People constantly slagging off other instruments...
People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Are any of you annoyed at the constant slagging off of the instrument you have chosen to play????
People here spend a lifetime learning their instrument of choice, and dedicate hours upon hours practicing and honing their talents...
So what if someone plays pipes, bodhran, fiddles, concertinsa, whistles, flute....etc
Why should it matter to some people so much, that most of their comments are negative to someone elses instrument.
The point is we ALL play for a reason
Then some people with attitude come along, and constantly undermine their effort...
Does anyone else feel this?
fair play to those who play I would like to propose.
But some people on this board do not know when they are being offensive, and always try to beat down others....
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Oh, that's one of the reasons I chose to play the fiddle, Eoin -- I just don't have the necessary rhino-tough hide to play the banjo or the bodhran! ;)
Seriously, though, I don't think anyone really means to be constantly bashing (with a few exceptions, though I'll give you that there's certain some stellar exceptions) one instrument all that much, but it must seem so to many, say, banjo players, because it seems so relentless, since all it takes is 30-31 people making the joke once a month to have it happen to you once a day.
The other reason, I suppose, is sheer laziness. It's so much easier to bash someone and be able to feel vaguely superior than to have to work to find an honest compliment. ;)
Personally, the longer I play the stuff, the more I've mellowed to just about everything but say, maybe, tweeties and their ilk (such as The Gypsy Queen with tambourine and poetry who memorably showed up to one session). Still can't quite abide tweeties, though I probably wouldn't say anything to their faces about it unless forced to it.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Zina,
nice reply, as ever the politian (Luv that about you)
but still will not get the monkey off my back.
I started off defending the bodhran rather angrily, and have tried to sit back and pass odd comments since. (Mellowing)
There is 1 person who constantly p!sses me off.
MG to be exact. His bio says he is a cynic. (Self reported)
Well at this stage is is also an irritant.
Should we ask him politely to refrain from negative comments?
I am sure he posts to annoy people who play the bodhran?
Is this acceptable from people who play ITM?
Surely I would hope not.....
If that was the case I could voice my cynical opinions about other instruments, but will not.
Fair play to those who play.
Maybe Jeremy should read all of MGs comments to the faction of Irish people and Irish musicans who play bodhran and reprimand him (as I was and Jimmy Troy was) for finally speaking our minds about nasty horrible comments being posted about us...
just a thought
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
You? Mellowing? Who are you, and what have you done with Eoin?! *snort* Good luck on getting Michael to behave. I've come to quite like him, but I'll acknowledge that Michael in Session Curmudgeon mode or even simply Mischievious Michael has earned himself a good thwack or two across the head when we finally meet up, either before or after the hug, I haven't quite decided which, yet. (BTW, Michael earned one of Jeremy's severe notes within his first five posts. I suppose everything else after has seemed relatively tame.)
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
So, does that make nasty comments right?
If I were black and he posted his negative views about blacks,sh!t would hit the fan.
If I were female and he made sexist comments, would he stilll be in the right?
Is there really a difference?
He should learn to shut up... or clean up his act
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Being new to the board it has been interesting to sort out all the personalities and points of view...this is a rather tame board...folks are just passionate about what they care for, and it seems like he is entitled to his (narrow) opinion just as you are to yours (doesn't seem too narrow to me)...keeps it all rather entertaining for me although I realize that is not the reason for your ire...
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Sometimes it's better to let people be opinionated and just ignore them, no matter how bizarre and/or inflammatory their opinions seem to you.
That said, I agree that Michael's routine bashing of bodhran players goes beyond the pale, and I wish Jeremy would tell him to stop or else. We all know how MG feels about the goats--we don't need to hear it every time someone wants to talk about bodhran playing. It's a bit like having the Grand Imperial Wizard eejit to the podium at every monthly meeting of the NAACP....
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Hey Eoino, you really shouldn't let it bother you.
just accpet that that opinion is out there and move on, because
it'll always be out there. No matter what instrument or talant level.
There is a definite heirarchy of instrumets.
You should just accept it - after all it's not YOU that has the lowly position, it's the instrument.
If you truly love your instrument more than any other then you should view it as proving your love of it.
I don't play whistle,pipes, fiddle or flute. I may try my hand at
one of them someday - but I accept the Lowly position the guitar has in trad. It's good for me, I tend to err on the "big-headed" side anyway, so keeps me in line !
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There are quite a few "goatwhackers" in Edinburgh but I'm told that Michael is a lot more tolerant in real life.
It actually pays to be tolerant as I've found that they'll thump even harder, if they know that they're getting to you.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Well, Eoino, it seems to me that you've partly answered your own questions in another post, where you stated:
"(2) bodhran players who try to out do each other.. like dogs of war marking their own territory"
I would guess that It's commonly the people, not the instrument, that can make other players dislike an instrument. It could be true for any instrument. Enough bad experiences with just about anything can influence your feelings about it as a whole.
In the case of the bodhran, my guess would be that it is perceived as "easy to play" by the uninitiated, and therefore spawns more unexperienced players that don't understand either the nuances of the instrument, or the etiquette involved with playing in a session environment. Just look at Tassiebodhran's comments in the discussion about lending your instrument. http://thesession.org/discussions/display.php/5002/comments#comment104905
Another problem with the bodhran may be that it is MUCH easier for an inexperienced player to feel like they could play in a session before they're ready.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well played drum, but I also understand why it takes a lot of slagging.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Reverend,
if you are in the mood to repost comments,
Go to Jimmy Troys and check for the post on when 2 bodhran players meet and the common decency shared by both.....
I agree whole heartedly that the bodhran will be slagged...
(and I agree with you Reverend (Again!) that it seems easy to play...
just look at Ireland playing world cup soccer!!!!!)..... don't see too many sets of pipes during a Mexican wave (-:
NOT MY POINT THO......
but who gives Michel Gill the right to P!SS off all bodhran players all the time...
A lot of folks just do not see it......
The bodhran gets bashed in this group a lot...
But the main contender from my point of view is Mickel.
