Don't know if this has been covered earlier - if so please advise. One of my major problems when it comes to sessions is putting together sets. You know the situation - maybe someone asks you to start a tune, you play it three or four times and then you get to the last bar and discover you haven't a CLUE what to go into next. Of course because you started the set the onus is on you to dictate the tunes. Everyone looks at you anxiously and then you break out in a cold sweat and nod your head furiously at someone else to come up with something, or you finally come up with a tune and play it in the wrong key, or you play something nobody else knows simply 'cos you learnt it yesterday. Is this just me? Does anyone have any tips? Do you work out sets in advance or play common sets from well-known albums? Any ideas on nice key changes? The only sure-fire way I know of ending a set when in doubt is play something in A , e.g.The Foxhunter's, The Clumsy Lover, but I'm sure my friends are getting wise to my ploy.
I often lapse into a tune I learned yesterday myself, it's hard not to. It's definitely the worst option, especially if you don't have it down pat. Usually sets are things that I have with specific people, their are certain sets you know you both know & both enjoy. Othertimes I go for some of the famous sets, but I am a fan of spontanious sets & sometimes playing the famous sets gets a little stale. If I'm going to make up a set I use formulas like D/G/Em Or D/Ador/G. When I do this I try to pair rhythmicly similar tunes together, put the choppier tunes together & the smoother more melodic tunes together. I also try to avoid going from minor/dorian to the major/mixolydian with the same tonic. Unless I've forwarned the backer & they know to put an ambigous 5th chord at the change. Otherwise it can lead to the backer playing a loud ugly "clam" (clam = wrong chord) when forwarned it's nice effect. It's all a matter of taste & if you play it through like you mean it just about anything can work.
I've GOT to get better at the key and chord thing. Brad says stuff like "formulas like D/G/Em Or D/Ador/G" and I'm sitting here going....let's see...what do I know in G? Hmmmm.
Luckily for me, as a pretty much beginner, no one expects much in the way of sets from me! I plan to ride on that freebie as long as I can until I can figure this "call the next tune" thing out a little better. Until then, I only start tunes in sets I'm really familiar with, so I know I won't fluff the damn transition, which of course always happens in a dead silence while everyone's waiting for your cue on the next tune. *sigh*
this will only be relevant if you're playing with an accompanist, but ive got a funny wee method that i use when im playing with a flute player mate from belfast, its all down to the bottom d string on the guitar(i play in dropped d), when we're playing in, say g and the next tune is in d, about halfway through the last part i'll get a nod facing down, for em its the nod down followed with a wee up nod, like wise if we're in d going to g it'll be a nod up, for going to a its a double nod up, it kind of sounds silly typed in front of me here, and its never been a thing that we conciously worked on, but it definitely makes the changes more solid, especially when flute players don't have the luxury of being able to speak when playing,hope this makes sense, regards,
anto
Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll have to send away for the book but in the meantime I'll keep those ideas in mind. Ant, I didn't know you and Duff had a sneeky wee code! Makes sense though... I'll mail you later when I finish up work here.
Michael I like the idea of your system although it might look to an outsider that you all hate the guitarist. All the same very pythonesque - maybe Eric's the half a bee.
Thats terrible by the way mike!! We are all so much more refined in glasgow, old boy!
I just usually think of the next tune i'm going to play while i'm playing the current one. Keeps your brain ticking over, can be stressful sometimes when you just can't think of anything that you know at least one person can play along with as well! I don't ever really play predefined sets, and def don't play them as heard on an album, kind of think thats a bit cheesy. Prefer to put a mixture of tunes from various sources together into a set. Thats kind of the way its done at most sessions i've been to?!?
Don't worry tho, as you've seen, everyone gets a mind block now and then that cuts your brain off from your tune supply....
Was through in Edin last night, great tunes! Just at Sandy Bells, you probably know the people that were there mike!
Jamie
Jamie, have to agree with you there about the cheese-factor in playing Bothy band sets and the like. Sometimes you can't avoid it if you're in a new session and it's full of pipers, but I prefer different tunes if I can think of them.
