anyone can be 'converted', can come into the fold and to these traditions and take them on, adopt them and be adopted by them. You can take them on, bring them in, and work them in deeply, nurturing the growth of that understanding yourself, though it is much easier with help from knowledgeable others. With passion, patience, repetition and humility, with a more concerted effort than the above 'au naturel' means you can make those rhythms a part of your own heart, you can gain an understanding and appreciation and ability with the soul of these traditions we share a care about.
While we all agree the immense value of ears, sometimes even the mechanical can help, sometimes there are shortcuts that can aid in gaining that understanding more quickly, sometimes, as we all learn by different means, many different approaches to that understanding can help secure it sooner. While understanding can be innate when taken on from birth, as we get older that ability becomes impaired. We can learn language naturally as a babe, but as an adult it becomes more laboured, and if there is even a slight hint of a learning disability, then more varied means to get the message across, the understanding, may be needed. Take sheet music, notation, which some boohoo. It is a beautiful graphic representation of rhythm, and some people learn better graphically than aurally. And dance, making that rhythm physical, for others this is the better way. But the best way is to unify all ways toward achieving understanding that embeds itself deep ~ aurally, physically, visually... I always found it inspirational how the majority of older musicians I'd the pleasure of knowing over time in Ireland enjoyed watching the dance they played for, as well as enjoying dance themselves. Their pleasure was threefold
Music is such a wonderful blessing we have in life, but I have known those that were not so blessed with it in their home, and it seems a terrible disability to me to have been denied music, or to find no pleasure in it in any form. Having worked with learning disabled children and adults the ones who seemed the happiest all had the joy of music and/or dance in them, they loved it and it moved them…
So, where is this going? I know, another ramble from me, but there is a purpose. I’d love to see your means, whether ‘au naturel’, a family steeped in music and its rhythms, or how you struggled and by what means to take this on and make it your own ~ or what means you use as a teacher to get it into and under the skin of those who’ve come to you seeking guidance. What has worked best? What has been useful, or useless in your mind and experience. How best can a person absorb and make second nature this blessing music, and/or dance? What is most important here?
Without having to say, but I’ll do it anyway, to me what is most important is the spirit and character of it, the humour, the welcome, which is something ever present in my times sharing it with the bearers of tradition, the sweet and interesting bearers of that flame…
# Posted on November 29th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Keech
# Posted on November 29th 2009 by 'S dat you, O'Flibberty?
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Beautifully put! Although my ancestors were fiddlers, I unfortunately did not grow up on the east coast of Canada. I came as an adult 10 years ago. I spent the first 8 years in Cape Breton where I met many musicians who were unwelcoming and unreceptive. Even a few who "came from away" as well made comments such as, "It was not easy for me to get the music and I'm sure not going to make it easy for you". Fortunatlely, I came to PEI- the gentle island that has received me with open arms. My playing and music has flourished as has my life and my spirit! So, you see, it can be learned and can be healed and nurtured in the proper environment.
# Posted on November 29th 2009 by CC
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
'keech' ~ fat, available from your local buthcher... ~ or ~ a Scottish meaning ~ 'excrement'...
Seems a bit early on for this, but not unexpected, sadly...
# Posted on November 29th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Nice one CC...
Not to everyone's liking or percieved need, when I do find myself in a teaching situation I try to approach in as completely as possible. For instance, I will always include some element of dance, if just a simple 32 bar one to show how the phrases and rhythms relate between the music and the dance, and a few steps and phrases worth of sean nos stepping. I often also introduce them to basic bodhran beats, again to make the rhythm something physical, and because I believe that understanding will help them, in particular with the different rhythms and the articulation of the music, how to speak it. That benefit, in my reasoning, includes the plectrum, the bow and other methods of articulating that help define and support that heartbeat that is integral to this music... I do my best to help them connect to that and then translate that into giving life to their music, with the intent that they will eventually be able to not worry about it and will make it second nature, like walking... I also try to keep it open, to learn from them, who are best able to show me what they need and how they best learn. I'm not wanting clones, I want them to be able to make their own informed choices and to find their own personal voice in this music...
# Posted on November 29th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
I'm with you on this one Ceol .
My daughter started dancing in the womb and music from day zero .
She is 19 well ajusted , writes her own songs , sings songs from the shows ,has no fear on stage and clog and tap and modern dances .
We always believed in this full approach to music and dance ,the brain and the heart neither will work without the other.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by bazouki dave
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
You make me doubt my credentials as a music teacher, C. Not that I didn't already doubt them. I have one mandolin pupil; I am the only other mandolin player in town and happen to have been playing longer than him - that's my only qualification.
I'll have to take a few lessons from you someday.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
'The heart has eyes that the brain knows nothing of.'
Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842-1933), American social reformer
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by lisaniska
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Remember hearing the song first as the theme music for the BBC programme of the same name. Now I play it as a 3/2 with lots of drive and at a fair lick. Yummy!