I do not think this board was created for the Micheals of this world to constantly bitch and be verbally abusive to others...
correct me if I am wrong Jeremy...
This post is not only about slagging the bodhran, it is about the putrifying comments Mikael Gill posts constantly...
Who made him Judge and Jury of bodhran players???
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
As a player of another oft maligned instrument (piano accordion) I have to say the jokes don't bother me. They're pretty funny! Sometimes it does hurt, though, when people seriously believe no good can come out of a piano box. Or it's not possible to play ITM on one.
However, like being a particular race or gender, a piano box player is what I am. It's not going to go away (although I could choose to stop playing, I guess). So I just make the best of it.
Is it harder to be put down for how you are born, or for what you choose to become?
MIchael's probably just jealous cause he's got no natural sense of rhythm or something. Or maybe he's just insecure.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
If the Bodhran is percieved as being an easy instrument to play, it's for a very good reason. It IS easy to play badly...and those who do play it badly have the capacity to do your head in faster than a skanger in a sooped up Honda Civic playing boom boom musak at 180 decibels. As for Michael Gill, I think his comments are in the main, extremely helpfull and incisive. Everybody who posts here does so to contribute an opinion. Thats all it is, not a declaration of war!
BTW What the difference between a fiddler and a dog?
One of them knows when to stop scratching
I know that things can get scathing at times, but folks had a chance to put instruments in order of 'most annoying' or 'problematic' - and they had the wisdom to turn it around. While there are some that have suffered so many bodhran scars that they can't reason, most folks here are considerate and do their damnedest to be constructive, and have gained my growing respect for their sense and wit.
So why is it important to me to have these things dealt with and even repeated? There are certain instruments that seem to suffer a higher percentage of the inconsiderate and ignorant thumping away on them. No, I don't really want to have a wand or a super power to make them disappear, but it helps to know how others CONSTRUCTIVELY deal with these problems. Sometimes that is just humour, often given space on the yellow board here. That's OK. Sometimes just knowing others can laugh it off - makes that OK and possible.
I have also been in a position of teaching some of these dreaded instruments, and working with them. In a recent class, teaching goat thumpers, I directed them to this website and to the discussions about their instrument. Why? Well, I actually love percussion, but I know the hell it can impose. I wanted them to understand their instrument from other angles and views, and I wanted them to gain some strength from it too, that if they know the courtesies and they have some understanding, and then if they put those into their playing, that even then they might come across other players who aren't as considerate and may still give them agro and negativity about the shape of the case they come into a session with. I want them to have the humour and strenght necessary to continue to develop their skill and understanding and enjoyment of their choice - bodhran, banjo, hammered dulcimer, accordion, whatever...
So, using things here, plus and minus, I hope they will be able to understand better and laugh it off, and that they will extend a similar understanding and kindness to others of a different persuasion. It isn't like you don' t bodhran players slagging off others. Just recently I heard one complaining about how out of tune everybody was and why don't they just bother to tune up before banging on in discord - like we sometimes do here. Maybe that discord is going somewhere, maybe we are working toward understanding each other better. And maybe it needs the occassional hard ass like MG to shake us up a bit with that particular brand of bile?
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Well said, ceolachan. I think it's worth trying to help learners of maligned instruments understand why that may be. When I see my pupils heading towards sessions I try to point out some of the behaviours that will make them unwelcome, and warn them that others may have done damage to their instruments reputation that they will have to try to repair.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Surely there are no instruments that are inherently bad, just ones played badly or insenstiviely. Anyone who plays that way probably needs to be invited in to the bossom of your company and gradually aclimatised to the local etiquette. Were we all born with innate session sense? On the other hand, if there is a good fire in the pub the accasional comment about warming the session up by throwing on the odd banjo/flute/fiddle/bodhran/ guitar or player often seems to work.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I suggest having a look at the discussion "Other Things You Can Do With Your Instruments". Every instrument gets made fun of. Learn to live with it and try not to be so serious about it all.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Eoino, I am relatively new to this board, at least as a regular. From what I've seen MG is mostly slagging the bodhran as an instrument. I can't say that I've seen him be "verbally abusive" toward a player directly. I just see it as part of his schtick - which I would guess is done partly because he knows that it will get your goat (no pun intended).
But if you take slagging of your instrument as a personal insult, then it's YOU that is making it into a personal thing.
I am a banjo player. When I chose to play the instrument, I knew darn well what I was getting into, and that I was going to be the butt of a bunch of jokes. (What's the most beautiful sound in the world? The banjo hitting the piano accordion on its way into the dumpster...) Heck, I HATED the sound of the banjo for a long time, and if you'd told me 10 years ago that I'd be playing one, I would have died of laughter.
But the slagging just makes me want to be a better player. I suppose that would be different if I really felt that I wasn't welcome solely because of the instrument that I have chosen. But I see plenty of healthy discussion about the bodhran in these forums. And the "peppering" of insults about them just adds a little "spice". Half the time, they're rather humorous anyway.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I've been sproadically learning tenor banjo for the last year, after having played 5-string (bluegrass) for decades with a love/hate relationship with the twanging percussive nature of the beast. All the banjo jokes - and my own awareness of how grating the banjo can be - have helped steer me toward a lighter touch on the tenor, much as Pete's doing (we got to play together for a few days last month). Like he says, it makes you want to be a better, more sensitive, more expressive player. Things like making your triplets the same volume as the rest of the notes (with a nod to Pete for pointing that one out), and keeping the overall volume at "blend" level in a session, rather than banging away.
Friends of mine who play bodhran approach their instrument the same way, and the jokes just encourage them to play better.
Johnny J is right -- Michael only goes on at you if he knows he'll get to you that way, Eoin. *smirk* Michael used to aggravate the hell out of me until some of his sessionmates told another poster here that he's actually a very funny, very nice guy in person, and much more tolerant (as John says above) in person. (Same goes for other people here, you know who you are!) Besides which, now that we're on to him, Michael's actually mellowed a bit. (Don't take that as a challenge now, Michael Gill!) I have to say that I quite like Michael these days. That's partially me and partially him.
