Dow's synaesthesia thread reminded me of something I'd been thinking of recently.
The late american physicist and nobel-laureate wrote in his memoir about a discovery he'd made while at Princeton. He and some other students were having a weird contest which involved trying to estimate the passage of time (if I remember correctly). They'd count silently and then announce when a certain total had been reached.
However, he was intrigued to discover that while HE could count and read simultaneously but not talk, another student could count and talk but not read.
They compared notes, and discovered that they had different counting methods. Feynman counted by "hearing" the sounds "one two three" in his minds's ear, while the other guy "saw" them scroll by visually.
~~
My roommate often walks into the room I'm playing in, and starts talking to me (cuz I'm not *doing* anything, right?). I can't respond without losing my place, especially if I'm doing something new or hard.
On the other hand, I can scan the newspaper in front of me and read stories without difficulty, until I need to turn a page.
Brian Conway admits he can't tap his feet without the bow hand stumbling, so he keeps his ankles crossed and tucked under his chair.
Beyond trog-like grunts, I can't talk when I'm playing fiddle, but I can talk just fine while playing guitar.
I usually get lost in the music when I play, but I've never had a problem reading, watching tv, or even listening to the news on the radio while playing.
i find that when im playing my fiddle i can wander all over the room, bt my wandering seems to be in time with the tune. if for instance, the tune gets faster, i either ramble faster or slow to half-time wanders.
what amazes me is those people that can sing and play fiddle at the same time (im thinking here people i saw recently- phil beer and jon boden). i find it hard enough to blurt out the odd word when im playing,let alone sing a song over a fiddle backing. does anyone out there do this, and if so, any tips on how?
Eliza Carthy was the first I saw doing it, and then Jon B used to come to the Elm Tree and sing Nic Jones' 'Little Pot Bellied Stove' whilst playing fiddle. I tried it to see what it felt like. My singing and fiddle playing are both execrable, but I found I could do it if I just played the melody line I was singing. I couldn't do what Jon and Eliza do, which is play an accompaniment....
i also have trouble tapping my foot...funny, since i play bodhran. however, i am able to be distracted by the scantily-clad olympic beach volleyball girls on the pub television and still keep decent time! ;)
I can watch CSI or Law and Order while plucking tunes on the guitar or mandolin and still follow the plot, but with the fiddle, harp, piano, and hammered dulcimer I get completely lost after the first five minutes.
Talk, it drives me nuts. I can't call out the next tune or even give a "hup" without the playing going to shite. I figured when I started it would get easier, but that was years ago and it hasn't changed. As opposed to my piper friend who will be flying away on the pipes, drones and regs going, and call out "O'Connell's Welcome to Clare" or some other long name, then tell a guitar player what key to play, all without missing a beat.
I worked (and played) for a while with an older accordionist bloke who used to lead a Scottish Dance band.
He claims that when he was younger (in the 60s, when sex was invented)he had a young woman upstairs in the guise of giving her piano lessons and managed to "do the business" while playing the piano with one hand so as her mother would not get suspicious.
He was a piano-accordion player if that makes any difference.
A fiddle tutor told us a couple of weeks ago that the real test of whether you have a tune in your head is whether you can talk to someone as you're playing it *and* without losing the tune. He went on to say that his personal experience is that he needs to practice a tune about 200 times before he gets the tune to that stage (he's been playing in a band for many years).
Turning the question round another way, I find any sort of music in the car when I'm driving is a real distraction, as it also is when I'm doing something requiring thought and concentration. My brain evidently doesn't multitask efficiently under those circumstances.
If I'm having a problem with a tune in a session I'm likely to find the ceiling of absorbing interest. I know the ceilings of my session pubs very well indeed
Depends on the instrument... When playing pipes I can blurt out "can't talk" one word at a time over a 3 second interval when somebody asks me "So, is that the You-Ill-EE-En" pipes?
When playing concertina, about all I can do is drool.
Trevor, the only people who insist that you haven't got a tune till you can talk and play at the same time are those who can do that, period. Many good players can't seem to separate the brain parts needed to talk and play, so I think it's a false standard. There's the famous RTE story about some past master on the box being asked, mid tune, what the next tune was in the set, on live radio, by the fiddler next to him. And after turning all red in the face and working his lips to no account, all he could muster right before the turn was, "Feck off!" And they all sailed seamlessly into the next tune.
