I'm tempted to put up a wee add here selling the pipes but figure somewhere, there must be a way to find the passion for it I used to have. It's all started feeling a bit pointless these days -- music isn't going anywhere, I'm not getting beyond a kind of functional but not great level of mediocrity, it's just stagnating.
Don't sell! I agree with T, just put them away for awhile, them pick them up when the mood shifts. Don't even give yourself a timeline, just put them aside, do something else.
I know just what you mean - why bother? what's the point? can't be ar**d with this. It don't sound right etc. etc.
Tirno is right though. Perhaps taking a break for a while usually works for me and after a couple of weeks (don't think I could last a couple of months) I need to open the case again and try that tune I heard the other day....
I have an idea it's a bit like waiting for something to mature and when you start again you'll maybe find that somehow you have moved on in your playing and it's enjoyable again.
Don't despair!
I've got a little story for you SS. You can call it "don't sell your pipes, because we are not promised tomorrow" for dramatic impact.
A dear member of our local session scene made his usually appearance last Sunday night. The session was in rare form too as other folks who hadn't been in a while rejoined us for a few tunes. The gentleman in question played his tunes and sang his songs with his usual joyful enthusiasm. He then went home and peacefully died in his sleep. We shall miss him greatly, especially over these next few weeks and months as we sit looking at his empty chair. However, what we will really miss is his camaraderie and enthusiasm for the music and the session scene. That never seem to go away or dim, no matter who came to the session.
We all go through ruts and stagnations - well at least I do - but never enough to put me off for too long. Based upon your past posts, I really get the sense that you love this music, and somewhat masochistically, even playing the pipes. My guess is this is just one of those frustrating stretches that most of us go through. Don't stress on it - just let it pass. Come back when you're feeling refreshed mentally. Who knows, maybe somebody will introduce you to a new tune that fires you up again. Inspiration can come from anywhere when you're not looking for it.
Maybe you've just hit one of those 'plateau' phases that we all seem to have. Luckily for me I'm still at a relatively early stage and learning all the time, so the plateaus don't last so long.
For a month or so during the summer I got out to play as much music as possible - I went to Drumshanbo, to the fleadh in Cavan, a weekend in Belfast, a few sessions in Dublin and plenty back home. I was just buzzing after being at all those different sessions and playing with different musicians. Maybe you need a break from the routine?
TSS, maybe it's just the dog days of summer. (But then you probably don't have dog days up in your neck of the woods, just wet, muddy dog days.)
I can barely muster interest in dragging an instrument from the case these days--everyone is out of town, it's hot and smoky here (jeez, how can there be anything left to burn up there???), would rather be out on my bike, the hammock and a big fat Neal Stephenson novel beckons.
But then someone drops by, or the Dear Husband wants a few tunes, we sit out on the porch, sip a beer, the bats flit by, and our tuxedo cat looks at us adoringly. Tunes make her happy. It's enough for now.
It's not so much a plateau as a.....need to do other things, like wyogal suggests.
skreech, I thought TSS played the pipes, not...
oh wait.
We all get tired of the wife from time to time, but that doesn't mean you should sell her. Maybe sneak off and have a fling with a musical equivalent of some floozie? You'll be wanting something cheap if it's just for a while, so maybe have a bash at the Mandolin (tuned in 5ths & no bowing to learn). Then when you've been messing with that for a while you'll go back to the old bag with a sense of sly guilty satisfaction. and you'll have the cheap beater there for when you hit the rocky patches.
I feel for you SS, I'm the same, I've been learning the flute for 10 years I've got as far as I can on my own, I can go no further without some sort of guidance (i feel) (but no-one will mentor an adult). I used to play everyday but I've not played all year or been to any sessions ...to many galloping bodhrans, same people every week playing the same sets over and over... BORING, to fast or too slow or out of tune or all three. Whiskey in the jar- shakey eggs-bones-drunks-fields of athenry PAH! S.O.S Music ( same old s*ite) Not very inspiring... Have a break, and just wait and see. Thats what i'm gonna do here whilst wallowing in abject in cynisism and misery. ....Or you could take skreech up on/her offer... sounds good.