What do you know, Mom was right again! ;)
If/When Michael actually steps over the line of civil (ie: personal remarks rather than general ones, whether jokes or not), I'm sure Jeremy will send one of his patented notes. Let him roll off your back, Eoin, if you can. Not that he can't use the occasional reminder that it makes him look a bit of an *ss if he goes on and on at people, in the same vein as Ceolachan's last bit -- can't we all?
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Hmmmmm...
most points accepted...
MG? who is she anyway...
rickety clankity boomiddy bang....
Howz dat for slip-jig timing?????
No more shall I face comments personally...
(White knuckles on the keyboard, and 4 cigs in me gob bodhran in the bin and flute at full mast)
Reverend (Pete) all your comments have been good... thanks.
(I do believe however his outlook to be verbally abusive to the instrument, not that I ever said he was verbally abusive to individuals) and it why I opened this discussion
Ceol... also appreciate your input.
Cheers Zina (Will vote for you in next election!!! (-: )
From now on I will take the flute and banjo to sessions only...
(Hughes will beg me to take the goat after a while!!!!!)
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Pete, you may not have been meaning to teach me anything, but I learned it from you.
I just thought you made an excellent point about keeping triplets the same volume as the rest of the notes, and it clicked with me because I know a few banjo players whose triplets make you jump (er, not in a good way). And it's a good mindset to have as I'm struggling to get my banjo triplets firing consistently--a reminder to not tense up for them (because that just makes them louder).
Lol at you two--sitting in the same house after living apart for months, and using a web site based across the pond to chat amongst yourselves. I hope you don't incur roaming charges when you use your cell phones to talk between the basement and the top floor.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Thanks for asking the question, Eoino. The comments were begining to get to me as well, but I shall face them with calm from now on. Pity I seem to play (?) almost all of the least popular instruments.
It's actually much worse than that, Will -- although not as bad as when we worked in the same office and would sometimes send each other notes when we were sitting across a desk from each other and wanted to say something without the entire office hearing.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
haha, i make fun of concertina all the time and i love it. its best to have a good sense of humor. but i agree, no serious bashing of instruments is necessary. i know people that have gotten violent reactions from having a silver flute in a bar, as well as a bodhran. and they werent even allowed to play before they were kicked out. its all very silly indeed. if it were up to me, i would let people play clarinets and oboes and sitars and gongs in irish music if they could play it *respectfully* and not overpoweringly. but i suppose the rules and prejudices are there for a reason, but not ALL of them are there for good ones.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I'm always slagging my piper friend, making jokes about tuning and "geese flying" but I'm obsessed with the UPs and hope to get to the point where I can get some tunes out on them. As a fiddle player, I love to play with a piper, I think it's the best combo. So, a lot of the slagging is all in fun and really just part of the Craic sometimes. Some of that may get lost in the impersonal nature of postings to a forum.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There is a serious point to all this bodhran bashing. There is a serious reason for my constant "drip drip" against the darn thing:
If one goat thwacker, just one, all it would take would be one, one, out of the whole god damn world, would finnaly get so pissed off with this universally relentless maligning of their chosen "instrument" and throw it away and learn some bloody tunes instead, then I'd change the word "cynic" in my profile to "relentless optomist".t
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Michael, what about the rare bodhran players who put a real pulse throught the tunes, un-hurried, and un-busy, as opposed those who just thump out beats? I do admit they are few and far between, where I live. Do they fail too? Or are they just differently successful?
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes, there are those. And I've met a few of them, and it can work, there's no denying it. But every single decent bodhran player I've come accross does not have it as their first instrument. They play tunes. They know tunes.
It comes down to this: What is this music? You could say it's the rythm, the drive, the craic? Ok, so it is. But what is it really? It's the tunes. And anyone who doesn't know the tunes is, and forever shall be, on the perifery.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes, let's hear it for lilting - a much neglected art !
You can't get more traditional than that. You need to know every single note, be able to pitch your lilt on the note, have good breath control, as well as being able to put the "lift" into it.
Might be a problem with noise from the rest of the punters in the pub, but no more than if you were asking for quiet for a song.
Re: Modhrans constantly slagging off other instruments...
Another thing that makes me quite ill
Is people who write limericks about Gill
Only a modhran
Wouldn't see the very obvious insult that rhymes with bodhran
To complete the fourth line, if you will.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There was a man named Joe McCann
Who wrote the wee poems that wouldn't scan
While on the train
He racked his brain
But only could come up with words that he kept repeating in order to make them rhyme like suntan
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
If you play the viola; both yourself and the instrument are the butt of orchestral humour.It's quite an honour in an odd sort of way, and makes me determined to play really well, even better than the very important violins!
I suppose it must be a similar feeling for those whose musical instruments are the butt of session humour,but is it always the same instruments at every session?
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Somebody had put a poster up at "Fiddle 2004" requesting TWO musicians, specifically a fiddler and piano accordianist, for a gig.
I suggested to one of the guys at the desk that there was some mistake and the ad should have read something like ONE musician i.e the fiddler plus a piano accordianist. He didn't see the funny side and gave me some "Careless talk costs lives" advice, although he admitted that I'd probably get away with it during the fiddle festival.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
A roving young blade Geoff Wright
Could speak but only talk shite
One day he was bragging
And his jaw it kept wagging
‘Til the room it filled up to head height
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I have an opposite problem from most folks in sessions. I am pressed NOT to play melody. My wife, a fiddler, prefers to play with accompaniment (guitar, bozouki). So, if I am the only rhythm instrument present at the session, every time I pick up a melody instrument, I get the silent pressure that only a long-time spouse can apply, until I pick up my guitar again. Last night, it was an audible, "Thank God," when I finally switched from melody to rhythm during one set. In the end, value is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, and as long as there are diverse people listening, there is room for diverse instruments to be playing.
AL Brown
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Many years ago at a "mixed instrument" class, the tutor(she still lives and plays fiddle in Edinburgh) suggested that as there were enough melody instruments playing the tunes, I should try accompaniment on the mandolin. She later scolded me for still playing tunes so I explained that I wanted to be able play these before I worked out the backing.