Damned if I know where I got the music from; it sort of 'happened' when I was down on my luck on Maggie's Farm in the 80s - unemployed. Needed something to stop me going cuckoo.
Dad used to play the box as a youth but didn't do much with it after that . Maybe it's genetic who knows?
Anyway I'm self taught; my style and mistakes are all my own.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by john knoss
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
A matter of necessity, I like that John...
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
CC -
I'm from the mainland, NS and have a great love for fiddle tunes, especially those played in Cape Breton. Like you, I was not "steeped in the tradition" as they say and it wasn't until the ripe ol age of 25 when I had my first lesson, although I had classical training as a child. Since the very beginning, I have found that the musicians with whom I took lessons or workshops to be very generous with the music, eager to teach those who are eager to learn, and the people in general to be very warm and welcoming as well. It's unfortunate that you did not have a similar experience in Cape Breton, but I am glad that you found it on PEI. It's such a lovely little corner of the Maritimes.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by jsmith
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Lovely post, Ceol. As usual.
As you know, I didn't grow up with this music in a family steeped in the tradition, but in a weird way I DID grow up with it. My dad loved "Celtic" music and always had albums of the Chieftains, Natalie McMaster, Eileen Ivers, and others. They were my favourite albums. I remember being a young teenager and while my peers in their angsty teenage anger got into their death metal, I in my angsty teenage anger got into Dougie MacLean. I didn't know he was from Scotland or where Dunkeld was or even that Caledonia was another name for Scotland, but nevertheless I thought that song captured the confusion and stress of being 15. Even though I find that song rating 11 on the cheese-o-meter these days, I still have to smile every time I hear it and think that life can be really weird sometimes.
My love this music (unlike a lot of people's love of death metal, luckily) never faded when I went to uni. Then it was a lonely pursuit because none of my mates were into it and I hadn't yet found the community of Irish musicians. I went to Ireland between my third and fourth year of uni for three months and if there was ever a singular life changing experience, that was the first one. There I found sessions and wow, people playing Irish music and loved going to sessions and just sitting and listening to them play. I saw folk playing the uilleann pipes, a sound I'd loved for many years, even to the point of buying the Titanic soundtrack because there were pipes on it, and used to ask them how it worked (how many times a week must they have fielded THAT question!). I remember thinking, "I could never play that. It sounds too hard. I'm not that musical." But it remained fixed in my mind anyway, even when I went back to the States. I found the local sessions in my area and made friends with a piper. He recommended going to the Northeast Tionol in the Catskills and it was while I was hanging out at that, surrounded by all this music and all the pipers, that I decided I had to learn how to play the damned things. It had to be done. Someone gave me a go on their set and all I could manage, barely, was a scale, but it was the most fun I'd ever had playing a scale. A pipemaker at the Tionol told me that he had a practice set available and that was that.
Since then I've moved around quite a lot so that experience of playing with a group of friends year in and year out is not one I've had. The longest I was anywhere was Edinburgh for nearly two years. Some places I've lived have been wonderfully supportive of learning the music, while in others it has felt like a long, lonely, uphill struggle, like what CC described above.
Sometimes, a lot of the time really, I feel I still suck badly and limp along with the tunes, but then recently I have been experiencing moments when the circumstances and the people are right and it all just gels. Then I feel I do have wings and I can fly. Last night's session had those moments and I'm still buzzing from it. Myself and the guitarist connected in a way I never had done before with anyone and the tunes just had wings -- we could play off each other, dance around each other. Even punters in the pub noticed and came up to us afterwards, saying it was like we were one musical entity. It was a buzz, as I said. I'd never played like that before. Surely every one who has been around for long enough finds that experience but it's amazing, the first time it happens.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Well said ceolachan, and although most hide behind their masks of anonymity on this site, I know pretty well who are the ones I'd actually want to play music with!
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by TomB-R
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Dancing au naturel? I take it your French is better than mine.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by gam
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Silver Spear - I can relate to your experience when the tunes just pour out of you effortlessly... it *is* truly amazing! I'm a relatively new fiddler and at times, I get frustrated with my playing since everyone around me always seems to be light years ahead of me. But at my last session, not only did my fingers hit the right spots at the right time (a big step for me!) but the music coming through my instrument had a lift and energy that until then was just beyond my grasp. It was if I had crossed some invisible threshold and got a glimpse what this music really is. Now, to keep that going…..
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by jsmith
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
"Dancing au naturel? I take it your French is better than mine"
I think ceolachan was doing a bit of fishing....
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by TomB-R
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Along the tales of Silver Spear, there are some folks that seem to reach out and take you in with their music, where you know they are listening, understanding where you are at, and they come to you and answer, but more, with a welcome, they make you part of what they are doing, and by that very act you suddenly are a better musician, at one with this other. Once there that union is such a wonderful high, who needs drugs. Music is the perfect drug for me, especially when you make such connections with it. It just feels natural, second nature at such times, au naturel, back to the roots of it all, connected...