By the way, do you ever play in the Victoria bar or the Scotia? I've heard they have great sessions but just not when I was there - I always manage to miss them when I'm in Glesga. Saying that, I'm heading up on the 24th of August (Bank Holiday weekend) so maybe you can recommend the best places?
Definately have been to Viccy bar, not to the scotia tho! Lots of irish music in the Vic - friday nights the night tho! I never usually make it as gigging. Shame its that weekend your up or coulda met up, im playing in T
hey - have you never heard a set off an album that was soo good you had to play it like that - not the entire set, but maybe 2 tunes out of the set then one of your own. I sorta rely on things like that, I cant read music, I dont know how to tell what keys tunes are in, so I cant really put them together and if I'm in a session and have to think of a tune to go next off the top off my brain I always choose one that really doesnt fit well. So I sorta actually pick up the local sets - like in galway you could go into any session and alot of the time they play the same sets as the other session )
Thats o.k. bb, i'll let you away with that, cause I'M A NICE GUY *cheesy grin*
I'll also agree with Zina about that pub name, still, its a braw wee pub and the seafood (muscles) are great!
hey Jamie cheers for that one. I've been to Babbity's before but never realised they ran a session there as well. It's a great pub alright. Fair play to you headin' off to T
sorry, it means great, fantastic! Its a scottish east coast thing that one of the guys in my band always says and i've picked it up with all travelling and playing weve done together!!
hee hee......
I'm learning ya!
Jamie :0)
Dont know if she'll be there, but just checked out her web page, and if i were to get her number, theres no way i'll be giving it up!!! :0) She's a great fiddle player though, love that european stuff.....!
I know, everyone is probably tut, tutting and shaking their heads at this.... sorry!!
Jamie
Back to sets (if you'll pardon the digression back to the topic *grin*)....
Our local Montana session is far from a traditional role model, but we know how to have fun. We tend to do a mix of pre-arranged sets (borrowed from the core members' old band arrangements) and seat-of-the-pants sets where you never know what's coming next. For some reason, our group finds this easier to do with jigs and hornpipes than with reels, but we're coming along. The pre-arranged sets make it easier for less experienced players to join in, and the free-wheeling chains of tunes allow the core players to experiment a bit--a nice combination that seems to keep everyone happy. When a new face wanders in, we seem to play more free-wheeling stuff, and that's okay by me.
It *is* nice to shoot for the kind of key and mode changes Brad mentions, and I do that as much as possible, but it's not essential to having a good time. The other criteria I try to think of when jumping to a new tune are: (1) more often than not, play a tune that other people in this circle know, and (2) find a tune that has the same basic rhythm or flow as the last one. Of course the main criterion HAS to be "do I have the first four notes in mind so I can start it without crashing?"
As with other aspects of playing music, all this takes is practice--the more you do it, the easier it becomes. So don't worry if your first attempts aren't magical (but remember them if they are). It also helps to practice this way on your own, jumping from reel to reel, say, without stopping, just to see where your mind leads you. Another trick is to think of two or three tunes you want to play *before* the music gets going. When I'm rosining my bow, for instance, I might make a mental note that I want to play Beare Island Reel, Bobby Casey's, and Dunmore Lasses before the night is over. Then I'll slip one into the stream when I get the chance, and I've still got two left in the quiver for the next opportunity.
Will
P.S. The spontaneous changes are easier to do if you play each tune 3-4 times rather than just twice. Seems to free up a few more brain cells that last time around if you've repeated the tune often enough.
I personally really like sessions with three times round or more rather than two. Two just isn't enough for me if I like the tune, or if I'm trying to pick it up. So that bias will probably go away once I get a bit faster.
Push for *at least* three times around whenever you can. I prefer three or four myself, unless it's a five part tune. We also have an unspoken courtesy in our group that we'll sometimes play a tune over and over until everyone's satisfied that they got it right at least once, heh. Makes for some real marathons, heh, heh.