I think it's important, as has been already observed, to know the melody before attempting a backing. Yes, you can often get away with this but you can come up with something much more creative and appropriate if you've learned the tune first.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Forgive me Jeremy and the Sessioneers for I have sinned -
Mr Gill used to really get my goat, but at that time i thought I could play Bodhran, at the same time I was not really sure what the a and b part of a tune was..............
I now play about sixty tunes at session speed on the fiddle and whilst my bodhran playing has improved greatly,I find that the occasions when i want to play bodhran are occuring less often.
All this would probably have happened to me without the influence of the yellow board, but I know that the change has happened alot quicker because of what I read hear.
Cofessions of a banger banger boom boom.
nb of to Kerry next week for a weeks fiddle tuition - if not for the board I would have taken the round thing!
Myron Bretholz. Myron knows more about tunes than anyone else I know (although I don't always agree with you, do I, Myron, you lurker you?), can identify more tunes than anyone I personally know (hmmm...although, maybe Paddy O'Brien? that'd make for an interesting week of sitting and listening to tunes), and I don't believe he plays anything but bodhran, unless you count things like producing cds. I don't always make it obvious to his face (preferring to tease him unmercifully), but I really respect Myron's knowledge of this stuff.
Myron just played a concert last Friday in Baltimore with Billy McComiskey and a bunch of the Baltimore hotshots, and I understand it was a great night!
Phil Rubenzer, compiler of the Midwestern Irish Session Tunes tunebook. Though Mr. Rubenzer now also plays the whistle, I believe that his knowledge of tunes started long before he picked up the whistle, to the extent that he was always Keeper of Tune Names at his sessions. I've never met him, but he's a friend of Shannon and Matt Heaton's. From his introduction to the Millenium Edition of the tunebook::
"As a bodhran player, I enjoyed playing more to a tune I knew well, so it helped me to become very familiar with what I heard."
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Interestingly, I have heard a bodhran player (extremely good, non-tunable) actually lead a tune set but playing the tune in the tensioning of the skin. It was in tune, on pitch, recognisable and welcomed by everyone else who then joined in.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Michael,
I think you are an inspiration to this board...
Keep up the good work.
Look forward to your next set of constructive comments...
Thanks for all the fish!
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Oh,
I am going to stop attempting to play the flute and banjo and play the bodhran all the time.
This is in response to the intelligent posts on this board, and thanks to those who inspired me towards the bodhran.
I think I will be better suited to the thick skinned instrument, and therefore adopt a thick skinned approach to the slagging I will get in Hughes flute and fiddle sessions...
Suppose it couldn't be worse then what I have seen in goat bashing discussions...... (-:
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Ooh, so close. So close and yet so far away. Clunk 999 should be the inspiration. I read that post and was raring to get into my "cynic" profile and transform it to "relentless optomist" as promissed. But then Eoino had to go and spoil it. I let out an audible deep sigh and kind of slumped my shoulders in my chair.
Just what does it take for people to get the message. IT'S ABOUT THE TUNES. I like those tails of primary bashers who really know the tunes. I've never met one myself, but, as you say Will, maybe I don't get out much (but then the diddley world is so riddled with crap bodhran bashers, I'll gladly make that trade off). But as for playing tunes on the bodhran? Don't be ridiculus.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Handbags at dawn.
Ooooo, the claws are out now, Pied Piper,
With your tongue as sharp as a viper,
But I don't really care
About bags filled with air,
Watch out - he's filling his diaper.
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Too a point BegF...
I am going to lash on 3 more skins to my trusty 1 skin goat, and tune it to G D A E..
should be well set to participate in any session then!!
Naw kidding,
I plan to hammer into both flute and banjo...
(flute probably taking top bill), have to give up the smokes first!
the breathing thing is killing me!
as for lilting...
kinda like Gary Shannon and Colm O'Donnell . (-:
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Eoino> "...but who gives Michel Gill the right to P!SS off all bodhran players all the time..."
I don't see any evidence that MG annoys all bodhran players all the time. He may annoy some bodhran players all of the time, or some bodhran players some of the time. He has his opinions. You can choose to accept them or reject them as you see fit.
You might do better to reframe that question: who gives anyone the right to annoy you, ever? The answer is: you, and you alone.
Taking someone's comments personally is a choice. In the unlikely event that they apply to you, you might choose to heed them or not. But I don't imagine that MG has ever met you, or has ever heard your playing. I'm the same way; I don't know whether you're a goat abuser or Colm Murphy. Either way, it doesn't matter. By taking what someone says personally, or even paying attention to it, you absolutely give him the right to annoy you. If you feel put-upon, revoke that right: don't take the comments personally, or ignore them.
People constantly slagging off other instruments...
People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Are any of you annoyed at the constant slagging off of the instrument you have chosen to play????
People here spend a lifetime learning their instrument of choice, and dedicate hours upon hours practicing and honing their talents...
So what if someone plays pipes, bodhran, fiddles, concertinsa, whistles, flute....etc
Why should it matter to some people so much, that most of their comments are negative to someone elses instrument.
The point is we ALL play for a reason
Then some people with attitude come along, and constantly undermine their effort...
Does anyone else feel this?
fair play to those who play I would like to propose.
But some people on this board do not know when they are being offensive, and always try to beat down others....
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Oh, that's one of the reasons I chose to play the fiddle, Eoin -- I just don't have the necessary rhino-tough hide to play the banjo or the bodhran! ;)
Seriously, though, I don't think anyone really means to be constantly bashing (with a few exceptions, though I'll give you that there's certain some stellar exceptions) one instrument all that much, but it must seem so to many, say, banjo players, because it seems so relentless, since all it takes is 30-31 people making the joke once a month to have it happen to you once a day.
The other reason, I suppose, is sheer laziness. It's so much easier to bash someone and be able to feel vaguely superior than to have to work to find an honest compliment. ;)
Personally, the longer I play the stuff, the more I've mellowed to just about everything but say, maybe, tweeties and their ilk (such as The Gypsy Queen with tambourine and poetry who memorably showed up to one session). Still can't quite abide tweeties, though I probably wouldn't say anything to their faces about it unless forced to it.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Zina,
nice reply, as ever the politian (Luv that about you)
but still will not get the monkey off my back.
