The Session >> Discussions >> Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Comments
Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Hey, all,
I've found myself volunteering to lead a "session" of sorts for absolute, green as can be beginners (with an exception or two) - as in, "some participants may be able to tune their instruments". A couple are musicians already, but have little or no experience in the Irish tradition. Luckily, my lady has enough classical violin and flute under her belt to at least get people making noise on that end, I can handle the whistles and guitars, and we do have one person who's legitimately played Irish trad stuff on fiddle before (while she'll be playing flute for this, she'll at least be on hand to advise). So it's not as hopeless as all that.
The aim here is to get people a) up and playing in a forgiving environment to the point where they could actually learn a tune without one-on-one instruction, and b) to familiarize everyone with the musical tradition (and with session etiquette, especially) so that I can take'em one or two at a time to the local teaching session, and not ruffle any feathers. I'm shooting to have us playing reels and jigs, mainly, but I'm gonna start with some easier stuff just to get us off the ground.
My working list, so far:
Dirty Old Town - I know it isn't Irish ;), but the melody is dead easy on whistle, it has chords to strum along to (the easier to keep beginners on time while I call it), and everybody knows it. We'll probably focus on doing it without vocals for the time being.
Brian Boru's March - I'm starting with the Dmaj version (descending from B down to D), which is the easier version on the whistle, in my estimation. We'll be doing it slow and stately, as a march, for now - later on, we can work up to playing it as a jig, and/or in C (for a good intro to accidentals and the upper octave of the whistle).
Anderson's Reel - I'll get folks listening to this one for a while before anybody attempts it, should be a good first reel if broken down into managable chunks. (There's a nice whistle tutorial from Tradschool up on YouTube, too.)
Concerning Hobbits - The melody from the Lord of the Rings film, of course. Easy to for beginners on the whistle, can be played slow and deliberate or fast and perky, and, again, people know it. Lots of potential for early experiments with ornamentation on this one.
For a little later, I'm thinking about tacking on Cooley's Reel in D, and possibly Sleep Sound ida Moarnin (in Amin/C, another good one to start working in accidentals).
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Good luck with your session Steve.I hope it gets up and running and everyone has fun.
I do'nt have a tune list for you but I can recommend a book. (with CD's of the Tunes if you wish to buy them as well) .
It's called Begged Borrowed and Stolen (ocasionally called Begged Borrowed and Photocopied !).
On every page there is a 'Set' of popular tunes,clearly hand written in standard notation, with Guitar chords..if you're that way inclined.
A lot of people here in OZ have used this book as a starting point to learn Irish music and I'm one of 'em. I think it's a great introduction to this tradition.....here's a link on where to buy.
Good luck....Have fun...
P.S. You might cop a flogging here for not learning the Tunes by ear but dont worry about it mate....run your own race and do what works for YOU.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Britches full of Stitches...only has, what, 6 different notes in it? Seems like a great starter tune, and playable in a number of keys (seems like there' s an ear-learning lesson to be learned there...)
Not sure what you play personally (and therefore what you've already considered), but I'd try to aim for tunes that don't hit high A or B for a while, for the sake of any flute or whistle players (and those around them).
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Here are 50 tunes, a list first developed by thesession.org member ‘Dr. Dow,’ which are pretty common the world around. Some of them are a bit overplayed, or felt to be out of fashion, but generally, when they get played at a session, most everyone in the circle can join in. Learning them is a good place to start.
Reels: The Banshee [James McMahon], The Bird In The Bush, The Bucks Of Oranmore, The Concertina Reel, The Congress, Cooley’s (Luttrell’s Pass), The Cup Of Tea, Drowsy Maggie, Farewell To Ireland, Father Kelly’s (Rossmore Jetty), The Foxhunter’s, The Gravel Walks, The Maid Behind The Bar, The Merry Blacksmith, Miss McLeod’s, The Mountain Road [Michael Gorman], Rolling In The Ryegrass (The Shannon Breeze), Saint Anne’s, The Sally Gardens, The Silver Spear, The Star Of Munster, The Wise Maid (All Around The World).