That's an art, a magic I want, I strive for, to be able to do that for others...
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by ceolachan
Ever notice the beauty of a question mark ~ ? ~ that it looks a bit like a fish hook...
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
about a month ago gam linked me to this great video;
" . . . Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3V6zNER4g
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by Ben Steen
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Fishhooks, and the astounding Evelyn Glennie (love that gal)....I like the way tis topic is developing
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
THIS topic
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Fishing successful! I was ready to believe Mr. C was going to give us a long dissertation on the glorious benefits of set dancing at Naturalist camps. The mental image is horrifying. It’ll take weeks to scrub from my mind.
Is that your Lancer or are you just glad to see me?
Eight hand reel…HEY! Watch your hands!
Sixteen hand reel? What kind of party is this, anyway?
Advance and Retire? ...and then a cigarette?
Show the Lady: OK, I think you lads have shown her just about enough already…
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
The 'au naturel' in that meaning, yes, bare naked, exposed for all our folds and wrinkles, in the raw ~ and musically too ~ to gain enough self confidence, through the care and nurture of ourselves and others, that we don't mind the warts too much, that those things we can't change are O.K., are part of the music being personal and live, so we can move forward, aware but not dissuaded, willing to learn and grow. Back to a Maritime term for the proof of a thing being real, connected to the roots and soil ~ 'dirt'. Those imperfections are proof of life...
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
In all seriousness, (or at least a modest amount) I think many of us Yanks, or former Yanks like herself The Spear, have similar backgrounds. Certainly no official ‘in the music’ upbringing, but snippets and samples of the music all around, enough to entice. I’m lucky, I have musical family to start with.
My Father remembers his Grandmother sitting around the kitchen table in their row house in Philly, playing the concertina while Grandpop would dance with the kids. He can’t recall exact tunes, and didn’t play this music until he caught the bug from me a few years back, but the link is there for us. I think she’d excuse our generational break.
My real addiction came with my first son’s birth, about ten years ago now. The fiddle came out of the closet, the old classical childhood training was dusted off and then disregarded when its usefulness was up, found the locals, made friends, and am now the prime local conspirator by default. The authorities know of my whereabouts.
What helped me? Madness? Obsessive compulsive tune disorder?
Probably. The heart wanted what it wanted, and told the ears and brain how it was going to be, and #1 ‘made it so’. I still listen to the music all the time, like a fiend. Can’t stress that enough. There’s no other way to get it than to listen to it. Let yourself absorb it. I want to play the music so I listen to the music. If you love it, you will do it, you can’t help yourself. Immersion therapy. It goes in the ears and out the fingers.
…and yes, the feet too.
We’ve built ourselves a community here now. My father, my friends, my mother sang a song yesterday at session. We even had the dancers stop by the visit with us, they had something going on up the highway that got out early and raided our session, had a great time. The publican even pushed the big table out of the way and they were off.
Yes, tunes, songs and dancers all in the same session, in SW Florida.
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
For sure Mr. C, that's what nurtures the individuals and the musical community itself, that warm feeling of camaraderie that lets people be themselves without fear, to give it a go and try without any scorn or mockery. That makes a true community, a family.
Indeed. If not for those that I found ten years ago, I would not be here to do the same for the folks coming to us now, like I did back then.
Keep it going, pass it on!
# Posted on November 30th 2009 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
'' . . . for it will . . . out live us all.''
Peter Coughlan, 'Hungry Grass', 2006
# Posted on December 1st 2009 by lisaniska
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
With maybe a little patience for 'slagging' with heart... I only tease people I like, but I do realize I need to be careful as to whether or not they know that...
# Posted on December 1st 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
Some folks born to music waste it too, or take it for granted. My wish is for that character and humour to cross with the sharing of the music, believing that is an integral part of the tradition, the life and craic of it. I still remember well one family steeped in the traditions of Donegal, lovely people whose children weren't the least bit interested. They're children and grandchildren were nice enough people, but along with a lack of interest in the music they also refused homemade bread. For them their elders made sure they always had bought from the shop sliced bread in plastic bags.
You don't need to follow the same tradition you were raised with, but the blessing of any music through life improves your chances to take it on personally and find your place in it, whatever music you choose. But, I also believe there are other ways to find your own way to and through music, to make it your own, whether or not you were blessed with its presence at home and from birth.
# Posted on December 1st 2009 by ceolachan
Re: Dance to your daddy, dance to you your mammy ~ au naturel!?
I too found the images conjured up by the title of this discussion too disturbing to think about.
How VERY dare you, sir !
But good points made, when we got past these insinuations.
Obsessive Compulsive Tune Disorder.
Hmmmmm.
I shall use the abbreviation in front of the consultant, and see if it raises an eyebrow.
Along with Instrument Acquisition Syndrome.
# Posted on December 1st 2009 by Guernsey Pete