Hello there !
I remark something that is more and more frequent since a few years (since tunes are played faster and faster) in the playing of sets of reels or sets of jigs (Dervish, for example, are specialists for this)
Explanation(!) : if you have a set of 3 reels for example the first tune is played 2 or 3 times max. , the second tune chosen is one which has the less interesting melody and swing of the set, it is played 3 or 4 times just enough before it becomes pounding, boring (just like in the gags of the great Charlie Chaplin !!), and then the last tune is the more interesting (it has a very astonishing and lively tempo and a jubilant melody + a very different cadence) and it comes just at time to surprise the audience and musicians. This creates I think a kind of effect of waiting and the last tune comes like a "liberation" in the set. I suppose that bands like Dervish use this kind of combinations in their sets of lively reels to create this effect of "expection" between the 2nd and the last tune, I've already heard it used in sessions. I don't know if someone will understand my explanation (it's hard to explain...) but if someone has the same intuition as me, please let me know...
Yes, we often pair up fairly straightfoward, "plain" tunes with more surprising or haunting or lively tunes. For example, moving from Dick Gossip's to Mason's Apron to Pigeon on the Gate, or Charlie Lennon's to Hunter's Purse to the Cameronian, or My Darling Asleep to Lilting Banshee, or Tell Her I Am to Paddy Fahy's Jig, etc.
The plain tunes (I call them that reluctantly because there are very few tunes that don't hold a real charm for me) are important set ups for the more emotive or intricate tunes--ironically, it might get boring if every tune aimed to surprise the listener.
I'd just like to say that i agree totally with everything Will said in his first (long) posting! Thats basically what i do, but he's seem to be able to explain things slightly better than me (i'm still trying to grasp the english language after realising that the first letter of the alphabet wasn't C and it didn't end on B.......
I'll usually try and have a couple of tunes in mind before playing too, it means that you can just horse into the next one in your head, if you get that familiar mind block....
Anyway as i'm just reiterating what everyone else has said, i'll be off now to another discussion, Ciao!
Jamie
what about that really annoying thing when people who've just made a CD or something come into the session and and play their set, all rehearsed. Blimey, that bugs me.
Where I am that never happens - I think most musicians who had recorded an album would be embarressed about doing it. But it wouldnt really bother me. The one thing that bothers me is going to sessions year after year and playing the same ole tunes. Thats what annoys me most. In galway if the muso's dont know a tune, they make an effort to learn it - its great.
Where did the idea that you only play tunes 3 times come from. I attend a session where we often play a tune more than 5 times. It gives you a chance to get it your head and give it go if don't know it or are weak on it at the start before the set shifts to another tune and your brain has to work again. I think this 3 times each thing is recording/performance convention to hold the audience's attention and, at least in the ones I attend, the session is not about the audience.
Babbity Brewsters! Great sessions! Every Saturday from 5 - 8. I was able to sit in with my Bohdran. Tunes it sets of 3's interspersed with some fine ballad singing. Approx 20 musicians. Evidently it happens every Saturday.
Scotia Bar another great session with 10 musicians all squished into a little side room. It was full so I didn't get to listen much to that one.
Three is the perfect number you know...biblical, theological and full of folklore! We play em in sets of three's always!
Brent
Three?
It depends on the tune
If you play it singles or doubles etc
Try playng tunes inside each other
Like the first part of one tune, then the two parts of another tune, then the last part of the first tune, then over again.
This way you can construct some graet four part tunes that sound new, but everybody knows them
I collected tunes in a jotter with a page for irish jigs, scottish jigs, irish polkas, irish reels etc.
When I heard a new tune, I work out which page fits it's style, if none does, start a new page.
When the page is full, arrange them into contrasting keys etc. and practise them as a set. That is one way to learn good sets.
You do get fed up of a set after a time, so to keep the band on their toes, we sometimes play the set in reverse order.