It always helps to have a brand-new baby chanter reed to play with. Of course, it's even more helpful if the new reed works tolerably well. (Touch wood!) Keep your chin up, kid.
take a break from Irish tunes - play some AC/DC or reggae or show tunes or old time or something for a while. You can't quit though - lady pipers are just too dang cool
Hey--in't this the second post like this from you? The other one might've been a few years ago but I seem to recall you did this before . GOOD CHRIST I NEED A LIFE!!??!! Sorry, back to the subject at hand. What worked in the past? Maybe you need to re-evaluate why you play music. Is it a social thing? Personal? The idea of not being satisfied because you are not improving doesn't cut it if you just enjoy playing. I love the sound of pipes and I imagine you do to or you wouldn't own a set. Don't get hung up on 'improving' try to remember why your 'playing'. However this advice comes from a guy who spent a decade playing three chord punk songs so take it for what it's worth....
It could be you're going to the wrong type of sessions for you, tss. Each player has their own preferences for sessions - some people like the big modern urban gastropubs, others like little seedy dives out in the back of beyond (maybe in the ar$ehole end of a city centre, or in deepest sleepy suburbia, or even out in the countryside) with just a few people around. I prefer a small session in a quiet pub, preferably small. Big noisy things I usually avoid, I just don't see the point.
I know you get frustrated like this from time to time - the last thread like this was actually 1 year ago in August 2010 and I see there was something similar in Jan 2010 so I am quite sure you will change your mind and return to your enthusiastic playing soon.
Look on the positive side - at this time 7 years ago you were a bodhran player. Surely there can be no better evidence of improvement than that.
What all do you play TSS in terms of genres? Maybe the music that you're trying to play isn't what you emotionally feel like listening to. Sometimes i sit in front of my piano and after trying several pieces, still don't feel like playing. Sometimes i have to find what i wanna play. But also, sometimes it can be days, or weeks and i don't wanna play. This usually happens after i come to a close with some epic music journey. Like discovering an inaccessible artist or genre. Or a finishing a string of original compositions. Sometimes we just need a break. I don't take breaks often cause i usually end up taking them anyway, against my will. The longest i've ever gone without playing music is around 6 months.
Hang in there, TSS, and don't be afraid to take a break and do some other stuff for a while, no sense forcing it. Every relationship, even relationships with mechanical octupi, have their ups and downs, no sense chucking it all in for good just because of a lull in your enthusiasm.
[Oh, and Michele, there was no need to mention that your Neal Stephenson novel was big and fat--all of his books are enormous.]
Cheers for the encouragement. I get surly about it all and need the occasional Yella Board prod.
It feels like the pipes are like that boy/girlfriend who you break-up with, then get back together, then break-up with, then get back together...and so on it goes.
"functional but not great level of mediocrity" would describe nicely the threshold known to all of us. The door's not locked. Are you going through? Before you decide, get out your pipes and play the most heart-rending dirge you can muster. Pour your heart into it and have a cry. Don't worry about anyone else -- this is between you and your pipes.
A very timely post amigos..I'm going through this very thing myself and it's a most unpleasant state of affairs.I wonder what causes it ?
We all love out Music and we all love to play so why does this 'aimless' thing creep into it ?
Have a break from things seems to be the general advice.
I think maybe there's a black dog at my door....wish he's p*ss off ...
I'd second the having a go at another instrument idea. Just for yourself. Many pipers also seem to be dab hands at the whistle, so if you don't play whistle already, why not give it a whirl - tunes you know well already. Clearly moving to stringed instrument or box would be a different challenge.
Myself, I haven't played flute much in the past couple of months but will come back to it. Sort of hit a wall in terms of progress. But I still daily pick up the whistle and concertina.
As I've mentioned before, I've sort of accepted that I can reach a certain level with a certain amount of effort. Not that one doesn't want to move beyond that but it becomes less pressing.
I am not sure about the second instrument. I t will give you a new source of frustration. You know what you want and you can't bring it out. Let's say, I have been having a stab at the flute and only recently there's the odd hint of satisfaction.
My own solution would be to play on my own a lot and pay attention to detail, get everything to sound the way you want it. To me there's more satisfaction there than there is in fitting into the big sound of a group all the time.
"We all get tired of the wife from time to time, but that doesn't mean you should sell her." Yes it does.
Come all you lads and lasses gay, and banish care and strife,
In the market place, a mason did by auction sell his wife;
Thirteen shilling and a penny - for the lady was the sum,
And to see the curious spree, some thousands soon did run;
In the market place, I do declare, it's true upon my life,
A mason did the other day, by auction sell his wife.
and...
