I mean while playing. You make a mistake and try to come in the next measure but lose your place and can't come back in. This is worst when nobody joins in on a tune and you play it a couple times then it happens and you have nothing to do but stop playing and blush. This happened to me last night, it is pretty embarassing but the other sessioners were nice about it. So this ever happen to you guys?
Lose a tune? Hey, make one mistake in our session and it's curtains for you sonny/girly! You can just march on out of that door, and don't even think about coming back. And just leave your instrument here ( you won't be needing it anymore ) while we do the "group jumping on the offending instrument" ritual. Gotta keep the standard high right?
Unseen one,
you are exhibiting typical early onset symptoms of
Alzheimer`s disease.Do not be embarrassed but learn to come to terms with your affliction by acting now and keeping out of pubs!
Well, I must have caught it off my flies.
Happens all the time, or used to when I got dispirited cos no-one knew WTF tune I was playing. Then I just lose interest. Pearls before swine, and I almost deliberately lose concentration. Why bother when they're all yapping away, anyway cos they couldn't be arsed listening to learn a new tune?
I think it's happened to just about all of us at one point or another, if we're being honest or haven't completly blotted it out of our memories with one thing or another, up to and including advanced age...
Yes, usually between the A and B part, very embarassing.
And of course, words get lost when I sing, most recently last Sunday night, trying to fill a request for Whiskey in the Jar for a very tipsy young man, when I hadn't sung it since last March. Lots of la la la in the verses.
Nothing ventured, however, nothing gained.
Yes. Also usually between the A and the B parts. Sometimes it can be embarrassing, but it happens to everyone at one time or another, so people don't get too bent out of shape about it.
A lot of us are too old to be embarrassed about losing the tune, so we don't even think about it afterward.
The older you get the less you care, that's one of the great things about aging. Think of that moment as a character building experience. Next time it happens - there will be a next time - you won't worry so much about it, and it will make you sympathetic to anyone else it happens to.
Worry? Care?
I'm so old I don't care about nuffink, me. I just sit about and p*ss and fart and sh*t and vomit. I just don't care. Cos I'm ancient.
Traditional Music?
Wassat loada cobblers then?
Bleedin' noise, innit, thass all.
Naah, I just don't bleedin worry wot kinda noise I make cos I'm an old git. Fak'em all, mate.
No point in worryin' about ennyfing cos we're all gonna die. Why bother practicing? Why don't we all just die, rather than prolong the misery of advancing decrepitude and concomitant apathy?...ladies first of course...
Well, "it" has certainly happened to me. But I was more than a little gratified when "it" happened to a couple of full-time, professional musicians with whom I was sitting in.
Of course, the guitarist managed to partly, yet convincingly, cover up the mess with some spur-of-the-moment hot chording while the fiddler chucked accordingly, all the while the two of them talked about how they should get out of the predicament. Which they did, quite well.
I try to do this at least three times each session, under the theory that it's best to keep expectations low because then it's easier to exceed them. I like to think it's an endearing quality, like Lauren Hutton's gapped front teeth or Jim Carey's "personality." No doubt my session mates don't see it that way, particularly when it proves contagious and soon none of us can finish a tune without a bout of Tourette's filling in for the missing phrases.
I used to lose the tune out of inexperience, then due to self-consciousness, but now it's just my train of thought running off the tracks. Sometimes it happens because so many tunes share similar parts, and if your brain gets distracted--by any little thing--it forgets which tune it was chasing. A dozen or more options present themselves, all certainly NOT the one you had been playing. Keeps things interesting...I wonder what new failing will be derailing my tunes ten years from now?
Regardless, the moral here is to not let it get under your skin, cuz that will just make it happen more often. I can live with myself for just wandering off now and then, but if I stress over it and start "choking" I think the music would cease to be fun.
Will threw it in as an aside, but it's worth emphasising that when you lose the tune, it really does help to swear and curse your way through the phrase you've just lost until you can launch into the next one, which hopefully would have come back to you in the intervening time. It keeps the momentum going, and it's great theatre!
You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve heard many a better player than you and I do the very same thing. Even the greatest high jumper can set the bar to high sometimes. There is nothing to prove. Set back and enjoy the music.