If I really love a tune sometimes I just want to keep playing it - maybe 5 or 6 times, but it is true, most sessions do the 3 times thru thing - unless its a single reel, then it may be 4 or 5. Michael are you saying you like to get two different tunes and mix them up together - Ive never heard of anything like that at a session & I'm glad about it!
I live alot actually - travel the world playing music. Unfortunatly for some I have too much respect for trad irish so I dont mess about with it. If your really that bored playing trad maybe you should try jazz instead
Sets of tunes
Sets of tunes
Don't know if this has been covered earlier - if so please advise. One of my major problems when it comes to sessions is putting together sets. You know the situation - maybe someone asks you to start a tune, you play it three or four times and then you get to the last bar and discover you haven't a CLUE what to go into next. Of course because you started the set the onus is on you to dictate the tunes. Everyone looks at you anxiously and then you break out in a cold sweat and nod your head furiously at someone else to come up with something, or you finally come up with a tune and play it in the wrong key, or you play something nobody else knows simply 'cos you learnt it yesterday. Is this just me? Does anyone have any tips? Do you work out sets in advance or play common sets from well-known albums? Any ideas on nice key changes? The only sure-fire way I know of ending a set when in doubt is play something in A , e.g.The Foxhunter's, The Clumsy Lover, but I'm sure my friends are getting wise to my ploy.
Cheers
Con
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Sets of tunes
I often lapse into a tune I learned yesterday myself, it's hard not to. It's definitely the worst option, especially if you don't have it down pat. Usually sets are things that I have with specific people, their are certain sets you know you both know & both enjoy. Othertimes I go for some of the famous sets, but I am a fan of spontanious sets & sometimes playing the famous sets gets a little stale. If I'm going to make up a set I use formulas like D/G/Em Or D/Ador/G. When I do this I try to pair rhythmicly similar tunes together, put the choppier tunes together & the smoother more melodic tunes together. I also try to avoid going from minor/dorian to the major/mixolydian with the same tonic. Unless I've forwarned the backer & they know to put an ambigous 5th chord at the change. Otherwise it can lead to the backer playing a loud ugly "clam" (clam = wrong chord) when forwarned it's nice effect. It's all a matter of taste & if you play it through like you mean it just about anything can work.
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by B Rad
Re: Sets of tunes
Con
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by Bannerman
Re: Sets of tunes
I've GOT to get better at the key and chord thing. Brad says stuff like "formulas like D/G/Em Or D/Ador/G" and I'm sitting here going....let's see...what do I know in G? Hmmmm.
Luckily for me, as a pretty much beginner, no one expects much in the way of sets from me! I plan to ride on that freebie as long as I can until I can figure this "call the next tune" thing out a little better. Until then, I only start tunes in sets I'm really familiar with, so I know I won't fluff the damn transition, which of course always happens in a dead silence while everyone's waiting for your cue on the next tune. *sigh*
Zina
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by Zina Lee
Re: Sets of tunes
this will only be relevant if you're playing with an accompanist, but ive got a funny wee method that i use when im playing with a flute player mate from belfast, its all down to the bottom d string on the guitar(i play in dropped d), when we're playing in, say g and the next tune is in d, about halfway through the last part i'll get a nod facing down, for em its the nod down followed with a wee up nod, like wise if we're in d going to g it'll be a nod up, for going to a its a double nod up, it kind of sounds silly typed in front of me here, and its never been a thing that we conciously worked on, but it definitely makes the changes more solid, especially when flute players don't have the luxury of being able to speak when playing,hope this makes sense, regards,
anto
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by Anthonymcg
Re: Sets of tunes
In edinburgh there is a straightforward code:
It's a hoot. Sounds like we've all got Torrets syndrome
Note: If your not sure if the tune is going to be in min or maj, then play a chord with no third (fourths and sixths work)
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by ...
Re: Sets of tunes
Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll have to send away for the book but in the meantime I'll keep those ideas in mind. Ant, I didn't know you and Duff had a sneeky wee code! Makes sense though... I'll mail you later when I finish up work here.