For I sing in praise of John Magee who was auctioning his wife.
She was a hard working woman but the divil all her life.
Neither peace nor contentment this poor man could find,
So a way to get rid of her come into his mind.
and...
"Oh who'll buy a wife?" says Hobbs, John Hobbs
"A sweet pretty wife," says he.
But somehow they tell us,
The wife dealing fellows
Were all of them sellers
And none of them wanted Jane, did they...
I just picked up my harp, I had no touched her in months. No real decision, just was always doing something else, or playing another instrument.
It felt good just unpacking her, tuning her up, then loosening up my digits, and playing I knew rather well, then trying some new (to me) tunes by ear.
In a short while, we were in love again.
She is a lovely harp, and I missed playing her.
somewhere, I guess that I had lost touch with
why I play the harp, and I had to find it again.
Perhaps Prof., there's an element of 'far off fields are green' in the idea of a second instrument and thus better avoided. But it also introduces variety and a different sound and approach. I suppose it all depends on the individual.
I know what you mean. I was just saying that in my own experience being thrown back to a near beginner's stage on a new instrument doesn't help shifting any frustrations regarding progress on one's main instrument.
I also had the thought that if I made the pipes into a cute, furry animal by replacing the current bag cover with a furry one and gluing some googley eyes on it, they would be nicer to play.
Hey TSS - been there, done that got the T shirt. I hope you'll stay with the pipes, though. You're probably poised for some kind of a breakthrough..." Seosamh Ui Sinan
Thats what I think and thats how I'd read it.
It's a hard old station, really it is. But if it was easy everybody would be at it.
Your hard on yourself, too hard IMO. Almost every opportunity to denigrate the quality of your playing you grab or offer it up too readily, even when unprompted. "See me, I'm shi t e". Thats not true though, is it?
Think of the positives, your young and keen and have much hard learning under your belt already. Your playing keeps good enough time to be getting on with, and you get on a heap of tunes, including a few from god's own country ;~)
Perhaps your relentless sessioneering is catching up? It can be an issue if you don't get the opportunity to consolidate after the event. Perhaps a woodsheding timeout period is called for? Where instead of heading out for a tune, for a few weeks or months, you try staying home and practicing your chops. Making little recordings of yourself from time to time and using the same to isolate those elements you wish to improve.
If finding somewhere to get it on in private with your plumbing is an issue? Then get it sorted out girl.
If in 20 years you still think your sh ite I'll accept it. But not when I'm hearing you and thinking "this girl has got what it takes to give it a go", and then hearing you a few months later, and hearing the improvement.
In the meantime no more, slagging yourself off, your doing better than your giving yourself credit for.
Even the best of us goes through a bad patch from time to time.
Paddy Keenan:
'During this time, Keenan didn’t play his pipes, even trying at one point to sell them at a pawn shop, but had no takers—uilleann pipes were simply Not Cool in late 60’s London... "I went as low as two bob. I couldn’t believe my ears when he turned me down." ... Keenan walked out of the pawn shop and made to throw his pipes into a trash bin. A friend stopped him and told him he’d keep the pipes for him.'
A new bag cover for your pipe set could be a fine diversion. What do you think about severe black velveteen over all, with a high white 'rise and fall' buttoned collar at the chanter stock? Or, you could opt for the rugby jersey look with broad stripes and open collar...
"I also had the thought that if I made the pipes into a cute, furry animal by replacing the current bag cover with a furry one and gluing some googley eyes on it, they would be nicer to play.
I'd love to be able to play the pipes as well as you! I suggest you learn a few new tunes. Changing the repertoire always helps keep it fresh. Also I recommend listening to all of the following CD's:
Deadly Buzz
A moment of Madness
Home away from home
To inspire you.
Also please come to Dublin and visit me and I'll bring you to some nice sessions
I had a dream once that I could play the pipes, so I thought it must be my destiny to play them. So I borrowed a practice set off a friend and spent several hours in the kitchen one day sounding like I was strangling the cat. It was a truly horrible sound, so I gave up in despair and went back to the flute. True story.
Heinlein once describe the pipes as "looking and sounding like someone holding a cat under his arm, and biting its tail while squeezing it". I always loved that.
