I've touched on this before, but I want to revisit it again. I had a conversation with a friend of mine awhile back about her distress at not being able to recall tunes. Specifically, being able to start tunes strongly enough. So, I've been percolating about that for a few months now and here's some more thoughts.
How is it that we learn new tunes, and add more tunes to our collections? First up, I could not have a head full of tunes without my tune list. Here's a link to one of my early posts, (yoiks - January of 2007!) where I talked about how keeping a running tune list can help keep track of the tunes.
Here's some other thoughts...
I never knew I needed an iPod until I got one. It is an audible tune list. I have made a few playlists that help me to listen to tunes that I'd like to learn. I've also named my festival recordings with the key in the title, making them easier to sort. So, I have a batch of A tunes, or D tunes, etc. that play in a row. The association by key, I think, is another brick in the memory path.
Another brain muscle exercise is a name-that-tune sort of game that came with my iPod. You hear a tune and are given 4 title choices. The quicker and more accurate you are, the more points you win.
And, last but not least about the iPod virtues, it is such great fun for me to go out walking with my fiddle tunes in my ears. Yes, I know, I used to feel a little miffed to see all the 'antisocial' folks with their earbuds blocking out the world. But, I'm right with them now. Oh, it's not so bad as that... I'll pull one out when I need to attend to other humans, or tricky traffic intersections.
Test yourself, even without listening. In my spare moments, I try to think of a tune. I might be nowhere near my fiddle, but I might as well try to eek out what melody I can. This can be frustrating, of course, but it's the work part of the whole process, seems to me. If I try to pull a tune up in my head, but come up blank, I will then go looking for it on the iPod, or in my iTunes if I'm sitting in front of my computer.
Recognize when the little bits bubble up and take advantage of those learning opportunities. First thing in the morning? There seems to be something about waking up that makes bits and pieces of tunes bubble up in my head. I consciously try to catch them and name them. And, again, if I'm blanking on the name or key, and admittedly, I have a lot of time on my hands, I'll go have a listen and try to identify an association that will help in the future.
Associations... we don't recall tunes in a vacuum. We recall other bits of info around the tunes, if you will. Where did we learn them, who was playing, was it outside on a sunny day, was it in some smokey (ick) pub, was it the first time we got the hang of a particular string crossing? And, so on. Oh, and everyone's favorite: "That sounds like the B part of Sally Ann, but different." Or, "That's got that ascending part like Quincy Dillon's High D, but different."
Review... I remember back to my piano lesson days. I'd have about 3 - 5 new pieces to work on, some exercises like scales and variations, and at least one piece for review. So, with the fiddle, I'll revisit some tunes that I know quite well. More often than not, I'll find something that will help me with my newer tunes - a bowing or fingering pattern, or something rhythmic that will form an association between the old tune and the new tune.
'Play' even when you don't have fiddle in your hands. I've progressed with playing by ear enough that I can mimic playing notes without holding a fiddle. When I'm working something out on a new tune, I find myself playing a non-existent fiddle. It's getting cold here in Hobart. I wear a fleece with long sleeves that can cover my hands. No one's the wiser.
Recognize when you get the little bits right and have a little pat-on-the-back moment. That positive reinforcement goes a long way toward building confidence. I still think it's a good idea to play tunes that are not comfortable yet, and to start tunes that you're not entirely sure of. Remember that my focus is on friendly jams. I'm not advocating that you take a flying leap off of a cliff while on stage or when you're trying to impress someone. But, when you're in friendly surroundings, just keep at it. You're learning more tunes and tune names, probably more than you know.
More on this in the archives from September 07, "Never be afraid to start a tune you don't know".
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
miscellanées and catchupiness
Well, I'm back in Hobart until mid-July. Then, it will be time to stop my radical sabbatical and get back to real life. Most likely, I'll have to arrange my fiddling around a work schedule. Oh my!
Well, time for a little flash back on to my recent month in the states. Interesting to me is this having a foot in each hemisphere. There are tunes that I'm used to playing in both places, with some overlap, but it wears on me a little to feel a little behind the curve in both places. Doubly behind the curve, as it were. I'll stop short of saying that I'm overwhelmed by a double repertoire, because I truly do love learning simultaneous tons of tunes. But, that old perfectionism rears it's head and I have to screw up my courage and just play the tunes as best I can.
NEFFA was a great time. It's a very long standing festival that has seen many homes. The link in the post below will get you more info, including the history of venues since the late 1940's. Along with some fun, fun, fun jamming with some Dixie Butterhounds and good festival buddies, I was able to go to 4 workshops.