I started off defending the bodhran rather angrily, and have tried to sit back and pass odd comments since. (Mellowing)
There is 1 person who constantly p!sses me off.
MG to be exact. His bio says he is a cynic. (Self reported)
Well at this stage is is also an irritant.
Should we ask him politely to refrain from negative comments?
I am sure he posts to annoy people who play the bodhran?
Is this acceptable from people who play ITM?
Surely I would hope not.....
If that was the case I could voice my cynical opinions about other instruments, but will not.
Fair play to those who play.
Maybe Jeremy should read all of MGs comments to the faction of Irish people and Irish musicans who play bodhran and reprimand him (as I was and Jimmy Troy was) for finally speaking our minds about nasty horrible comments being posted about us...
just a thought
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
You? Mellowing? Who are you, and what have you done with Eoin?! *snort* Good luck on getting Michael to behave. I've come to quite like him, but I'll acknowledge that Michael in Session Curmudgeon mode or even simply Mischievious Michael has earned himself a good thwack or two across the head when we finally meet up, either before or after the hug, I haven't quite decided which, yet. (BTW, Michael earned one of Jeremy's severe notes within his first five posts. I suppose everything else after has seemed relatively tame.)
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
So, does that make nasty comments right?
If I were black and he posted his negative views about blacks,sh!t would hit the fan.
If I were female and he made sexist comments, would he stilll be in the right?
Is there really a difference?
He should learn to shut up... or clean up his act
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Being new to the board it has been interesting to sort out all the personalities and points of view...this is a rather tame board...folks are just passionate about what they care for, and it seems like he is entitled to his (narrow) opinion just as you are to yours (doesn't seem too narrow to me)...keeps it all rather entertaining for me although I realize that is not the reason for your ire...
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Sunnybear
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Sometimes it's better to let people be opinionated and just ignore them, no matter how bizarre and/or inflammatory their opinions seem to you.
That said, I agree that Michael's routine bashing of bodhran players goes beyond the pale, and I wish Jeremy would tell him to stop or else. We all know how MG feels about the goats--we don't need to hear it every time someone wants to talk about bodhran playing. It's a bit like having the Grand Imperial Wizard eejit to the podium at every monthly meeting of the NAACP....
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Hey Eoino, you really shouldn't let it bother you.
just accpet that that opinion is out there and move on, because
it'll always be out there. No matter what instrument or talant level.
There is a definite heirarchy of instrumets.
You should just accept it - after all it's not YOU that has the lowly position, it's the instrument.
If you truly love your instrument more than any other then you should view it as proving your love of it.
I don't play whistle,pipes, fiddle or flute. I may try my hand at
one of them someday - but I accept the Lowly position the guitar has in trad. It's good for me, I tend to err on the "big-headed" side anyway, so keeps me in line !
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by BegF
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There are quite a few "goatwhackers" in Edinburgh but I'm told that Michael is a lot more tolerant in real life.
It actually pays to be tolerant as I've found that they'll thump even harder, if they know that they're getting to you.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by John J Returns
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Well, Eoino, it seems to me that you've partly answered your own questions in another post, where you stated:
"(2) bodhran players who try to out do each other.. like dogs of war marking their own territory"
I would guess that It's commonly the people, not the instrument, that can make other players dislike an instrument. It could be true for any instrument. Enough bad experiences with just about anything can influence your feelings about it as a whole.
In the case of the bodhran, my guess would be that it is perceived as "easy to play" by the uninitiated, and therefore spawns more unexperienced players that don't understand either the nuances of the instrument, or the etiquette involved with playing in a session environment. Just look at Tassiebodhran's comments in the discussion about lending your instrument. http://thesession.org/discussions/display.php/5002/comments#comment104905
Another problem with the bodhran may be that it is MUCH easier for an inexperienced player to feel like they could play in a session before they're ready.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a well played drum, but I also understand why it takes a lot of slagging.
Pete
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Reverend
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Reverend,
if you are in the mood to repost comments,
Go to Jimmy Troys and check for the post on when 2 bodhran players meet and the common decency shared by both.....
I agree whole heartedly that the bodhran will be slagged...
(and I agree with you Reverend (Again!) that it seems easy to play...
just look at Ireland playing world cup soccer!!!!!)..... don't see too many sets of pipes during a Mexican wave (-:
NOT MY POINT THO......
but who gives Michel Gill the right to P!SS off all bodhran players all the time...
A lot of folks just do not see it......
The bodhran gets bashed in this group a lot...
But the main contender from my point of view is Mickel.
I do not think this board was created for the Micheals of this world to constantly bitch and be verbally abusive to others...
correct me if I am wrong Jeremy...
This post is not only about slagging the bodhran, it is about the putrifying comments Mikael Gill posts constantly...
Who made him Judge and Jury of bodhran players???
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
As a player of another oft maligned instrument (piano accordion) I have to say the jokes don't bother me. They're pretty funny! Sometimes it does hurt, though, when people seriously believe no good can come out of a piano box. Or it's not possible to play ITM on one.
However, like being a particular race or gender, a piano box player is what I am. It's not going to go away (although I could choose to stop playing, I guess). So I just make the best of it.
Is it harder to be put down for how you are born, or for what you choose to become?
MIchael's probably just jealous cause he's got no natural sense of rhythm or something. Or maybe he's just insecure.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by kris
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
If the Bodhran is percieved as being an easy instrument to play, it's for a very good reason. It IS easy to play badly...and those who do play it badly have the capacity to do your head in faster than a skanger in a sooped up Honda Civic playing boom boom musak at 180 decibels. As for Michael Gill, I think his comments are in the main, extremely helpfull and incisive. Everybody who posts here does so to contribute an opinion. Thats all it is, not a declaration of war!
BTW What the difference between a fiddler and a dog?