I can watch TV and read while playing (and Kenny - I've found that you just need a long enough straw to drink and fiddle at the same time). But try and mutter one word, or even grunt, and the hands just stop.
Lately I've had some success lilting what I am playing. And if I happen to know the words to some jig or another I can sing them while playing, and it doesn't require any Herculean effort. But I'll be damned if I can talk, despite all concentration.
I read an article once about autism and it mentioned something about speech being handled by a different part of the brain than music - one mother had great success singing instructions to her kid where spoken instructions had previously gone unheeded.
Guess it's time to send the brain in for a RAM upgrade or something.
I'm definitely a non-talker-whilst-playing. Even shouting out the key to an accompanist can throw me off. The most annoying thing is when I am playing with somebody not used to accompanying trad, and they ask me to shout the chords as I go - which involves thinking about what chords will sound right, thinking about what they're called, then shouting out the names, slightly ahead of time - and they don't understand why I can't do it. Calling out the name of the tune - forget it.
I can, however, read (but not write) whilst playing - I think I find playing whilst reading text easier than sight reading the tune itself. Unfortunately, I can also think incessantly while playing, which can at times hinder my absorption into the music.
I have great difficulty playing the whistle whilst walking - something to do with breathing, I think. I can play mandolin whilst walking, but I can't walk in step with my playing. I'd be useless in a marching band.
Foot tapping whilst playing is something I've had to learn. Nowadays, I usually do it automatically, but sometimes it can still put me off, especially when I am playing alone in front of people and become suddenly self-conscious.
talk, look at othe people and more importantly, remember to breath when playing my pipes. I do however, remember to lessen the old "deathe grip" on the chanter... well maybe sometimes....
That would be me. I seem to be able to talk, chew gum, stomp my feet in time, put out a foot to warn of change in tunes, but i can't read worth a diddlely.WB
When playing (fiddle), I find it easier to sing than to talk. Singing is usually no big problem, as long as I play the same melody I'm supposed to sing or play simple chords ([GB], [EA], that sort of thing if you speak ABC).
But if someone asks me something, all I can do is look at them, nod and hope they understand what kind of nod it is. :/
I recently read an article that stated that music and speech are in fact dealt with in the same areas of the brain. Not entirely, I think music used more of the brain, and not all of the speaking parts, put partly the same areas. But I don't know how true that was, or how it should be interpreted.
I must not lurk
I must not lurk
I must not lurk
Typing posts to forums really breaks the rythm of my mandolin playing and I've had difficulty while putting up tents, but it's questionable whether anyone notices.
I must not.....
I can't eat when I'm playing the fiddle and its such a blessing! With tunes I know well I can read or watch telly but I can't talk. I've got used to just ignoring people when I play.
I can't knit while playing, and vise versa. And I seldom listen to music while knitting, because I get distracted and I leave the knitting to go play the mandolin. Excuse me, must go knit. Big fair coming up....
It took me a while to learn how to "hup" while playing, but last year I joined a group that felt that I was the best person to do the job, so I learned. If I pick a particular note to "hup" on (like the first note of a phrase or a downbeat in the B part) it works better than way. The longer I play this stuff, the more automatic it gets, so I can carry on a conversation pretty well now while playing guitar. What I wish I could do at the same time is sing and strum--I can sing while fingerpicking, but my strums tend to stray to the notes I am singing, which does not usually work well. The other thing I wish I DIDN'T do while I play the accordion is look at my fingers--I don't know why I bother, since all those keys look the same--a game of "choose the right Altoid tablet."
AL Brown
I can easily tap my foot, but not to syncopation. Also, I like to play my fiddle on the front porch, and sometimes people wave when they drive by. That throws me off --- like the expect me to SMILE or something. Usually the best I can manage is a little half-bow.
I've never tried to eat while playing the fiddle. Considering that everything I like is usually dripping with olive oil, that's probably for the best.