Michael I like the idea of your system although it might look to an outsider that you all hate the guitarist. All the same very pythonesque - maybe Eric's the half a bee.
# Posted on July 2nd 2002 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Sets of tunes
Thats terrible by the way mike!! We are all so much more refined in glasgow, old boy!
I just usually think of the next tune i'm going to play while i'm playing the current one. Keeps your brain ticking over, can be stressful sometimes when you just can't think of anything that you know at least one person can play along with as well! I don't ever really play predefined sets, and def don't play them as heard on an album, kind of think thats a bit cheesy. Prefer to put a mixture of tunes from various sources together into a set. Thats kind of the way its done at most sessions i've been to?!?
Don't worry tho, as you've seen, everyone gets a mind block now and then that cuts your brain off from your tune supply....
Was through in Edin last night, great tunes! Just at Sandy Bells, you probably know the people that were there mike!
Jamie
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Sets of tunes
Jamie, have to agree with you there about the cheese-factor in playing Bothy band sets and the like. Sometimes you can't avoid it if you're in a new session and it's full of pipers, but I prefer different tunes if I can think of them.
By the way, do you ever play in the Victoria bar or the Scotia? I've heard they have great sessions but just not when I was there - I always manage to miss them when I'm in Glesga. Saying that, I'm heading up on the 24th of August (Bank Holiday weekend) so maybe you can recommend the best places?
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Sets of tunes
Definately have been to Viccy bar, not to the scotia tho! Lots of irish music in the Vic - friday nights the night tho! I never usually make it as gigging. Shame its that weekend your up or coulda met up, im playing in T
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Sets of tunes
hey - have you never heard a set off an album that was soo good you had to play it like that - not the entire set, but maybe 2 tunes out of the set then one of your own. I sorta rely on things like that, I cant read music, I dont know how to tell what keys tunes are in, so I cant really put them together and if I'm in a session and have to think of a tune to go next off the top off my brain I always choose one that really doesnt fit well. So I sorta actually pick up the local sets - like in galway you could go into any session and alot of the time they play the same sets as the other session
)
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
Oh yeah. Definitely. Of course, it's rather a fizzle since I never play as well as the players I heard play the set.
Jamie, "Babbety Bowsters"? What kind of a name is that? *grin*
Zina
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Zina Lee
Re: Sets of tunes
Thats o.k. bb, i'll let you away with that, cause I'M A NICE GUY *cheesy grin*
I'll also agree with Zina about that pub name, still, its a braw wee pub and the seafood (muscles) are great!
Jamie :0)
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Sets of tunes
jamie - what did you mean 'braw wee' you said it before and i dont get it!
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
Tola Custy on Settin' Free plays the Broken Pledge into Jenny's Welcome to Charlie, both in Dmin. Now there's a braw wee set ;
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Sets of tunes
"brave wee"? Ah, these dialects, they'll be the end of me yet.
zls
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Zina Lee
And by the way, I CAN say "aye, tis a braw wee moon licht nicht tanicht"... my ex-husband insisted I learn at least that... heh...
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Zina Lee
Babbity Bowsters
hey Jamie cheers for that one. I've been to Babbity's before but never realised they ran a session there as well. It's a great pub alright. Fair play to you headin' off to T
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Sets of tunes
sorry, it means great, fantastic! Its a scottish east coast thing that one of the guys in my band always says and i've picked it up with all travelling and playing weve done together!!
hee hee......
I'm learning ya!
Jamie :0)
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Sets of tunes
HI conan!
Dont know if she'll be there, but just checked out her web page, and if i were to get her number, theres no way i'll be giving it up!!! :0) She's a great fiddle player though, love that european stuff.....!
I know, everyone is probably tut, tutting and shaking their heads at this.... sorry!!
Jamie
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Hawick Haiku
Zina since you speak scots (grin) try this is poem by local poet James Bennet - btw i cant get all of it
Oo kent ee wudnae
Yais eer ain tongue e screive
Yow an eer thrawn ways
A kent eer faither
He wisnae a bad bauchle
Lived for the boolin
A kent ower much
At skuill, too fu o the yap
Couldnae haud ma wheesht
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by donnchad
Re: Sets of tunes
Back to sets (if you'll pardon the digression back to the topic *grin*)....