Jigs: The Blackthorn Stick, The Blarney Pilgrim, The Cliffs Of Moher, The Connaughtman’s Rambles, Donnybrook Fair (The Joy Of My Life), The Irish Washerwoman, The Kesh, The Lark In The Morning, The Lilting Banshee, Morrison’s, My Darling Asleep, Out On The Ocean, The Rakes Of Kildare, Tripping Up The Stairs.
Hornpipes & Set Dances: The Boys Of Bluehill, Harvest Home, King Of The Fairies, Off To California, The Rights Of Man
Slip Jigs: The Foxhunter's, The Kid On The Mountain.
Hop Jigs: The Butterfly, The Rocky Road To Dublin.
Slides: Merrily Kissed The Quaker’s Wife, The Road To Lisdoonvarna.
Polkas: Denis Murphy’s, Egan’s, John Ryan’s (The Keadue).
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
No reason why they can't learn Soldier's Joy, Mairi's Wedding, Egan's Polka , Rakes of Mallow, Davvy Nick Nack - - i.e. simple ceilidh tunes that everyone should know even though they probably wouldn't play them at sessions.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
To be honest, I would ax Dirty Old Town and the Lord of the Rings one *except* as possible ear learning exercises, but with the caveat that they're really not session tunes.
Also, isn't Cooley's in Em? Not D. If you really mean D, better to teach it in Em, as that's the key everyone and their mother plays it in and also, your whistle and flute players will have hard time with it if you play it in Dm.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I've seen Cooley's, the normal version, in sheet music marked with two sharps, so perhaps our OP is taking two sharps as meaning D, and is talking about the version we all know and love.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Cooley's is in E Dorian, with two sharps, resolving to E.
DYA, get your proteges off to a real session (assuming there's one nearby) to *listen* to the music and the interaction. Suggest to them that listening to the tunes is the best place to start, if they really want to play Irish traditional music, rather than learning movie soundtracks.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Balls! I thought it was Edorian. Then I double-checked the entry here so I wouldn't say the wrong thing. That tune was posted by Jeremy so I thought it would be accurate, and it said Em. Whoops.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
As a recent beginner I second Bren's suggestion of 'simple ceilidh tunes'. Though often dismissed as 'daggy' in the comments in the tune database here they are often quick to learn but with localised challenges. For example, on whistle, getting full control of the |dcbc A2 A2| bar of Davy Nick Nack, and the bars of Rakes of Mallow with lots of notes.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
This sounds like a fun idea at the least, and that is what it really is all about in the end.
You have more "beginner" tunes and lists (and discussions about same) available here and elsewhere onilne than you will likely be able to consume in a a lifetime. Any ripples or bumps you might hit (and there may be a few) will also be within the experience of many of the regulars here.
You have the opportunity.
You have a support system.
You have a lot of well-wishers here.
Go for it.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
People learning music going to a session need to be able to play the tunes they know. That is what gives them the enjoyment and the sense of achievemnet.
Have a few tunes in your back pocket by all means but ask people what tunes they know and play those tunes.Try and get them to start the tune so as to guage the speed that they are comfortable playing at.
Your role should be more about contoling the pace and making sure everybody gets a chance to play. Be sure to tell people the names of the tunes that are being played so they can look them up fo the next time.
Measure your success by how many are playing each tune. If only you and one or two are playing most tunes then its not going well.