Last Sunday at a gig I started to sing St. Brendan’s Voyage and forgot the very first verse. I had to start again. Of course with me it’s age and indulgence. Two excuses you can’t use just yet. Rest assured Friday night will not be the last time it happens.
I enjoyed your playing by the way. It was good to meet you as well. If you can get a lift there will be some great craic in Maplewood this afternoon and maybe we can try that set again.
It happens all the time and even the better players do it. However, they don't let it spoil their night.
It's more likely to happen to me if I'm playing solo in front of people or leading a tune that few people know. It can occur with even the easiest tunes you know very well. You've got to try and keep going, if you slip up. Easier said than done, if you're self conscious.
However(and this hasn't been mentioned yet), it's at least a sign that you care about the music and your playing. It's a lot better than the "It's near enough for folk", "Good enough for this place" attitude that you get from a lot of people.
Oh yes -- I forgot about that, Will -- that wandering of your attention, suddenly remembering that you have to do this or that on the way home from the session, hey, lookit that, now what do you suppose was -- oh, hello, was that the second time I just played the A part or the first, and what tune was I playing, anyway?
The second reason I have a guitar player is stand behind me while I'm playing and dope slap me with the head of his guitar when we're in the last part of the B part of the tune. I do wish he'd round the end off or clip the ends off the wires. Those hurt!
My late husband was a great fiddle player and it would happen to him - he'd just start laughing. I play the harp and always get a case of the nerves when playing a solo - - fear of messing up. It gets quiet and no one else is playing... Like the world will come to an end if you screw up. My husband used to say to me 'They can't shoot you!' So I try to remember that - they can't shoot you. If that ever changes - well then I'll have something real to worry about.
My speciality: Start off with the A part of one tune, then play the B part from a totally different tune - even I don't know where I'm going on the repeat! I can't drink and play so it MUST be an age thing (that and watching the pub tv out of the corner of my eye!)
My own tune-losing technique is to play twice through without a hitch and then unravel on the third time through the B part. As though I suddenly can't remember the sequence of notes I just played. Twice. Without a hitch.
One of the best ways to lose a tune is to veer off on a variation that goes too far afield. There's no clear point where the "variation" slides into exploration and then off the edge into desperation.
Another way to look at this is to realize that if you're always playing within your comfort zone, you won't likely progress musically.
There are two or three answers tothis;
1) you haven't yet learnt it properly; it's not yet imprinted in the subconscious.
2) you got distracted by the maid behind the bar, or thinking about what you'd play next.
3) this is what is called "Somezeimers", not as bad as Allzeimers, you've only forgotten some things...Boom, Boom !
We purposefully play Proudlocks Hornpipe and Off to California together as they are that similar, someone always wanders off back into the other tune - amid much mirth.
In our sesh, it happens often enough - more to me than anyone else, but also to the best.
If I lose a tune when no one else is playing, then of course it just stops, and I say "Oh Bug**r". One night I tried again and fell off the tune in just the same place.
Third time round I would have got right through, but just at the point where I had crashed out previously, all the assembled company shouted "Oh Bug**r!" in chorus - bringing everything to a halt.
In one's early days, it is usually easiest to pick up as the next A or B part, but since I started playing for dancers, I've quickly learned to pick up immediately - because you have to when the people are still dancing.
Often lose tunes but can usually pick them up again. Most often lose them if trying to follow music and/or count bars. But if using music then it's easier to pick them up.
But easiest to be accompanist then you don't need to play the tunes exactly.
Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Ever "Lose" a Tune?
I mean while playing. You make a mistake and try to come in the next measure but lose your place and can't come back in. This is worst when nobody joins in on a tune and you play it a couple times then it happens and you have nothing to do but stop playing and blush. This happened to me last night, it is pretty embarassing but the other sessioners were nice about it. So this ever happen to you guys?
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by Unseen122
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Lose a tune? Hey, make one mistake in our session and it's curtains for you sonny/girly! You can just march on out of that door, and don't even think about coming back. And just leave your instrument here ( you won't be needing it anymore ) while we do the "group jumping on the offending instrument" ritual. Gotta keep the standard high right?