Our local Montana session is far from a traditional role model, but we know how to have fun. We tend to do a mix of pre-arranged sets (borrowed from the core members' old band arrangements) and seat-of-the-pants sets where you never know what's coming next. For some reason, our group finds this easier to do with jigs and hornpipes than with reels, but we're coming along. The pre-arranged sets make it easier for less experienced players to join in, and the free-wheeling chains of tunes allow the core players to experiment a bit--a nice combination that seems to keep everyone happy. When a new face wanders in, we seem to play more free-wheeling stuff, and that's okay by me.
It *is* nice to shoot for the kind of key and mode changes Brad mentions, and I do that as much as possible, but it's not essential to having a good time. The other criteria I try to think of when jumping to a new tune are: (1) more often than not, play a tune that other people in this circle know, and (2) find a tune that has the same basic rhythm or flow as the last one. Of course the main criterion HAS to be "do I have the first four notes in mind so I can start it without crashing?"
As with other aspects of playing music, all this takes is practice--the more you do it, the easier it becomes. So don't worry if your first attempts aren't magical (but remember them if they are). It also helps to practice this way on your own, jumping from reel to reel, say, without stopping, just to see where your mind leads you. Another trick is to think of two or three tunes you want to play *before* the music gets going. When I'm rosining my bow, for instance, I might make a mental note that I want to play Beare Island Reel, Bobby Casey's, and Dunmore Lasses before the night is over. Then I'll slip one into the stream when I get the chance, and I've still got two left in the quiver for the next opportunity.
Will
P.S. The spontaneous changes are easier to do if you play each tune 3-4 times rather than just twice. Seems to free up a few more brain cells that last time around if you've repeated the tune often enough.
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Will Harmon
Re: Sets of tunes
I personally really like sessions with three times round or more rather than two. Two just isn't enough for me if I like the tune, or if I'm trying to pick it up. So that bias will probably go away once I get a bit faster.
Zina
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Zina Lee
Re: Sets of tunes
Push for *at least* three times around whenever you can. I prefer three or four myself, unless it's a five part tune. We also have an unspoken courtesy in our group that we'll sometimes play a tune over and over until everyone's satisfied that they got it right at least once, heh. Makes for some real marathons, heh, heh.
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Will Harmon
Re: Sets of tunes
Hello there !
I remark something that is more and more frequent since a few years (since tunes are played faster and faster) in the playing of sets of reels or sets of jigs (Dervish, for example, are specialists for this)
Explanation(!) : if you have a set of 3 reels for example the first tune is played 2 or 3 times max. , the second tune chosen is one which has the less interesting melody and swing of the set, it is played 3 or 4 times just enough before it becomes pounding, boring (just like in the gags of the great Charlie Chaplin !!), and then the last tune is the more interesting (it has a very astonishing and lively tempo and a jubilant melody + a very different cadence) and it comes just at time to surprise the audience and musicians. This creates I think a kind of effect of waiting and the last tune comes like a "liberation" in the set. I suppose that bands like Dervish use this kind of combinations in their sets of lively reels to create this effect of "expection" between the 2nd and the last tune, I've already heard it used in sessions. I don't know if someone will understand my explanation (it's hard to explain...) but if someone has the same intuition as me, please let me know...
Ps.: Please excuse my bad english...
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by kolaz333
Re: Sets of tunes
Yes, we often pair up fairly straightfoward, "plain" tunes with more surprising or haunting or lively tunes. For example, moving from Dick Gossip's to Mason's Apron to Pigeon on the Gate, or Charlie Lennon's to Hunter's Purse to the Cameronian, or My Darling Asleep to Lilting Banshee, or Tell Her I Am to Paddy Fahy's Jig, etc.