When I was a kid I had recurring dreams (nightmares?) about playing the banjo. Truly.
I have two out of the three CDs Bryan recommended, Deadly Buzz and Moment of Madness Even learned a few tunes off them, some slip jigs and polkas.
I went to Portpatrick this weekend to look for inspiration, and it kind of worked, in that it inspired me to learn a few more slow airs. They were the only tunes which kept the bodhran-players quiet. A stack of them would be useful for such situations.
Not playing much, not enjoying it
Not playing much, not enjoying it
I'm tempted to put up a wee add here selling the pipes but figure somewhere, there must be a way to find the passion for it I used to have. It's all started feeling a bit pointless these days -- music isn't going anywhere, I'm not getting beyond a kind of functional but not great level of mediocrity, it's just stagnating.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Put it away for a month or two and see what happens. There are so many other things to do - I usually tend to come back refreshed
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Tirno
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Don't sell! I agree with T, just put them away for awhile, them pick them up when the mood shifts. Don't even give yourself a timeline, just put them aside, do something else.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Wyogal
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Don't sell them - give them to me
I'm only starting to find my passion for the pipes...
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Pat Mustard
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I know just what you mean - why bother? what's the point? can't be ar**d with this. It don't sound right etc. etc.
Tirno is right though. Perhaps taking a break for a while usually works for me and after a couple of weeks (don't think I could last a couple of months) I need to open the case again and try that tune I heard the other day....
I have an idea it's a bit like waiting for something to mature and when you start again you'll maybe find that somehow you have moved on in your playing and it's enjoyable again.
Don't despair!
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by john knoss
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I've got a little story for you SS. You can call it "don't sell your pipes, because we are not promised tomorrow" for dramatic impact.
A dear member of our local session scene made his usually appearance last Sunday night. The session was in rare form too as other folks who hadn't been in a while rejoined us for a few tunes. The gentleman in question played his tunes and sang his songs with his usual joyful enthusiasm. He then went home and peacefully died in his sleep. We shall miss him greatly, especially over these next few weeks and months as we sit looking at his empty chair. However, what we will really miss is his camaraderie and enthusiasm for the music and the session scene. That never seem to go away or dim, no matter who came to the session.
We all go through ruts and stagnations - well at least I do - but never enough to put me off for too long. Based upon your past posts, I really get the sense that you love this music, and somewhat masochistically, even playing the pipes. My guess is this is just one of those frustrating stretches that most of us go through. Don't stress on it - just let it pass. Come back when you're feeling refreshed mentally. Who knows, maybe somebody will introduce you to a new tune that fires you up again. Inspiration can come from anywhere when you're not looking for it.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Jusa Nutter Eejit
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Maybe you've just hit one of those 'plateau' phases that we all seem to have. Luckily for me I'm still at a relatively early stage and learning all the time, so the plateaus don't last so long.
For a month or so during the summer I got out to play as much music as possible - I went to Drumshanbo, to the fleadh in Cavan, a weekend in Belfast, a few sessions in Dublin and plenty back home. I was just buzzing after being at all those different sessions and playing with different musicians. Maybe you need a break from the routine?
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Pat Mustard
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
...'Perhaps taking a break for a while would be a good idea' usually works...
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by john knoss
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Ome down to the Portpatrick Festival this weekend. Play with some different faces.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by skreech
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Hey, don't stop playing, just take up a new musical challenge for a bit of diversion, like ...... the Spoons!
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Ptarmigan
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
TSS, maybe it's just the dog days of summer. (But then you probably don't have dog days up in your neck of the woods, just wet, muddy dog days.)
I can barely muster interest in dragging an instrument from the case these days--everyone is out of town, it's hot and smoky here (jeez, how can there be anything left to burn up there???), would rather be out on my bike, the hammock and a big fat Neal Stephenson novel beckons.
But then someone drops by, or the Dear Husband wants a few tunes, we sit out on the porch, sip a beer, the bats flit by, and our tuxedo cat looks at us adoringly. Tunes make her happy. It's enough for now.