One of them knows when to stop scratching
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Backer
My RESPECT! - to most of those who post here:
I know that things can get scathing at times, but folks had a chance to put instruments in order of 'most annoying' or 'problematic' - and they had the wisdom to turn it around. While there are some that have suffered so many bodhran scars that they can't reason, most folks here are considerate and do their damnedest to be constructive, and have gained my growing respect for their sense and wit.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/5017
So why is it important to me to have these things dealt with and even repeated? There are certain instruments that seem to suffer a higher percentage of the inconsiderate and ignorant thumping away on them. No, I don't really want to have a wand or a super power to make them disappear, but it helps to know how others CONSTRUCTIVELY deal with these problems. Sometimes that is just humour, often given space on the yellow board here. That's OK. Sometimes just knowing others can laugh it off - makes that OK and possible.
I have also been in a position of teaching some of these dreaded instruments, and working with them. In a recent class, teaching goat thumpers, I directed them to this website and to the discussions about their instrument. Why? Well, I actually love percussion, but I know the hell it can impose. I wanted them to understand their instrument from other angles and views, and I wanted them to gain some strength from it too, that if they know the courtesies and they have some understanding, and then if they put those into their playing, that even then they might come across other players who aren't as considerate and may still give them agro and negativity about the shape of the case they come into a session with. I want them to have the humour and strenght necessary to continue to develop their skill and understanding and enjoyment of their choice - bodhran, banjo, hammered dulcimer, accordion, whatever...
So, using things here, plus and minus, I hope they will be able to understand better and laugh it off, and that they will extend a similar understanding and kindness to others of a different persuasion. It isn't like you don' t bodhran players slagging off others. Just recently I heard one complaining about how out of tune everybody was and why don't they just bother to tune up before banging on in discord - like we sometimes do here. Maybe that discord is going somewhere, maybe we are working toward understanding each other better. And maybe it needs the occassional hard ass like MG to shake us up a bit with that particular brand of bile?
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by ceolachan
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Well said, ceolachan. I think it's worth trying to help learners of maligned instruments understand why that may be. When I see my pupils heading towards sessions I try to point out some of the behaviours that will make them unwelcome, and warn them that others may have done damage to their instruments reputation that they will have to try to repair.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by kris
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Surely there are no instruments that are inherently bad, just ones played badly or insenstiviely. Anyone who plays that way probably needs to be invited in to the bossom of your company and gradually aclimatised to the local etiquette. Were we all born with innate session sense? On the other hand, if there is a good fire in the pub the accasional comment about warming the session up by throwing on the odd banjo/flute/fiddle/bodhran/ guitar or player often seems to work.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by bigfish
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I suggest having a look at the discussion "Other Things You Can Do With Your Instruments". Every instrument gets made fun of. Learn to live with it and try not to be so serious about it all.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by keyedup
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Eoino, I am relatively new to this board, at least as a regular. From what I've seen MG is mostly slagging the bodhran as an instrument. I can't say that I've seen him be "verbally abusive" toward a player directly. I just see it as part of his schtick - which I would guess is done partly because he knows that it will get your goat (no pun intended).
But if you take slagging of your instrument as a personal insult, then it's YOU that is making it into a personal thing.
I am a banjo player. When I chose to play the instrument, I knew darn well what I was getting into, and that I was going to be the butt of a bunch of jokes. (What's the most beautiful sound in the world? The banjo hitting the piano accordion on its way into the dumpster...) Heck, I HATED the sound of the banjo for a long time, and if you'd told me 10 years ago that I'd be playing one, I would have died of laughter.
But the slagging just makes me want to be a better player. I suppose that would be different if I really felt that I wasn't welcome solely because of the instrument that I have chosen. But I see plenty of healthy discussion about the bodhran in these forums. And the "peppering" of insults about them just adds a little "spice". Half the time, they're rather humorous anyway.
Pete
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Reverend
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I've been sproadically learning tenor banjo for the last year, after having played 5-string (bluegrass) for decades with a love/hate relationship with the twanging percussive nature of the beast. All the banjo jokes - and my own awareness of how grating the banjo can be - have helped steer me toward a lighter touch on the tenor, much as Pete's doing (we got to play together for a few days last month). Like he says, it makes you want to be a better, more sensitive, more expressive player. Things like making your triplets the same volume as the rest of the notes (with a nod to Pete for pointing that one out), and keeping the overall volume at "blend" level in a session, rather than banging away.
Friends of mine who play bodhran approach their instrument the same way, and the jokes just encourage them to play better.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Michael, put your hands over your ears, please...
Johnny J is right -- Michael only goes on at you if he knows he'll get to you that way, Eoin. *smirk* Michael used to aggravate the hell out of me until some of his sessionmates told another poster here that he's actually a very funny, very nice guy in person, and much more tolerant (as John says above) in person. (Same goes for other people here, you know who you are!) Besides which, now that we're on to him, Michael's actually mellowed a bit. (Don't take that as a challenge now, Michael Gill!) I have to say that I quite like Michael these days. That's partially me and partially him.
What do you know, Mom was right again! ;)
If/When Michael actually steps over the line of civil (ie: personal remarks rather than general ones, whether jokes or not), I'm sure Jeremy will send one of his patented notes. Let him roll off your back, Eoin, if you can. Not that he can't use the occasional reminder that it makes him look a bit of an *ss if he goes on and on at people, in the same vein as Ceolachan's last bit -- can't we all?
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Hmmmmm...
most points accepted...
MG? who is she anyway...
rickety clankity boomiddy bang....
Howz dat for slip-jig timing?????
No more shall I face comments personally...
(White knuckles on the keyboard, and 4 cigs in me gob bodhran in the bin and flute at full mast)
Reverend (Pete) all your comments have been good... thanks.
(I do believe however his outlook to be verbally abusive to the instrument, not that I ever said he was verbally abusive to individuals) and it why I opened this discussion
Ceol... also appreciate your input.
Cheers Zina (Will vote for you in next election!!! (-: )
From now on I will take the flute and banjo to sessions only...
(Hughes will beg me to take the goat after a while!!!!!)
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Pete, you may not have been meaning to teach me anything, but I learned it from you.