Oooo, I hate it when there's finger food on the table and I stuff my gob with a cookie or chips and salsa, and before I can chew or swallow we're off on one of my favorite tunes. I once played an entire 15 minute set with a mouthful of cashews because I couldn't coordinate conscious swallowing and fiddling. Sigh.
i have a friend who can do calculus and have a full conversation with me. but, he cannot play the piano and talk to me at the same time well. haha, since its on the phone (cuz he lives in another state) i take out the concertina, because then conversation is IMPOSSIBLE over its loud yummy sounding goodness.
I usually tap my right foot,but when playing the pipes the right knee going up and down is unhelpful.I can't tap my left foot at all though.
I can read novels but not talk much while playing.I can't talk at all when playing flute or whistle,I can a little when playing guitar or pipes.
I usually can't think of how the next tune I want to play goes while still playing the first one.
Ditto the above - I can't hold one tune in my head whilst playing another (If it is a tune that my fingers are particularly well drilled in, I can usually slide into it without having to think beforehand about how it goes.). Similarly, when finishing a set of tunes I can't remember for the life of me what tunes have gone before - if someone asks me the names of the tunes afterwards, I have to rack my brains trying to remember what the tunes sounded like, before I can put names to them.
What I can't do while playing fiddle is I can't STOP humming. It's part of the taking off with the tune experience. As the tunes soar so does the hum. OK with a pickup, but not a mike. Didn't even realise I did it until I was advised to stop - but I couldn't!
Jan, my wife pointed out to me only a couple of days ago that I sometimes made little humming noises while I was playing the fiddle. I hadn't realised it, but there it was, on the tape she had surreptiously made for some deep purpose ...
We're in good company, though. Listen to almost any recording of the great (some would say the greatest ever) cellist Pablo Casals and you'll occasionally hear his unearthly chthonic groaning accompanying his playing. He must have been quite unaware of it.
Well, I guess we also know now, like Pablo Casals, Trevor. Really nice to realise someone of Casals' callibre is prone to the dreaded hum. If ye and he are happy, so am I. Nice of your wife to point it out to you though.
My hum was detected in the school studio when I went to try and record into a sensitive overhead mic for Mighty Craic - a bit of an ear opener.
What's happened to Mighty Craic anyway? Have I missed it? or hasn't it happened yet?
Could we have an update on it please.
I saw Eileen Ivers recently in Baltimore. She can jump, yell, lead what is essentially a rock-concert, engage the audience, *run at full speed across the stage*, all while playing jigs and reels at breakneck tempo with no apparent effort.
I've been known to become slack-jawed and glassy eyed when playing a particularly long set and the craic is fine, I think I've even drooled on the fiddle a couple times. I need to figure out how to attach a catch basin to my hockey helmet I guess.
Well, it's really nice to read this thread and finally realize that I'm not the only freak in the world.
I have been working on forcing myself to utter words without the playing going completely away. Sometimes I can force myself to blurt out the name of the next tune. Typically, however, it's not until the final phrase of the prior tune is underway, which is often too late. I'll spend the entire last time through a tune trying to get words to come out, but as the end of the tune approaches, it's the increasing pressure to "say it now or it'll be too late" that can get the vocal cords working - and I've been told that the look of sheer concentration on my face can be rather amusing during that process.
I can, and do, however, watch television. I can watch the news with the sound off and read all the headlines with no trouble. I can play even when there's music on TV that clashes with what I'm playing. I can separate the two of those quite well. Although, it drives my wife completely insane.
I spent 18 years as a nightclub DJ, beat mixing up to four sources of audio at the same time - and I could pay attention to all four at once without too much trouble. But when playing an instrument, if I try to think of how the next tune starts - the fingers stop working.
Another downfall of being a former club DJ is that I can only tap my foot on odd numbered beats during reels - but get those up to speed, that's WAY too much tapping - so I basically have to shut the tapping off. If I'm not playing, I can tap my foot once per bar just fine without thinking about it. I'm ok tapping on jigs though.
Another thing that often sends the playing down the wrong path is look at my fingers on the fretboard of the banjo. One little peek and I often lose the ability to play. Although, I CAN watch my right hand without any trouble.
And the most annoying thing that I CAN do whilst playing, is get a really stupid look on my face, with my mouth hanging open. Every time I catch myself doing that, I have to wonder how long I had been in that rather embarrasing position.