It's not so much a plateau as a.....need to do other things, like wyogal suggests.
skreech, I thought TSS played the pipes, not...
oh wait.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Michele Sims
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
We all get tired of the wife from time to time, but that doesn't mean you should sell her. Maybe sneak off and have a fling with a musical equivalent of some floozie? You'll be wanting something cheap if it's just for a while, so maybe have a bash at the Mandolin (tuned in 5ths & no bowing to learn). Then when you've been messing with that for a while you'll go back to the old bag with a sense of sly guilty satisfaction. and you'll have the cheap beater there for when you hit the rocky patches.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Beanzy
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Make toffee. But remember to buy a sugar thermometer first.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Hey TSS - been there, done that got the T shirt. I hope you'll stay with the pipes, though. You're probably poised for some kind of a breakthrough...
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Seosamh Ui Sinan
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I feel for you SS, I'm the same, I've been learning the flute for 10 years I've got as far as I can on my own, I can go no further without some sort of guidance (i feel) (but no-one will mentor an adult). I used to play everyday but I've not played all year or been to any sessions ...to many galloping bodhrans, same people every week playing the same sets over and over... BORING, to fast or too slow or out of tune or all three. Whiskey in the jar- shakey eggs-bones-drunks-fields of athenry PAH! S.O.S Music ( same old s*ite) Not very inspiring... Have a break, and just wait and see. Thats what i'm gonna do here whilst wallowing in abject in cynisism and misery. ....Or you could take skreech up on/her offer... sounds good.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Taurus
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
It always helps to have a brand-new baby chanter reed to play with. Of course, it's even more helpful if the new reed works tolerably well. (Touch wood!) Keep your chin up, kid.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
take a break from Irish tunes - play some AC/DC or reggae or show tunes or old time or something for a while. You can't quit though - lady pipers are just too dang cool
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by airport
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Got some Maire Ni Grada on right now, and have to second that last thought airport's post.
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Hey--in't this the second post like this from you? The other one might've been a few years ago but I seem to recall you did this before . GOOD CHRIST I NEED A LIFE!!??!! Sorry, back to the subject at hand. What worked in the past? Maybe you need to re-evaluate why you play music. Is it a social thing? Personal? The idea of not being satisfied because you are not improving doesn't cut it if you just enjoy playing. I love the sound of pipes and I imagine you do to or you wouldn't own a set. Don't get hung up on 'improving' try to remember why your 'playing'. However this advice comes from a guy who spent a decade playing three chord punk songs so take it for what it's worth....
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by shanty
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
t The great piper Paddy Keenan once threw his pipes into a public rubbish bin , they were later rescued by somebody who knew him !
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Red Robin
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
last thought OF airport's post...
# Posted on August 30th 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
It could be you're going to the wrong type of sessions for you, tss. Each player has their own preferences for sessions - some people like the big modern urban gastropubs, others like little seedy dives out in the back of beyond (maybe in the ar$ehole end of a city centre, or in deepest sleepy suburbia, or even out in the countryside) with just a few people around. I prefer a small session in a quiet pub, preferably small. Big noisy things I usually avoid, I just don't see the point.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Rudall the time
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I know you get frustrated like this from time to time - the last thread like this was actually 1 year ago in August 2010 and I see there was something similar in Jan 2010 so I am quite sure you will change your mind and return to your enthusiastic playing soon.
Look on the positive side - at this time 7 years ago you were a bodhran player. Surely there can be no better evidence of improvement than that.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/4276/comments
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
What all do you play TSS in terms of genres? Maybe the music that you're trying to play isn't what you emotionally feel like listening to. Sometimes i sit in front of my piano and after trying several pieces, still don't feel like playing. Sometimes i have to find what i wanna play. But also, sometimes it can be days, or weeks and i don't wanna play. This usually happens after i come to a close with some epic music journey. Like discovering an inaccessible artist or genre. Or a finishing a string of original compositions. Sometimes we just need a break. I don't take breaks often cause i usually end up taking them anyway, against my will. The longest i've ever gone without playing music is around 6 months.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by fiddlelearner
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Hang in there, TSS, and don't be afraid to take a break and do some other stuff for a while, no sense forcing it. Every relationship, even relationships with mechanical octupi, have their ups and downs, no sense chucking it all in for good just because of a lull in your enthusiasm.
[Oh, and Michele, there was no need to mention that your Neal Stephenson novel was big and fat--all of his books are enormous.]
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Cheers for the encouragement.
I get surly about it all and need the occasional Yella Board prod.