Good Luck
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
At every beginner session I've ever seen, there are always a few who spend the whole time staring at the sheet music they've brought with them. This becomes a very hard habit to break, and then limits them when they want to move on to higher-level sessions where sheet music is as welcome as a saxophone or electric guitar. So if this happens at your session---you'll be doing your students a big favor if you make them leave the written tunes at home.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
My first introduction to the music was at a learner's session. No sheet music, just sharing tunes, teaching them phrase by phrase to everybody there. Then the next week we'd review, and someone else would teach a tune.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
.....My first introduction to the music was sitting at the knee of a grumpy old fiddler. No sheet music, no sharing of tunes... Play mine or nothing", "if you don't know them too bad", "I never remember the names of any of them"...... etc
The next week I might be able to join in on parts of some of those which were played the previous week... that's if any of the same tunes were repeated the next time.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Tune learning sessions are a really good thing. I "grew up", musically speaking, in one, which I now teach at on a weekly basis. When you're getting complete green beginners, that is the prime time to get them started out right. I have a few suggestions for you:
1. Get them listening to a lot of well played Irish music.
2. Encourage them to learn by ear, because it will save them a lot of time and effort in the future if they don't get reliant upon the paper now, even though it may seem easier to begin with.
3. Get a few tunes under their belts, and then keep working on those same tunes, making sure to work on the rhythm and articulation/ornaments.
4. It's not a bad thing to start them learning a few ornaments as if they're part of the tune, because that can help get them familiar with the kinds of articulations used in this music. But also let them know that those ornaments are part of the expression, can (and should) be changed, and should never get in the way of the basic rhythm.
5. Get them educated early on about the fact that there generally aren't "definitive" settings for tunes. It's OK to learn a tune, and think of the way you learned it as a "basic setting", but prepare them for the fact that other people might play those tunes differently.
6. Don't get them thinking of certain tunes as being "beginner tunes". Even the simplest of tunes can be really amazing when played well.
7. Be supportive of all different skill levels, and make sure to have fun with it!
The tune learning session that I am involved with has done a lot to help propagate a healthy, vibrant Irish music scene around here! Good luck!
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Thanks for all the advice. I've run across the "50 tunes" list before, and it's a good one - and as it happens quite a few appear on Arran's "Very Best of Irish Ceili" (which I've got), so that's nice. As for not instilling a "beginner tune" mentality (and impressing the concept of different arrangements and keys being used), that's what Brian Boru is for - you can go all the way from Loreena McKennitt slow-and-lilting to The Chieftains frantic-and-furious, and once we've got it in D we can learn it in C.
In response to the suggestion that I pare out easy, recognizable tunes in favor of "correct" ones, that's a valid idea in a totally other situation than this one - these are a group where several are gonna need "3 Blind Mice"-level instruction, so my simply insisting they start playing jigs and reels right off the bat isn't going to get us very far. But I appreciate the sentiment. ;)
(And Edorian IS Dmaj, or at least the scales are composed of the same 7 notes - on Edorian you're just starting in the second degree. [/music nerd mode off] I was just referring to the keys of instruments that can easily PLAY the tune - Cooley's - which would be, of course, the standard Irish "D" instruments.)
Again, thanks for the ideas - with any luck, enough of this will stick after the first couple weeks that we can start dropping in on the local slow session without disturbing the ecosystem, too much.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Hooray for spreading music to more people!
I may be a bit late to the game here, but wanted to say I agree with keeping in tunes/songs that people actually know. I've taught off "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Molly Malone" because not only does familiarity with a melody make it easier to wrap your head around it, a main goal at that stage is to get familiar with your instrument and not feel completely discouraged.
The LOTR tune is great for that, too. Being able to play the theme from the movie is impressive to people from the outside looking in!
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
If this is for real, DestroyYouLot, I'd say you're on the right track with Cooley's. Another reel? ... Drowsy Maggie actually is a good tune to learn when you're beginning. Some jigs, certainly. Perhaps My Darling Asleep, Saddle the Pony, Lilting Banshee. Then an air or two ~ Dawning of the Day, Ireland, I dare not say here name.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Much of this music isn't any more complicated than Three Blind Mice. Teach them Off She Goes instead. Even rank beginners can learn jigs and reels--if *this* is the music they want to play. Just keep the pace easy. I've consistently found that learners rise to the expectations they allow themselves. And I rarely meet anyone who desperately wants to play Row, Row, Row Your Boat....