Oh, and speaking of freaks, I hear tale of a piper in Ireland (don't know who) that can play one tune and lilt another one! That has given us endless fun trying - well, OK, maybe only 15 minutes or so - but it's a rather comical thing to try to do.
What CAN'T you do while playing music?
What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Dow's synaesthesia thread reminded me of something I'd been thinking of recently.
The late american physicist and nobel-laureate wrote in his memoir about a discovery he'd made while at Princeton. He and some other students were having a weird contest which involved trying to estimate the passage of time (if I remember correctly). They'd count silently and then announce when a certain total had been reached.
However, he was intrigued to discover that while HE could count and read simultaneously but not talk, another student could count and talk but not read.
They compared notes, and discovered that they had different counting methods. Feynman counted by "hearing" the sounds "one two three" in his minds's ear, while the other guy "saw" them scroll by visually.
~~
My roommate often walks into the room I'm playing in, and starts talking to me (cuz I'm not *doing* anything, right?). I can't respond without losing my place, especially if I'm doing something new or hard.
On the other hand, I can scan the newspaper in front of me and read stories without difficulty, until I need to turn a page.
Has anyone else tried this?
# Posted on November 4th 2004 by s1m0n
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Drink.
# Posted on November 4th 2004 by Kenny
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Brian Conway admits he can't tap his feet without the bow hand stumbling, so he keeps his ankles crossed and tucked under his chair.
Beyond trog-like grunts, I can't talk when I'm playing fiddle, but I can talk just fine while playing guitar.
I usually get lost in the music when I play, but I've never had a problem reading, watching tv, or even listening to the news on the radio while playing.
# Posted on November 4th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Shower.
# Posted on November 4th 2004 by Robby B.
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
i find that when im playing my fiddle i can wander all over the room, bt my wandering seems to be in time with the tune. if for instance, the tune gets faster, i either ramble faster or slow to half-time wanders.
what amazes me is those people that can sing and play fiddle at the same time (im thinking here people i saw recently- phil beer and jon boden). i find it hard enough to blurt out the odd word when im playing,let alone sing a song over a fiddle backing. does anyone out there do this, and if so, any tips on how?
# Posted on November 4th 2004 by aaron b
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Eliza Carthy was the first I saw doing it, and then Jon B used to come to the Elm Tree and sing Nic Jones' 'Little Pot Bellied Stove' whilst playing fiddle. I tried it to see what it felt like. My singing and fiddle playing are both execrable, but I found I could do it if I just played the melody line I was singing. I couldn't do what Jon and Eliza do, which is play an accompaniment....
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Ottery
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
i also have trouble tapping my foot...funny, since i play bodhran. however, i am able to be distracted by the scantily-clad olympic beach volleyball girls on the pub television and still keep decent time! ;)
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Bard
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can't answer the question "what tune is this?" without losing my place.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by grego
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can watch CSI or Law and Order while plucking tunes on the guitar or mandolin and still follow the plot, but with the fiddle, harp, piano, and hammered dulcimer I get completely lost after the first five minutes.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Kerri Brown
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Talk, it drives me nuts. I can't call out the next tune or even give a "hup" without the playing going to shite. I figured when I started it would get easier, but that was years ago and it hasn't changed. As opposed to my piper friend who will be flying away on the pipes, drones and regs going, and call out "O'Connell's Welcome to Clare" or some other long name, then tell a guitar player what key to play, all without missing a beat.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by meemtp
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I have to wait for a break or a held note before I can even shout what key it is.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Bren
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Anyone see "The Red Violin"?
Not too bad of a movie, what with the violin carrying the story-line..
there is one scene where "Paganini" is covorting (to put it mildly) with his mistress while playing and his wife walks in...oops
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Sunnybear
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I worked (and played) for a while with an older accordionist bloke who used to lead a Scottish Dance band.
He claims that when he was younger (in the 60s, when sex was invented)he had a young woman upstairs in the guise of giving her piano lessons and managed to "do the business" while playing the piano with one hand so as her mother would not get suspicious.
He was a piano-accordion player if that makes any difference.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Bren
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
as a bodhran player.....
what can't I do while playing???