It feels like the pipes are like that boy/girlfriend who you break-up with, then get back together, then break-up with, then get back together...and so on it goes.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Oooh. And then you get to have hot make-up s**. Whooohooo!!!
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Michele Sims
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
"functional but not great level of mediocrity" would describe nicely the threshold known to all of us. The door's not locked. Are you going through? Before you decide, get out your pipes and play the most heart-rending dirge you can muster. Pour your heart into it and have a cry. Don't worry about anyone else -- this is between you and your pipes.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by gam
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
A very timely post amigos..I'm going through this very thing myself and it's a most unpleasant state of affairs.I wonder what causes it ?
We all love out Music and we all love to play so why does this 'aimless' thing creep into it ?
Have a break from things seems to be the general advice.
I think maybe there's a black dog at my door....wish he's p*ss off ...
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by zoukboy
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
maybe its not the music SS Could be all that book learning and writing stuff you do ,
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by bazouki dave
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I'd second the having a go at another instrument idea. Just for yourself. Many pipers also seem to be dab hands at the whistle, so if you don't play whistle already, why not give it a whirl - tunes you know well already. Clearly moving to stringed instrument or box would be a different challenge.
Myself, I haven't played flute much in the past couple of months but will come back to it. Sort of hit a wall in terms of progress. But I still daily pick up the whistle and concertina.
As I've mentioned before, I've sort of accepted that I can reach a certain level with a certain amount of effort. Not that one doesn't want to move beyond that but it becomes less pressing.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I am not sure about the second instrument. I t will give you a new source of frustration. You know what you want and you can't bring it out. Let's say, I have been having a stab at the flute and only recently there's the odd hint of satisfaction.
My own solution would be to play on my own a lot and pay attention to detail, get everything to sound the way you want it. To me there's more satisfaction there than there is in fitting into the big sound of a group all the time.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Selling the Wife
"We all get tired of the wife from time to time, but that doesn't mean you should sell her." Yes it does.
Come all you lads and lasses gay, and banish care and strife,
In the market place, a mason did by auction sell his wife;
Thirteen shilling and a penny - for the lady was the sum,
And to see the curious spree, some thousands soon did run;
In the market place, I do declare, it's true upon my life,
A mason did the other day, by auction sell his wife.
and...
For I sing in praise of John Magee who was auctioning his wife.
She was a hard working woman but the divil all her life.
Neither peace nor contentment this poor man could find,
So a way to get rid of her come into his mind.
and...
"Oh who'll buy a wife?" says Hobbs, John Hobbs
"A sweet pretty wife," says he.
But somehow they tell us,
The wife dealing fellows
Were all of them sellers
And none of them wanted Jane, did they...
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by David Levine
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Totally give up now. Stick the pipes under the bed and forget about music. Plan holidays, make a ship in a bottle, whatever.
I've given up three times this week already. It's great!
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Phil T. Doherty
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Wife selling used to be a popular cheap form of devorce
See' the Mayor of Casterbridge 'by T Hardy
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by bazouki dave
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
FWIW, SS:
I just picked up my harp, I had no touched her in months. No real decision, just was always doing something else, or playing another instrument.
It felt good just unpacking her, tuning her up, then loosening up my digits, and playing I knew rather well, then trying some new (to me) tunes by ear.
In a short while, we were in love again.
She is a lovely harp, and I missed playing her.
somewhere, I guess that I had lost touch with
why I play the harp, and I had to find it again.
Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Piece
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Perhaps Prof., there's an element of 'far off fields are green' in the idea of a second instrument and thus better avoided. But it also introduces variety and a different sound and approach. I suppose it all depends on the individual.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I know what you mean. I was just saying that in my own experience being thrown back to a near beginner's stage on a new instrument doesn't help shifting any frustrations regarding progress on one's main instrument.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I also had the thought that if I made the pipes into a cute, furry animal by replacing the current bag cover with a furry one and gluing some googley eyes on it, they would be nicer to play.
Does that make me crazy?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Probably. Is your vacuum cleaner's name Henry by any chance?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Prof. Prlwytzkofski
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Not at the moment but Henry used to be my vacuum cleaner at a flat I lived in a couple years ago. I never enjoyed vacuuming so much!
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Hey TSS - been there, done that got the T shirt. I hope you'll stay with the pipes, though. You're probably poised for some kind of a breakthrough..." Seosamh Ui Sinan
Thats what I think and thats how I'd read it.