Making music with other people is a great way to be inspired, motivated, encouraged. Don't dumb it down.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
P.S. Yes, E Dorian and D major share the same scale. But that doesn't make them the same thing. They are different keys *and* different modes.
Think less in terms of the key signature and instead focus on the tonal center--the note a tune resolves to--and the intervals of the other notes in the tune relative to that tonal center. This is an important part of learning and playing by ear because you want to hear the intervals of the other notes in relation to that tonal center, and that's what defines the mode. (E.g., in a "sad" sounding tune, if the sixth note of the scale is sharp, you're in dorian, if it's natural you're in minor.)
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I agree with Will. Teaching them real tunes, no matter how long it takes, is a good idea if they're really interested in playing this music.
I will use Happy Birthday, and such tunes, just as an example to a new student that it is possible for them to pick out a tune when they know it in their head. But I don't make them actually learn to play it. I will always start them with a real tune. Even if I have to teach 3 notes at a time, and their "brain gets full" by the time we've made it through the A part. Because then they feel like they're really learning the music, not doing some kindergarten work on a nursery rhyme tune.
The tune I tend to start people off with is Rolling in the Rye Grass
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Bren, I find that the only thing that falls out the other ear are the names, and the ability to start the tunes. When someone else starts to play one I learned, it generally comes back so I can play along.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Oh, and getting back to Will's point, I have encountered a few melody players who think that tunes with one sharp are in G, and all tunes with two sharps in D. They then send the accompanist on tangents by calling out the alleged key of the next tune.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
"They then send the accompanist on tangents by calling out the alleged key of the next tune."
I'm afraid that I'm sometimes guilty of that. Unless I am already aware of the precise key for sure, it's not always easy to think on the the spot when you get a strummer shouting "What's the key, pal!"
Sometimes, I can tell them before I start but it's easier for me to identify the key if I actually strum or pluck a couple of chords before I start rather than working it out from the melody in the middle of tune.
Possibly, it's a different part of my brain which I have to set it gear for this purpose.....
Having said all that, without insisting(like some) that a guitarist should necessarily always "know the tune" first before they play, they should at least be able to work out which key it is in for themselves if they wish to accompany "on the fly".
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
The only time I shout keys to a strummer is when they're so far wrong that they're p*ssing me off. So you are an accompanist and I start shouting keys at you, consider it a warning.
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
@TSS - a can of mace does wonders. It avoids that awful ambiguity.
Think about it ... "is she p*ssed off, or is she trying to be helpful? Dunno, I guess I'll keep playing" versus "augh! my eyes! it burns!"
I'm starting to incline towards the direct approach.
The only trouble is they do tend to yell some, but that's less unpleasant than them playing.
Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Hey, all,
I've found myself volunteering to lead a "session" of sorts for absolute, green as can be beginners (with an exception or two) - as in, "some participants may be able to tune their instruments". A couple are musicians already, but have little or no experience in the Irish tradition. Luckily, my lady has enough classical violin and flute under her belt to at least get people making noise on that end, I can handle the whistles and guitars, and we do have one person who's legitimately played Irish trad stuff on fiddle before (while she'll be playing flute for this, she'll at least be on hand to advise). So it's not as hopeless as all that.
The aim here is to get people a) up and playing in a forgiving environment to the point where they could actually learn a tune without one-on-one instruction, and b) to familiarize everyone with the musical tradition (and with session etiquette, especially) so that I can take'em one or two at a time to the local teaching session, and not ruffle any feathers. I'm shooting to have us playing reels and jigs, mainly, but I'm gonna start with some easier stuff just to get us off the ground.
My working list, so far:
Dirty Old Town - I know it isn't Irish ;), but the melody is dead easy on whistle, it has chords to strum along to (the easier to keep beginners on time while I call it), and everybody knows it. We'll probably focus on doing it without vocals for the time being.