I just thought you made an excellent point about keeping triplets the same volume as the rest of the notes, and it clicked with me because I know a few banjo players whose triplets make you jump (er, not in a good way). And it's a good mindset to have as I'm struggling to get my banjo triplets firing consistently--a reminder to not tense up for them (because that just makes them louder).
Lol at you two--sitting in the same house after living apart for months, and using a web site based across the pond to chat amongst yourselves.
I hope you don't incur roaming charges when you use your cell phones to talk between the basement and the top floor. 
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
P.S. Pete, my problem is that *all* of my musical ability resides in my little finger. The rest of me is vacant.
Besides, you've gone further in a year on banjo than I did in my first ten years on fiddle, so just you wait.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I play PA and anglo concertina and am proud of it. Who says you can't play ITM on PA? Want to make something of it?
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by geoffwright
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
That's the spirit Geoff!
Maybe people don't slag the banjo much to my face because I'm 6'4" and 215 pounds
And Will, you must be REALLY talented if you can get all that beautiful music out of just your little finger then!
Pete
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by Reverend
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Thanks for asking the question, Eoino. The comments were begining to get to me as well, but I shall face them with calm from now on. Pity I seem to play (?) almost all of the least popular instruments.
# Posted on November 21st 2004 by The Cat
OT
It's actually much worse than that, Will -- although not as bad as when we worked in the same office and would sometimes send each other notes when we were sitting across a desk from each other and wanted to say something without the entire office hearing.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
haha, i make fun of concertina all the time and i love it. its best to have a good sense of humor. but i agree, no serious bashing of instruments is necessary. i know people that have gotten violent reactions from having a silver flute in a bar, as well as a bodhran. and they werent even allowed to play before they were kicked out. its all very silly indeed. if it were up to me, i would let people play clarinets and oboes and sitars and gongs in irish music if they could play it *respectfully* and not overpoweringly. but i suppose the rules and prejudices are there for a reason, but not ALL of them are there for good ones.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by daiv
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I'm always slagging my piper friend, making jokes about tuning and "geese flying" but I'm obsessed with the UPs and hope to get to the point where I can get some tunes out on them. As a fiddle player, I love to play with a piper, I think it's the best combo. So, a lot of the slagging is all in fun and really just part of the Craic sometimes. Some of that may get lost in the impersonal nature of postings to a forum.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by meemtp
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There is a serious point to all this bodhran bashing. There is a serious reason for my constant "drip drip" against the darn thing:
If one goat thwacker, just one, all it would take would be one, one, out of the whole god damn world, would finnaly get so pissed off with this universally relentless maligning of their chosen "instrument" and throw it away and learn some bloody tunes instead, then I'd change the word "cynic" in my profile to "relentless optomist".t
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Oh for goodness sake Michael, stop shilly shallying about and tell us plain - do like the bodhran or don't you?
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by showaddydadito
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I think he's a closet fan - I betcha he has one at home !
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by BegF
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Michael, what about the rare bodhran players who put a real pulse throught the tunes, un-hurried, and un-busy, as opposed those who just thump out beats? I do admit they are few and far between, where I live. Do they fail too? Or are they just differently successful?
Jim
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes, there are those. And I've met a few of them, and it can work, there's no denying it. But every single decent bodhran player I've come accross does not have it as their first instrument. They play tunes. They know tunes.
It comes down to this: What is this music? You could say it's the rythm, the drive, the craic? Ok, so it is. But what is it really? It's the tunes. And anyone who doesn't know the tunes is, and forever shall be, on the perifery.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Not that you're clarified your point, I would tend to agree.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by BegF
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I still think you're a closet fan. I betcha you haev an egg thingy as well !
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by BegF
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes MC, I concur... But I have known some fine bangers who's only other ability was to lilt the tunes...
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by ceolachan
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes, that's enough. I'd like to hear more lilting in sessions
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Yes, let's hear it for lilting - a much neglected art !
You can't get more traditional than that. You need to know every single note, be able to pitch your lilt on the note, have good breath control, as well as being able to put the "lift" into it.
Might be a problem with noise from the rest of the punters in the pub, but no more than if you were asking for quiet for a song.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by murfbox
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Comments by one Michael Gill
Made some people feel very ill
He slaged off the Bodhran
And then away ran
It must give him some sort of thrill
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: Modhrans constantly slagging off other instruments...
Another thing that makes me quite ill
Is people who write limericks about Gill
Only a modhran
Wouldn't see the very obvious insult that rhymes with bodhran
To complete the fourth line, if you will.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by geoffwright
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
There was a man named Joe McCann
Who wrote the wee poems that wouldn't scan
While on the train
He racked his brain
But only could come up with words that he kept repeating in order to make them rhyme like suntan
Oh God here we go .... will they get any worse?
Jim
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
If you play the viola; both yourself and the instrument are the butt of orchestral humour.It's quite an honour in an odd sort of way, and makes me determined to play really well, even better than the very important violins!
I suppose it must be a similar feeling for those whose musical instruments are the butt of session humour,but is it always the same instruments at every session?
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by gummidge
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Somebody had put a poster up at "Fiddle 2004" requesting TWO musicians, specifically a fiddler and piano accordianist, for a gig.
I suggested to one of the guys at the desk that there was some mistake and the ad should have read something like ONE musician i.e the fiddler plus a piano accordianist. He didn't see the funny side and gave me some "Careless talk costs lives" advice, although he admitted that I'd probably get away with it during the fiddle festival.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by John J Returns
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Being the butt of goodnatured orchestral humour is a darn sight better than being ignored completely.
Trevor
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by lazyhound
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
A roving young blade Geoff Wright
Could speak but only talk shite
One day he was bragging
And his jaw it kept wagging
‘Til the room it filled up to head height
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I have an opposite problem from most folks in sessions. I am pressed NOT to play melody. My wife, a fiddler, prefers to play with accompaniment (guitar, bozouki). So, if I am the only rhythm instrument present at the session, every time I pick up a melody instrument, I get the silent pressure that only a long-time spouse can apply, until I pick up my guitar again. Last night, it was an audible, "Thank God," when I finally switched from melody to rhythm during one set. In the end, value is in the eye of the beholder, I guess, and as long as there are diverse people listening, there is room for diverse instruments to be playing.