It's a hard old station, really it is. But if it was easy everybody would be at it.
Your hard on yourself, too hard IMO. Almost every opportunity to denigrate the quality of your playing you grab or offer it up too readily, even when unprompted. "See me, I'm shi t e". Thats not true though, is it?
Think of the positives, your young and keen and have much hard learning under your belt already. Your playing keeps good enough time to be getting on with, and you get on a heap of tunes, including a few from god's own country ;~)
Perhaps your relentless sessioneering is catching up? It can be an issue if you don't get the opportunity to consolidate after the event. Perhaps a woodsheding timeout period is called for? Where instead of heading out for a tune, for a few weeks or months, you try staying home and practicing your chops. Making little recordings of yourself from time to time and using the same to isolate those elements you wish to improve.
If finding somewhere to get it on in private with your plumbing is an issue? Then get it sorted out girl.
If in 20 years you still think your sh ite I'll accept it. But not when I'm hearing you and thinking "this girl has got what it takes to give it a go", and then hearing you a few months later, and hearing the improvement.
In the meantime no more, slagging yourself off, your doing better than your giving yourself credit for.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Even the best of us goes through a bad patch from time to time.
Paddy Keenan:
'During this time, Keenan didn’t play his pipes, even trying at one point to sell them at a pawn shop, but had no takers—uilleann pipes were simply Not Cool in late 60’s London... "I went as low as two bob. I couldn’t believe my ears when he turned me down." ... Keenan walked out of the pawn shop and made to throw his pipes into a trash bin. A friend stopped him and told him he’d keep the pipes for him.'
Give it time, the mood will pass.
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by DaveL35
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
A new bag cover for your pipe set could be a fine diversion. What do you think about severe black velveteen over all, with a high white 'rise and fall' buttoned collar at the chanter stock? Or, you could opt for the rugby jersey look with broad stripes and open collar...
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
"I also had the thought that if I made the pipes into a cute, furry animal by replacing the current bag cover with a furry one and gluing some googley eyes on it, they would be nicer to play.
Does that make me crazy?
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by TheSilverSpear "
Not at all, SS.
Observe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKR0NoJOwVI
# Posted on August 31st 2011 by Piece
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
A piper is down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1dYIWu2ME
# Posted on September 1st 2011 by MorganYYZ
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
"If finding somewhere to get it on in private with your plumbing is an issue? Then get it sorted out girl."
Phew, is it just me or is it hot in here?
# Posted on September 1st 2011 by johndsamuels
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Jasus Emily
I'd love to be able to play the pipes as well as you! I suggest you learn a few new tunes. Changing the repertoire always helps keep it fresh. Also I recommend listening to all of the following CD's:
Deadly Buzz
A moment of Madness
Home away from home
To inspire you.
Also please come to Dublin and visit me and I'll bring you to some nice sessions
Bryan
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by skooter500
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I didn't know you played the pipes, skooter500? Anyway, I'd just like to say - I'd love to be able to play the flute as well as you!
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
"Jasus Emily
I'd love to be able to play the pipes as well as you! " skooter500
You tell her skooter.
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by Solidmahog
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
"Deadly Buzz
A moment of Madness
Home away from home"
That is a perfect haiku.
(forget the syllable count - this is a perfect haiku!)
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
I had a dream once that I could play the pipes, so I thought it must be my destiny to play them. So I borrowed a practice set off a friend and spent several hours in the kitchen one day sounding like I was strangling the cat. It was a truly horrible sound, so I gave up in despair and went back to the flute. True story.
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by skooter500
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Heinlein once describe the pipes as "looking and sounding like someone holding a cat under his arm, and biting its tail while squeezing it". I always loved that.
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
How do you guys feel about a diaphanous black lace cover for a pipe bag?
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Not playing much, not enjoying it
Meow.
Even learned a few tunes off them, some slip jigs and polkas.
When I was a kid I had recurring dreams (nightmares?) about playing the banjo. Truly.
I have two out of the three CDs Bryan recommended, Deadly Buzz and Moment of Madness
I went to Portpatrick this weekend to look for inspiration, and it kind of worked, in that it inspired me to learn a few more slow airs. They were the only tunes which kept the bodhran-players quiet. A stack of them would be useful for such situations.
# Posted on September 4th 2011 by DrSilverSpear