(eh.... paddle in hand!!!)
keep a beat!!!
heh heh heh
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Eoino
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
A fiddle tutor told us a couple of weeks ago that the real test of whether you have a tune in your head is whether you can talk to someone as you're playing it *and* without losing the tune. He went on to say that his personal experience is that he needs to practice a tune about 200 times before he gets the tune to that stage (he's been playing in a band for many years).
Turning the question round another way, I find any sort of music in the car when I'm driving is a real distraction, as it also is when I'm doing something requiring thought and concentration. My brain evidently doesn't multitask efficiently under those circumstances.
If I'm having a problem with a tune in a session I'm likely to find the ceiling of absorbing interest. I know the ceilings of my session pubs very well indeed
Trevor
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Depends on the instrument... When playing pipes I can blurt out "can't talk" one word at a time over a 3 second interval when somebody asks me "So, is that the You-Ill-EE-En" pipes?
When playing concertina, about all I can do is drool.
When playing whistle, I wish I'd stop drooling.
Michael
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Michael Eskin
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
lol... good one Michael...!
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Eoino
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Trevor, the only people who insist that you haven't got a tune till you can talk and play at the same time are those who can do that, period. Many good players can't seem to separate the brain parts needed to talk and play, so I think it's a false standard. There's the famous RTE story about some past master on the box being asked, mid tune, what the next tune was in the set, on live radio, by the fiddler next to him. And after turning all red in the face and working his lips to no account, all he could muster right before the turn was, "Feck off!" And they all sailed seamlessly into the next tune.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can drink beer and play the Concertina at the same time. Only if, I remember to bring a straw with me to the session.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Ani Trec-Noc
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can watch TV and read while playing (and Kenny - I've found that you just need a long enough straw to drink and fiddle at the same time). But try and mutter one word, or even grunt, and the hands just stop.
Lately I've had some success lilting what I am playing. And if I happen to know the words to some jig or another I can sing them while playing, and it doesn't require any Herculean effort. But I'll be damned if I can talk, despite all concentration.
I read an article once about autism and it mentioned something about speech being handled by a different part of the brain than music - one mother had great success singing instructions to her kid where spoken instructions had previously gone unheeded.
Guess it's time to send the brain in for a RAM upgrade or something.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by _Steph_
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I'm definitely a non-talker-whilst-playing. Even shouting out the key to an accompanist can throw me off. The most annoying thing is when I am playing with somebody not used to accompanying trad, and they ask me to shout the chords as I go - which involves thinking about what chords will sound right, thinking about what they're called, then shouting out the names, slightly ahead of time - and they don't understand why I can't do it. Calling out the name of the tune - forget it.
I can, however, read (but not write) whilst playing - I think I find playing whilst reading text easier than sight reading the tune itself. Unfortunately, I can also think incessantly while playing, which can at times hinder my absorption into the music.
I have great difficulty playing the whistle whilst walking - something to do with breathing, I think. I can play mandolin whilst walking, but I can't walk in step with my playing. I'd be useless in a marching band.
Foot tapping whilst playing is something I've had to learn. Nowadays, I usually do it automatically, but sometimes it can still put me off, especially when I am playing alone in front of people and become suddenly self-conscious.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by ragaman
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Thanks Will, you've put my mind to rest!
I'm now just wondering about the practicing a tune 200 times bit
There might be something in that.
Trevor
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
200 times? I suspect a zero is missing. 2,000 times might get me closer to really knowing a tune inside and out. Sigh.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
talk, look at othe people and more importantly, remember to breath when playing my pipes. I do however, remember to lessen the old "deathe grip" on the chanter... well maybe sometimes....
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by I_Fel
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
So is there anyone who can play & talk but not read?
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by s1m0n
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
That would be me. I seem to be able to talk, chew gum, stomp my feet in time, put out a foot to warn of change in tunes, but i can't read worth a diddlely.WB
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by windybaer
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
WB, but can you read when you're NOT playing music?
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
When playing (fiddle), I find it easier to sing than to talk. Singing is usually no big problem, as long as I play the same melody I'm supposed to sing or play simple chords ([GB], [EA], that sort of thing if you speak ABC).