Brian Boru's March - I'm starting with the Dmaj version (descending from B down to D), which is the easier version on the whistle, in my estimation. We'll be doing it slow and stately, as a march, for now - later on, we can work up to playing it as a jig, and/or in C (for a good intro to accidentals and the upper octave of the whistle).
Anderson's Reel - I'll get folks listening to this one for a while before anybody attempts it, should be a good first reel if broken down into managable chunks. (There's a nice whistle tutorial from Tradschool up on YouTube, too.)
Concerning Hobbits - The melody from the Lord of the Rings film, of course. Easy to for beginners on the whistle, can be played slow and deliberate or fast and perky, and, again, people know it. Lots of potential for early experiments with ornamentation on this one.
For a little later, I'm thinking about tacking on Cooley's Reel in D, and possibly Sleep Sound ida Moarnin (in Amin/C, another good one to start working in accidentals).
So whadda ya think, folks? Don't be shy, now.
Steve
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by DestroyYouAlot
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Good luck with your session Steve.I hope it gets up and running and everyone has fun.
I do'nt have a tune list for you but I can recommend a book. (with CD's of the Tunes if you wish to buy them as well) .
It's called Begged Borrowed and Stolen (ocasionally called Begged Borrowed and Photocopied !).
On every page there is a 'Set' of popular tunes,clearly hand written in standard notation, with Guitar chords..if you're that way inclined.
A lot of people here in OZ have used this book as a starting point to learn Irish music and I'm one of 'em. I think it's a great introduction to this tradition.....here's a link on where to buy.
http://www.celt.com.au/austune.html
Good luck....Have fun...
P.S. You might cop a flogging here for not learning the Tunes by ear but dont worry about it mate....run your own race and do what works for YOU.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by zoukboy
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Britches full of Stitches...only has, what, 6 different notes in it? Seems like a great starter tune, and playable in a number of keys (seems like there' s an ear-learning lesson to be learned there...)
Not sure what you play personally (and therefore what you've already considered), but I'd try to aim for tunes that don't hit high A or B for a while, for the sake of any flute or whistle players (and those around them).
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by dereksmootz
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Jigs like Saddle the Pony and Tobin's Favourite are quite good for beginners, I reckon.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Weejie
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
"Britches", I've actually had suggested to me elsewhere, I've added it to the list. Seems to suit.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by DestroyYouAlot
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Here are 50 tunes, a list first developed by thesession.org member ‘Dr. Dow,’ which are pretty common the world around. Some of them are a bit overplayed, or felt to be out of fashion, but generally, when they get played at a session, most everyone in the circle can join in. Learning them is a good place to start.
Reels: The Banshee [James McMahon], The Bird In The Bush, The Bucks Of Oranmore, The Concertina Reel, The Congress, Cooley’s (Luttrell’s Pass), The Cup Of Tea, Drowsy Maggie, Farewell To Ireland, Father Kelly’s (Rossmore Jetty), The Foxhunter’s, The Gravel Walks, The Maid Behind The Bar, The Merry Blacksmith, Miss McLeod’s, The Mountain Road [Michael Gorman], Rolling In The Ryegrass (The Shannon Breeze), Saint Anne’s, The Sally Gardens, The Silver Spear, The Star Of Munster, The Wise Maid (All Around The World).
Jigs: The Blackthorn Stick, The Blarney Pilgrim, The Cliffs Of Moher, The Connaughtman’s Rambles, Donnybrook Fair (The Joy Of My Life), The Irish Washerwoman, The Kesh, The Lark In The Morning, The Lilting Banshee, Morrison’s, My Darling Asleep, Out On The Ocean, The Rakes Of Kildare, Tripping Up The Stairs.
Hornpipes & Set Dances: The Boys Of Bluehill, Harvest Home, King Of The Fairies, Off To California, The Rights Of Man
Slip Jigs: The Foxhunter's, The Kid On The Mountain.
Hop Jigs: The Butterfly, The Rocky Road To Dublin.
Slides: Merrily Kissed The Quaker’s Wife, The Road To Lisdoonvarna.