AL Brown
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by AlBrown
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Blimey, I've heard of some strange relationships, but being forced not to play tunes when you wife is playing tunes .. crikey
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Many years ago at a "mixed instrument" class, the tutor(she still lives and plays fiddle in Edinburgh) suggested that as there were enough melody instruments playing the tunes, I should try accompaniment on the mandolin. She later scolded me for still playing tunes so I explained that I wanted to be able play these before I worked out the backing.
I think it's important, as has been already observed, to know the melody before attempting a backing. Yes, you can often get away with this but you can come up with something much more creative and appropriate if you've learned the tune first.
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by John J Returns
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Forgive me Jeremy and the Sessioneers for I have sinned -
Mr Gill used to really get my goat, but at that time i thought I could play Bodhran, at the same time I was not really sure what the a and b part of a tune was..............
I now play about sixty tunes at session speed on the fiddle and whilst my bodhran playing has improved greatly,I find that the occasions when i want to play bodhran are occuring less often.
All this would probably have happened to me without the influence of the yellow board, but I know that the change has happened alot quicker because of what I read hear.
Cofessions of a banger banger boom boom.
nb of to Kerry next week for a weeks fiddle tuition - if not for the board I would have taken the round thing!
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by clunk999
Michael Gill:
Myron Bretholz. Myron knows more about tunes than anyone else I know (although I don't always agree with you, do I, Myron, you lurker you?), can identify more tunes than anyone I personally know (hmmm...although, maybe Paddy O'Brien? that'd make for an interesting week of sitting and listening to tunes), and I don't believe he plays anything but bodhran, unless you count things like producing cds. I don't always make it obvious to his face (preferring to tease him unmercifully), but I really respect Myron's knowledge of this stuff.
Myron just played a concert last Friday in Baltimore with Billy McComiskey and a bunch of the Baltimore hotshots, and I understand it was a great night!
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Zina Lee
Oh, and...
Phil Rubenzer, compiler of the Midwestern Irish Session Tunes tunebook. Though Mr. Rubenzer now also plays the whistle, I believe that his knowledge of tunes started long before he picked up the whistle, to the extent that he was always Keeper of Tune Names at his sessions. I've never met him, but he's a friend of Shannon and Matt Heaton's. From his introduction to the Millenium Edition of the tunebook::
"As a bodhran player, I enjoyed playing more to a tune I knew well, so it helped me to become very familiar with what I heard."
http://www.c7r.com/sessionbook/etiquette.html
# Posted on November 22nd 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Interestingly, I have heard a bodhran player (extremely good, non-tunable) actually lead a tune set but playing the tune in the tensioning of the skin. It was in tune, on pitch, recognisable and welcomed by everyone else who then joined in.
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by The Cat
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
I have to wonder that maybe Michael doesn't get out much....
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by Miss Lonelyhearts
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Michael,
I think you are an inspiration to this board...
Keep up the good work.
Look forward to your next set of constructive comments...
Thanks for all the fish!
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Oh,
I am going to stop attempting to play the flute and banjo and play the bodhran all the time.
This is in response to the intelligent posts on this board, and thanks to those who inspired me towards the bodhran.
I think I will be better suited to the thick skinned instrument, and therefore adopt a thick skinned approach to the slagging I will get in Hughes flute and fiddle sessions...
Suppose it couldn't be worse then what I have seen in goat bashing discussions...... (-:
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Ooh, so close. So close and yet so far away. Clunk 999 should be the inspiration. I read that post and was raring to get into my "cynic" profile and transform it to "relentless optomist" as promissed. But then Eoino had to go and spoil it. I let out an audible deep sigh and kind of slumped my shoulders in my chair.
Just what does it take for people to get the message. IT'S ABOUT THE TUNES. I like those tails of primary bashers who really know the tunes. I've never met one myself, but, as you say Will, maybe I don't get out much (but then the diddley world is so riddled with crap bodhran bashers, I'll gladly make that trade off). But as for playing tunes on the bodhran? Don't be ridiculus.
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by llig leahcim
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Eoine, are you seriously not going to try and learn the tunes ?
What about the lilting idea ?
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by BegF
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Handbags at dawn.
Ooooo, the claws are out now, Pied Piper,
With your tongue as sharp as a viper,
But I don't really care
About bags filled with air,
Watch out - he's filling his diaper.
;->
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by geoffwright
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
So Geoff takes the role of a sniper
To shoot at your freind the Pied Piper
But I wont be unhappy
And we call it a nappy
Cos we are much more politer
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Too a point BegF...
I am going to lash on 3 more skins to my trusty 1 skin goat, and tune it to G D A E..
should be well set to participate in any session then!!
Naw kidding,
I plan to hammer into both flute and banjo...
(flute probably taking top bill), have to give up the smokes first!
the breathing thing is killing me!
as for lilting...
kinda like Gary Shannon and Colm O'Donnell . (-:
# Posted on November 24th 2004 by Eoino
Re: People constantly slagging off other instruments...
Eoino> "...but who gives Michel Gill the right to P!SS off all bodhran players all the time..."
I don't see any evidence that MG annoys all bodhran players all the time. He may annoy some bodhran players all of the time, or some bodhran players some of the time. He has his opinions. You can choose to accept them or reject them as you see fit.
You might do better to reframe that question: who gives anyone the right to annoy you, ever? The answer is: you, and you alone.
Taking someone's comments personally is a choice. In the unlikely event that they apply to you, you might choose to heed them or not. But I don't imagine that MG has ever met you, or has ever heard your playing. I'm the same way; I don't know whether you're a goat abuser or Colm Murphy. Either way, it doesn't matter. By taking what someone says personally, or even paying attention to it, you absolutely give him the right to annoy you. If you feel put-upon, revoke that right: don't take the comments personally, or ignore them.
---Michael B.
# Posted on November 29th 2004 by MichaelBolton