The plain tunes (I call them that reluctantly because there are very few tunes that don't hold a real charm for me) are important set ups for the more emotive or intricate tunes--ironically, it might get boring if every tune aimed to surprise the listener.
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by Will Harmon
Re: Sets of tunes
I'd just like to say that i agree totally with everything Will said in his first (long) posting! Thats basically what i do, but he's seem to be able to explain things slightly better than me (i'm still trying to grasp the english language after realising that the first letter of the alphabet wasn't C and it didn't end on B.......
I'll usually try and have a couple of tunes in mind before playing too, it means that you can just horse into the next one in your head, if you get that familiar mind block....
Anyway as i'm just reiterating what everyone else has said, i'll be off now to another discussion, Ciao!
Jamie
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by jamiedj
Re: Sets of tunes
what about that really annoying thing when people who've just made a CD or something come into the session and and play their set, all rehearsed. Blimey, that bugs me.
# Posted on July 3rd 2002 by ...
Re: Sets of tunes
Where I am that never happens - I think most musicians who had recorded an album would be embarressed about doing it. But it wouldnt really bother me. The one thing that bothers me is going to sessions year after year and playing the same ole tunes. Thats what annoys me most. In galway if the muso's dont know a tune, they make an effort to learn it - its great.
# Posted on July 4th 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
or, mabye, get a round in, if its after 7, and martin isn't on yet....
# Posted on July 4th 2002 by Anthonymcg
Re: Sets of tunes
too true;
# Posted on July 4th 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
Where did the idea that you only play tunes 3 times come from. I attend a session where we often play a tune more than 5 times. It gives you a chance to get it your head and give it go if don't know it or are weak on it at the start before the set shifts to another tune and your brain has to work again. I think this 3 times each thing is recording/performance convention to hold the audience's attention and, at least in the ones I attend, the session is not about the audience.
# Posted on July 7th 2002 by AOG
Re: Sets of tunes
Babbity Brewsters! Great sessions! Every Saturday from 5 - 8. I was able to sit in with my Bohdran. Tunes it sets of 3's interspersed with some fine ballad singing. Approx 20 musicians. Evidently it happens every Saturday.
Scotia Bar another great session with 10 musicians all squished into a little side room. It was full so I didn't get to listen much to that one.
Three is the perfect number you know...biblical, theological and full of folklore! We play em in sets of three's always!
Brent
# Posted on July 7th 2002 by bknjholl
Re: Sets of tunes
Three?
It depends on the tune
If you play it singles or doubles etc
Try playng tunes inside each other
Like the first part of one tune, then the two parts of another tune, then the last part of the first tune, then over again.
This way you can construct some graet four part tunes that sound new, but everybody knows them
# Posted on July 7th 2002 by ...
Re: How to Sets of tunes
I collected tunes in a jotter with a page for irish jigs, scottish jigs, irish polkas, irish reels etc.
When I heard a new tune, I work out which page fits it's style, if none does, start a new page.
When the page is full, arrange them into contrasting keys etc. and practise them as a set. That is one way to learn good sets.
You do get fed up of a set after a time, so to keep the band on their toes, we sometimes play the set in reverse order.
# Posted on July 7th 2002 by geoffwright
Re: Sets of tunes
If I really love a tune sometimes I just want to keep playing it - maybe 5 or 6 times, but it is true, most sessions do the 3 times thru thing - unless its a single reel, then it may be 4 or 5. Michael are you saying you like to get two different tunes and mix them up together - Ive never heard of anything like that at a session & I'm glad about it!
# Posted on July 9th 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
bb
go on
live a little
# Posted on July 9th 2002 by ...
Re: Sets of tunes
I live alot actually - travel the world playing music. Unfortunatly for some I have too much respect for trad irish so I dont mess about with it. If your really that bored playing trad maybe you should try jazz instead
# Posted on July 9th 2002 by bb
Re: Sets of tunes
bb
I'm not bored playing trad, 'cause I do mess about with it.
As for jazz, horrid stinking flattened 9ths etc, yuck
# Posted on July 9th 2002 by ...