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by Cammy
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Unseen one,
you are exhibiting typical early onset symptoms of
Alzheimer`s disease.Do not be embarrassed but learn to come to terms with your affliction by acting now and keeping out of pubs!
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by cos
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
It happens to me when I misscount A or B parts.
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by snowyowl
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Well, I must have caught it off my flies.
Happens all the time, or used to when I got dispirited cos no-one knew WTF tune I was playing. Then I just lose interest. Pearls before swine, and I almost deliberately lose concentration. Why bother when they're all yapping away, anyway cos they couldn't be arsed listening to learn a new tune?
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Cos, I am 16, read my bio before looking like a huge dumbass. Iwas just asking if this ever happens to you guys.
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by Unseen122
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Er...I think cos was joking with you, Avery.
I think it's happened to just about all of us at one point or another, if we're being honest or haven't completly blotted it out of our memories with one thing or another, up to and including advanced age...
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Yes, usually between the A and B part, very embarassing.
And of course, words get lost when I sing, most recently last Sunday night, trying to fill a request for Whiskey in the Jar for a very tipsy young man, when I hadn't sung it since last March. Lots of la la la in the verses.
Nothing ventured, however, nothing gained.
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by AlBrown
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Yes. Also usually between the A and the B parts. Sometimes it can be embarrassing, but it happens to everyone at one time or another, so people don't get too bent out of shape about it.
# Posted on December 17th 2005 by John Culhane
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
A lot of us are too old to be embarrassed about losing the tune, so we don't even think about it afterward.
The older you get the less you care, that's one of the great things about aging. Think of that moment as a character building experience. Next time it happens - there will be a next time - you won't worry so much about it, and it will make you sympathetic to anyone else it happens to.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Cath
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Worry? Care?
I'm so old I don't care about nuffink, me. I just sit about and p*ss and fart and sh*t and vomit. I just don't care. Cos I'm ancient.
Traditional Music?
Wassat loada cobblers then?
Bleedin' noise, innit, thass all.
Naah, I just don't bleedin worry wot kinda noise I make cos I'm an old git. Fak'em all, mate.
No point in worryin' about ennyfing cos we're all gonna die. Why bother practicing? Why don't we all just die, rather than prolong the misery of advancing decrepitude and concomitant apathy?...ladies first of course...
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Well, "it" has certainly happened to me. But I was more than a little gratified when "it" happened to a couple of full-time, professional musicians with whom I was sitting in.
Of course, the guitarist managed to partly, yet convincingly, cover up the mess with some spur-of-the-moment hot chording while the fiddler chucked accordingly, all the while the two of them talked about how they should get out of the predicament. Which they did, quite well.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by sts
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
I try to do this at least three times each session, under the theory that it's best to keep expectations low because then it's easier to exceed them.
I like to think it's an endearing quality, like Lauren Hutton's gapped front teeth or Jim Carey's "personality." No doubt my session mates don't see it that way, particularly when it proves contagious and soon none of us can finish a tune without a bout of Tourette's filling in for the missing phrases.
I used to lose the tune out of inexperience, then due to self-consciousness, but now it's just my train of thought running off the tracks. Sometimes it happens because so many tunes share similar parts, and if your brain gets distracted--by any little thing--it forgets which tune it was chasing. A dozen or more options present themselves, all certainly NOT the one you had been playing. Keeps things interesting...I wonder what new failing will be derailing my tunes ten years from now?
Regardless, the moral here is to not let it get under your skin, cuz that will just make it happen more often. I can live with myself for just wandering off now and then, but if I stress over it and start "choking" I think the music would cease to be fun.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Will threw it in as an aside, but it's worth emphasising that when you lose the tune, it really does help to swear and curse your way through the phrase you've just lost until you can launch into the next one, which hopefully would have come back to you in the intervening time. It keeps the momentum going, and it's great theatre!
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Q
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Yes, it's useful to be able to cuss in 4/4, 6/8, and 9/8....
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
While smiling.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Oh yes.
Every time, the whole session 'loses' the last couple of bars of "the pinch of snuff".
Something like:
|: fgfe dcdB | ARSE FE*K | DARN BLAST |KNICKERS | ???? ???? :|
|F2DF E2DE |....