But if someone asks me something, all I can do is look at them, nod and hope they understand what kind of nod it is. :/
I recently read an article that stated that music and speech are in fact dealt with in the same areas of the brain. Not entirely, I think music used more of the brain, and not all of the speaking parts, put partly the same areas. But I don't know how true that was, or how it should be interpreted.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Pontus Adefjord
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I must not lurk
I must not lurk
I must not lurk
Typing posts to forums really breaks the rythm of my mandolin playing and I've had difficulty while putting up tents, but it's questionable whether anyone notices.
I must not.....
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Davetnova
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I like playing the flute watching the television, but my wife doesn't agree...
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by gian marco
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I cant talk when I play hehe and I dont even play the whistle or flute.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Trad Girl
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can do a deep bass drone with my voice while playing the flute... does that count?
The trouble is keeping the drone in tune. Bloody vocal chords.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Q
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Just saw this thread.
My instant reaction was "can't pick my nose while playing"
But I see that Bribanjo already lowered the tone for me.
Thanks Bri!
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can't eat when I'm playing the fiddle and its such a blessing! With tunes I know well I can read or watch telly but I can't talk. I've got used to just ignoring people when I play.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Caraaz
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Fuzzy-tina - try putting the box between your knees and playing anglo one-handed leaving the other free for Guiness - it can be done!!
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by geoffwright
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can't knit while playing, and vise versa. And I seldom listen to music while knitting, because I get distracted and I leave the knitting to go play the mandolin. Excuse me, must go knit. Big fair coming up....
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by rocking bow
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can't talk and play. If I really concentrate I can tap my foot. I can read, and stroll.
Mary
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Antikhntr
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
It took me a while to learn how to "hup" while playing, but last year I joined a group that felt that I was the best person to do the job, so I learned. If I pick a particular note to "hup" on (like the first note of a phrase or a downbeat in the B part) it works better than way. The longer I play this stuff, the more automatic it gets, so I can carry on a conversation pretty well now while playing guitar. What I wish I could do at the same time is sing and strum--I can sing while fingerpicking, but my strums tend to stray to the notes I am singing, which does not usually work well. The other thing I wish I DIDN'T do while I play the accordion is look at my fingers--I don't know why I bother, since all those keys look the same--a game of "choose the right Altoid tablet."
AL Brown
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by AlBrown
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I can easily tap my foot, but not to syncopation. Also, I like to play my fiddle on the front porch, and sometimes people wave when they drive by. That throws me off --- like the expect me to SMILE or something. Usually the best I can manage is a little half-bow.
I've never tried to eat while playing the fiddle. Considering that everything I like is usually dripping with olive oil, that's probably for the best.
Carol
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by carolsviolin
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Oooo, I hate it when there's finger food on the table and I stuff my gob with a cookie or chips and salsa, and before I can chew or swallow we're off on one of my favorite tunes. I once played an entire 15 minute set with a mouthful of cashews because I couldn't coordinate conscious swallowing and fiddling. Sigh.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by Will CPT
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Yeah, the grease on the fingerboard's a pain, too. (Better than rosin, though.)
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by carolsviolin
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
i have a friend who can do calculus and have a full conversation with me. but, he cannot play the piano and talk to me at the same time well. haha, since its on the phone (cuz he lives in another state) i take out the concertina, because then conversation is IMPOSSIBLE over its loud yummy sounding goodness.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by daiv
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I usually tap my right foot,but when playing the pipes the right knee going up and down is unhelpful.I can't tap my left foot at all though.
I can read novels but not talk much while playing.I can't talk at all when playing flute or whistle,I can a little when playing guitar or pipes.
I usually can't think of how the next tune I want to play goes while still playing the first one.
# Posted on November 5th 2004 by seisflutes
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Ditto the above - I can't hold one tune in my head whilst playing another (If it is a tune that my fingers are particularly well drilled in, I can usually slide into it without having to think beforehand about how it goes.). Similarly, when finishing a set of tunes I can't remember for the life of me what tunes have gone before - if someone asks me the names of the tunes afterwards, I have to rack my brains trying to remember what the tunes sounded like, before I can put names to them.