Polkas: Denis Murphy’s, Egan’s, John Ryan’s (The Keadue).
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
No reason why they can't learn Soldier's Joy, Mairi's Wedding, Egan's Polka , Rakes of Mallow, Davvy Nick Nack - - i.e. simple ceilidh tunes that everyone should know even though they probably wouldn't play them at sessions.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Bren
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
To be honest, I would ax Dirty Old Town and the Lord of the Rings one *except* as possible ear learning exercises, but with the caveat that they're really not session tunes.
Also, isn't Cooley's in Em? Not D. If you really mean D, better to teach it in Em, as that's the key everyone and their mother plays it in and also, your whistle and flute players will have hard time with it if you play it in Dm.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Also, I think Jimmy Ward's Jig (in Gmaj) is fantastic for beginners. No upper octave.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I think I'd be lost at your session.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by The Merry Highlander
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I've seen Cooley's, the normal version, in sheet music marked with two sharps, so perhaps our OP is taking two sharps as meaning D, and is talking about the version we all know and love.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Cooley's is in E Dorian, with two sharps, resolving to E.
DYA, get your proteges off to a real session (assuming there's one nearby) to *listen* to the music and the interaction. Suggest to them that listening to the tunes is the best place to start, if they really want to play Irish traditional music, rather than learning movie soundtracks.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I totally agree with Will!
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Mattias Holm
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Balls! I thought it was Edorian. Then I double-checked the entry here so I wouldn't say the wrong thing. That tune was posted by Jeremy so I thought it would be accurate, and it said Em. Whoops.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Well done to you for volunteering to do this. Making the first step up from total beginner must be the hardest step of all.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by harmonic miner
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
As a recent beginner I second Bren's suggestion of 'simple ceilidh tunes'. Though often dismissed as 'daggy' in the comments in the tune database here they are often quick to learn but with localised challenges. For example, on whistle, getting full control of the |dcbc A2 A2| bar of Davy Nick Nack, and the bars of Rakes of Mallow with lots of notes.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by David50
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Oops, I meant |dcBc A2 A2| but even better it is given as |dc Bc Ac BA| in the database here.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by David50
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Kerry Polka is a good easy one
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by palethinboy
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
This sounds like a fun idea at the least, and that is what it really is all about in the end.
You have more "beginner" tunes and lists (and discussions about same) available here and elsewhere onilne than you will likely be able to consume in a a lifetime. Any ripples or bumps you might hit (and there may be a few) will also be within the experience of many of the regulars here.
You have the opportunity.
You have a support system.
You have a lot of well-wishers here.
Go for it.
Good Luck.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Piece
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
We hand out copies of this book at my local session. Certainly gets everyone playing
http://www.pghardy.net/concertina/tunebooks/pgh_basic_tunebook.pdf
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by somersetlee
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
People learning music going to a session need to be able to play the tunes they know. That is what gives them the enjoyment and the sense of achievemnet.
Have a few tunes in your back pocket by all means but ask people what tunes they know and play those tunes.Try and get them to start the tune so as to guage the speed that they are comfortable playing at.
Your role should be more about contoling the pace and making sure everybody gets a chance to play. Be sure to tell people the names of the tunes that are being played so they can look them up fo the next time.
Measure your success by how many are playing each tune. If only you and one or two are playing most tunes then its not going well.
Good Luck
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by murcu
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Easy Kerry Polka's and simple jig's are good to start
with in the Irish Dance Music..
2 Example's-
Old Joe's Jig
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/1732
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqsIyQte1sI&feature=related
Ryans Polka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho1x0c86RrU
But not at this speed - lol
jim,,,
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by FIDDLE4
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Gaelic Storm totally butchered all the tunes they play in Titanic..