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Wurzel
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Hey Avery,
You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ve heard many a better player than you and I do the very same thing. Even the greatest high jumper can set the bar to high sometimes. There is nothing to prove. Set back and enjoy the music.
Last Sunday at a gig I started to sing St. Brendan’s Voyage and forgot the very first verse. I had to start again. Of course with me it’s age and indulgence. Two excuses you can’t use just yet. Rest assured Friday night will not be the last time it happens.
I enjoyed your playing by the way. It was good to meet you as well. If you can get a lift there will be some great craic in Maplewood this afternoon and maybe we can try that set again.
Peace,
Ed
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by ejsant
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
It happens all the time and even the better players do it. However, they don't let it spoil their night.
It's more likely to happen to me if I'm playing solo in front of people or leading a tune that few people know. It can occur with even the easiest tunes you know very well. You've got to try and keep going, if you slip up. Easier said than done, if you're self conscious.
However(and this hasn't been mentioned yet), it's at least a sign that you care about the music and your playing. It's a lot better than the "It's near enough for folk", "Good enough for this place" attitude that you get from a lot of people.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Johannes J
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Oh yes -- I forgot about that, Will -- that wandering of your attention, suddenly remembering that you have to do this or that on the way home from the session, hey, lookit that, now what do you suppose was -- oh, hello, was that the second time I just played the A part or the first, and what tune was I playing, anyway?
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Zina Lee
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
The second reason I have a guitar player is stand behind me while I'm playing and dope slap me with the head of his guitar when we're in the last part of the B part of the tune. I do wish he'd round the end off or clip the ends off the wires. Those hurt!
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by jrathbun
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
My late husband was a great fiddle player and it would happen to him - he'd just start laughing. I play the harp and always get a case of the nerves when playing a solo - - fear of messing up. It gets quiet and no one else is playing... Like the world will come to an end if you screw up. My husband used to say to me 'They can't shoot you!' So I try to remember that - they can't shoot you. If that ever changes - well then I'll have something real to worry about.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by drinharp
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
My speciality: Start off with the A part of one tune, then play the B part from a totally different tune - even I don't know where I'm going on the repeat! I can't drink and play so it MUST be an age thing (that and watching the pub tv out of the corner of my eye!)
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Jay-eye
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
My own tune-losing technique is to play twice through without a hitch and then unravel on the third time through the B part. As though I suddenly can't remember the sequence of notes I just played. Twice. Without a hitch.
One of the best ways to lose a tune is to veer off on a variation that goes too far afield. There's no clear point where the "variation" slides into exploration and then off the edge into desperation.
Another way to look at this is to realize that if you're always playing within your comfort zone, you won't likely progress musically.
# Posted on December 18th 2005 by Will CPT
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
There are two or three answers tothis;
1) you haven't yet learnt it properly; it's not yet imprinted in the subconscious.
2) you got distracted by the maid behind the bar, or thinking about what you'd play next.
3) this is what is called "Somezeimers", not as bad as Allzeimers, you've only forgotten some things...Boom, Boom !
# Posted on December 19th 2005 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
We purposefully play Proudlocks Hornpipe and Off to California together as they are that similar, someone always wanders off back into the other tune - amid much mirth.
# Posted on December 19th 2005 by geoffwright
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Yo! Unseen WunTuTu! Fear not - you are not alone.
In our sesh, it happens often enough - more to me than anyone else, but also to the best.
If I lose a tune when no one else is playing, then of course it just stops, and I say "Oh Bug**r". One night I tried again and fell off the tune in just the same place.
Third time round I would have got right through, but just at the point where I had crashed out previously, all the assembled company shouted "Oh Bug**r!" in chorus - bringing everything to a halt.
In one's early days, it is usually easiest to pick up as the next A or B part, but since I started playing for dancers, I've quickly learned to pick up immediately - because you have to when the people are still dancing.
Happy Christmas
# Posted on December 19th 2005 by showaddydadito
Re: Ever "Lose" a Tune?
Often lose tunes but can usually pick them up again. Most often lose them if trying to follow music and/or count bars. But if using music then it's easier to pick them up.
But easiest to be accompanist then you don't need to play the tunes exactly.
# Posted on December 19th 2005 by flying tigerpig