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by ragaman
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
What I can't do while playing fiddle is I can't STOP humming. It's part of the taking off with the tune experience. As the tunes soar so does the hum. OK with a pickup, but not a mike. Didn't even realise I did it until I was advised to stop - but I couldn't!
# Posted on November 6th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
your room mate walks in while your practicing - that would really give me the sh*ts.
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by beano
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Jan, my wife pointed out to me only a couple of days ago that I sometimes made little humming noises while I was playing the fiddle. I hadn't realised it, but there it was, on the tape she had surreptiously made for some deep purpose ...
We're in good company, though. Listen to almost any recording of the great (some would say the greatest ever) cellist Pablo Casals and you'll occasionally hear his unearthly chthonic groaning accompanying his playing. He must have been quite unaware of it.
Trevor
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Well, I guess we also know now, like Pablo Casals, Trevor. Really nice to realise someone of Casals' callibre is prone to the dreaded hum. If ye and he are happy, so am I. Nice of your wife to point it out to you though.
My hum was detected in the school studio when I went to try and record into a sensitive overhead mic for Mighty Craic - a bit of an ear opener.
What's happened to Mighty Craic anyway? Have I missed it? or hasn't it happened yet?
Could we have an update on it please.
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by Clear Drops
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
i move my eyebrows when i play. i have all but broken myself of it. haha, my teacher says to me, "good! now play it without your eyebrows moving".
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by daiv
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I saw Eileen Ivers recently in Baltimore. She can jump, yell, lead what is essentially a rock-concert, engage the audience, *run at full speed across the stage*, all while playing jigs and reels at breakneck tempo with no apparent effort.
# Posted on November 7th 2004 by Test
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
i cant speak or sing
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by Mike.Vass
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Sounds like James Galway may have nystagmus.
Trevor
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I've been known to become slack-jawed and glassy eyed when playing a particularly long set and the craic is fine, I think I've even drooled on the fiddle a couple times. I need to figure out how to attach a catch basin to my hockey helmet I guess.
# Posted on November 8th 2004 by meemtp
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
Well, it's really nice to read this thread and finally realize that I'm not the only freak in the world.
I have been working on forcing myself to utter words without the playing going completely away. Sometimes I can force myself to blurt out the name of the next tune. Typically, however, it's not until the final phrase of the prior tune is underway, which is often too late. I'll spend the entire last time through a tune trying to get words to come out, but as the end of the tune approaches, it's the increasing pressure to "say it now or it'll be too late" that can get the vocal cords working - and I've been told that the look of sheer concentration on my face can be rather amusing during that process.
I can, and do, however, watch television. I can watch the news with the sound off and read all the headlines with no trouble. I can play even when there's music on TV that clashes with what I'm playing. I can separate the two of those quite well. Although, it drives my wife completely insane.
I spent 18 years as a nightclub DJ, beat mixing up to four sources of audio at the same time - and I could pay attention to all four at once without too much trouble. But when playing an instrument, if I try to think of how the next tune starts - the fingers stop working.
Another downfall of being a former club DJ is that I can only tap my foot on odd numbered beats during reels - but get those up to speed, that's WAY too much tapping - so I basically have to shut the tapping off. If I'm not playing, I can tap my foot once per bar just fine without thinking about it. I'm ok tapping on jigs though.
Another thing that often sends the playing down the wrong path is look at my fingers on the fretboard of the banjo. One little peek and I often lose the ability to play. Although, I CAN watch my right hand without any trouble.
And the most annoying thing that I CAN do whilst playing, is get a really stupid look on my face, with my mouth hanging open. Every time I catch myself doing that, I have to wonder how long I had been in that rather embarrasing position.
Oh, and speaking of freaks, I hear tale of a piper in Ireland (don't know who) that can play one tune and lilt another one! That has given us endless fun trying - well, OK, maybe only 15 minutes or so - but it's a rather comical thing to try to do.
Pete
# Posted on November 9th 2004 by Reverend
Re: What CAN'T you do while playing music?
I would find it hard to do my Curlew impersonation, but reckon the wily Tawny Owl would be in with a chance (at the right moment)
_also, making a calculation on my abacus would be impossable as my fingers wouldn't be freed up to move the beads . . .
# Posted on November 11th 2004 by lisaniska