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Mattias Holm
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I quite liked the way Gaelic Storm butchered their stuff in Titanic, tbh.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
At every beginner session I've ever seen, there are always a few who spend the whole time staring at the sheet music they've brought with them. This becomes a very hard habit to break, and then limits them when they want to move on to higher-level sessions where sheet music is as welcome as a saxophone or electric guitar. So if this happens at your session---you'll be doing your students a big favor if you make them leave the written tunes at home.
Best of luck, and hope it's fun!
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by kennedy
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
My first introduction to the music was at a learner's session. No sheet music, just sharing tunes, teaching them phrase by phrase to everybody there. Then the next week we'd review, and someone else would teach a tune.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Wyogal
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
.....My first introduction to the music was sitting at the knee of a grumpy old fiddler. No sheet music, no sharing of tunes... Play mine or nothing", "if you don't know them too bad", "I never remember the names of any of them"...... etc
The next week I might be able to join in on parts of some of those which were played the previous week... that's if any of the same tunes were repeated the next time.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
and so on...
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Tune learning sessions are a really good thing. I "grew up", musically speaking, in one, which I now teach at on a weekly basis. When you're getting complete green beginners, that is the prime time to get them started out right. I have a few suggestions for you:
1. Get them listening to a lot of well played Irish music.
2. Encourage them to learn by ear, because it will save them a lot of time and effort in the future if they don't get reliant upon the paper now, even though it may seem easier to begin with.
3. Get a few tunes under their belts, and then keep working on those same tunes, making sure to work on the rhythm and articulation/ornaments.
4. It's not a bad thing to start them learning a few ornaments as if they're part of the tune, because that can help get them familiar with the kinds of articulations used in this music. But also let them know that those ornaments are part of the expression, can (and should) be changed, and should never get in the way of the basic rhythm.
5. Get them educated early on about the fact that there generally aren't "definitive" settings for tunes. It's OK to learn a tune, and think of the way you learned it as a "basic setting", but prepare them for the fact that other people might play those tunes differently.
6. Don't get them thinking of certain tunes as being "beginner tunes". Even the simplest of tunes can be really amazing when played well.
7. Be supportive of all different skill levels, and make sure to have fun with it!
The tune learning session that I am involved with has done a lot to help propagate a healthy, vibrant Irish music scene around here! Good luck!
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Reverend
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
>>sitting at the knee of a grumpy old fiddler<<<
It's never too late to prosecute, and you can get counselling for it too.
Learn the simple tunes first , then play them some good musician playing them. It will blow their mind, or not.
# Posted on November 9th 2011 by Bren
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Thanks for all the advice. I've run across the "50 tunes" list before, and it's a good one - and as it happens quite a few appear on Arran's "Very Best of Irish Ceili" (which I've got), so that's nice. As for not instilling a "beginner tune" mentality (and impressing the concept of different arrangements and keys being used), that's what Brian Boru is for - you can go all the way from Loreena McKennitt slow-and-lilting to The Chieftains frantic-and-furious, and once we've got it in D we can learn it in C.
In response to the suggestion that I pare out easy, recognizable tunes in favor of "correct" ones, that's a valid idea in a totally other situation than this one - these are a group where several are gonna need "3 Blind Mice"-level instruction, so my simply insisting they start playing jigs and reels right off the bat isn't going to get us very far. But I appreciate the sentiment. ;)
(And Edorian IS Dmaj, or at least the scales are composed of the same 7 notes - on Edorian you're just starting in the second degree. [/music nerd mode off] I was just referring to the keys of instruments that can easily PLAY the tune - Cooley's - which would be, of course, the standard Irish "D" instruments.)
Again, thanks for the ideas - with any luck, enough of this will stick after the first couple weeks that we can start dropping in on the local slow session without disturbing the ecosystem, too much.
Steve
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by DestroyYouAlot
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Hooray for spreading music to more people!
I may be a bit late to the game here, but wanted to say I agree with keeping in tunes/songs that people actually know. I've taught off "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Molly Malone" because not only does familiarity with a melody make it easier to wrap your head around it, a main goal at that stage is to get familiar with your instrument and not feel completely discouraged.
The LOTR tune is great for that, too. Being able to play the theme from the movie is impressive to people from the outside looking in!
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by mellow yellow
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I must confess that one of the first tunes I learned on the whistle was that dreadful Titanic tune...it was all uphill from there!
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
If this is for real, DestroyYouLot, I'd say you're on the right track with Cooley's. Another reel? ... Drowsy Maggie actually is a good tune to learn when you're beginning. Some jigs, certainly. Perhaps My Darling Asleep, Saddle the Pony, Lilting Banshee. Then an air or two ~ Dawning of the Day, Ireland, I dare not say here name.
Cheers
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Much of this music isn't any more complicated than Three Blind Mice. Teach them Off She Goes instead. Even rank beginners can learn jigs and reels--if *this* is the music they want to play. Just keep the pace easy. I've consistently found that learners rise to the expectations they allow themselves. And I rarely meet anyone who desperately wants to play Row, Row, Row Your Boat....
Making music with other people is a great way to be inspired, motivated, encouraged. Don't dumb it down.
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
P.S. Yes, E Dorian and D major share the same scale. But that doesn't make them the same thing. They are different keys *and* different modes.
Think less in terms of the key signature and instead focus on the tonal center--the note a tune resolves to--and the intervals of the other notes in the tune relative to that tonal center. This is an important part of learning and playing by ear because you want to hear the intervals of the other notes in relation to that tonal center, and that's what defines the mode. (E.g., in a "sad" sounding tune, if the sixth note of the scale is sharp, you're in dorian, if it's natural you're in minor.)
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by Will Harmon
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I agree with Will. Teaching them real tunes, no matter how long it takes, is a good idea if they're really interested in playing this music.
I will use Happy Birthday, and such tunes, just as an example to a new student that it is possible for them to pick out a tune when they know it in their head. But I don't make them actually learn to play it. I will always start them with a real tune. Even if I have to teach 3 notes at a time, and their "brain gets full" by the time we've made it through the A part. Because then they feel like they're really learning the music, not doing some kindergarten work on a nursery rhyme tune.
The tune I tend to start people off with is Rolling in the Rye Grass
# Posted on November 10th 2011 by Reverend
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
I don't have a problem with my brain getting full. I've noticed that every time I push more tunes in one ear, a bunch fall out the other ear.
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by Bren
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Bren, I find that the only thing that falls out the other ear are the names, and the ability to start the tunes. When someone else starts to play one I learned, it generally comes back so I can play along.
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
Oh, and getting back to Will's point, I have encountered a few melody players who think that tunes with one sharp are in G, and all tunes with two sharps in D. They then send the accompanist on tangents by calling out the alleged key of the next tune.
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
"They then send the accompanist on tangents by calling out the alleged key of the next tune."
I'm afraid that I'm sometimes guilty of that. Unless I am already aware of the precise key for sure, it's not always easy to think on the the spot when you get a strummer shouting "What's the key, pal!"
Sometimes, I can tell them before I start but it's easier for me to identify the key if I actually strum or pluck a couple of chords before I start rather than working it out from the melody in the middle of tune.
Possibly, it's a different part of my brain which I have to set it gear for this purpose.....
Having said all that, without insisting(like some) that a guitarist should necessarily always "know the tune" first before they play, they should at least be able to work out which key it is in for themselves if they wish to accompany "on the fly".
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
The only time I shout keys to a strummer is when they're so far wrong that they're p*ssing me off. So you are an accompanist and I start shouting keys at you, consider it a warning.
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Working tune list for an absolute beginner session (suggestions and catcalls welcome)
@TSS - a can of mace does wonders. It avoids that awful ambiguity.
Think about it ... "is she p*ssed off, or is she trying to be helpful? Dunno, I guess I'll keep playing" versus "augh! my eyes! it burns!"
I'm starting to incline towards the direct approach.
The only trouble is they do tend to yell some, but that's less unpleasant than them playing.
# Posted on November 11th 2011 by Jon Kiparsky