Effort-Less Fiddling by Toby Weinburg was very interesting... how to 'hold' the fiddle by a mix of opposing forces. I'm not going to try to expound on this much more than that skimpy description. Go hear Toby sometime. His workshop was done very well. He had us stand up and do some exercises and experiments to understand opposing forces and the weight of our neighbors' arms.
A good time to mention another workshop that I got to, 'Planning a Workshop' by Lisa Seiverts. She offered a smorgasborg of strategies for making workshops more accessible and experiential.
It was great fun to see how fiddles are built at Dave Golber's 'What's a fiddle' workshop. I learned a few more definitions to help me talk about the parts of a fiddle, styles, types of wood, shapes, and the like. Very instructive. Didn't you always wonder how fiddles are constructed?
And, last but not least, I stopped in on Jane Rothfield's Fiddle and Banjo Duets' workshop, with a banjo player that I'm going to be ashamed to forget his name. (Someone set me straight, and I'll be glad to edit this post.) It was nicely interactive between the audience and artists. Folks got a chance to watch typical jamming and ask questions, some very basic and some upper level. I love to watch the look on people's faces when they understand that OT musicians are playing a tune together for the first time, without practicing but sounding like they'd played it 100 times before. I'd seen Jane in concert in the Albany area, and been to a few workshops. (Jane's who taught me to think of the bow making a tone that was shaped like a bell curve. Thanks, Jane!) It was nice to have the chance to watch her more closely and hear them talk about what tunes to pick and why, the fiddle and the banjo being an iconic foundation for old time music.
My partner found heaps of singing workshops and concerts. The food at the middle school was better than average festival food, I though. Plenty of vegetarian and healthy, yummy, choices. And, the crafts were fun, as always. There was a bones booth and I have to have a moment of applause here for the guy running the booth. He was endlessly patient as he helped potential customers to begin to learn how to play the bones. As I've said, I was traveling uber light, so I had to pass on getting my first pair. Somewhere down the road perhaps.
Appropo of nothing, I've recently printed out a tune list based on the Portland Collections, with tunes from the old time repertoire bolded. It's like my OT tune list, in tiny fonts and 5 columns. Yes indeedy, they're transcribed for the contradance band, not Ramblers or Rounders or Stringbands, but I think it's helpful to be able to see some skeletons and a reminder about tunes that are 'out there' waiting for me to catch up with them.
Otherwise, I've occupied my easier weeks with playing with old friends in the Albany area... Fiddlers' Tour, the Pine Hills Stringband, the Empire State Plaza lunchtime jam at the NYS Museum, and a sweet Unger / Mason jam near Woodstock, NY. The PHSB folks played out at the Shaker Barn at the Pottery Guild show under the Old Songs Festival banner. What a nice old wooden venue with incredible acoustics. A guy came by to tell Ernie that his guitar could be heard across the room at the entrance, separate from 2 fiddles and 2 banjos. Well, Ernie does play some good bass runs and chucks, but even so, that's good sound conduction without any amplification.
And, hat tip to the Charlton Sound folks who video'd the Fiddlers' Tour learning the Aussie 'Old Schoolmaster' by ear and playing their old favorite, The Tassie 'Black Cat. Google Charlton Sound, and you can have a look and listen.
Once again, I'm impressed at how it's really about the people. Although, I'm tempted to say that we do this music thing because we love to find venues in places where we've never been before. We kid ourselves into believing that we do it for the music, but I do so get a kick out of following a map and finding someplace that I've never been before. Mansfield, Massachusetts; The Muddy Cup in Schenectady; the Shaker barn near the Albany Airport; Hobart Town, Tasmania.
Well, time for a little flash back on to my recent month in the states. Interesting to me is this having a foot in each hemisphere. There are tunes that I'm used to playing in both places, with some overlap, but it wears on me a little to feel a little behind the curve in both places. Doubly behind the curve, as it were. I'll stop short of saying that I'm overwhelmed by a double repertoire, because I truly do love learning simultaneous tons of tunes. But, that old perfectionism rears it's head and I have to screw up my courage and just play the tunes as best I can.
NEFFA was a great time. It's a very long standing festival that has seen many homes. The link in the post below will get you more info, including the history of venues since the late 1940's. Along with some fun, fun, fun jamming with some Dixie Butterhounds and good festival buddies, I was able to go to 4 workshops.
Effort-Less Fiddling by Toby Weinburg was very interesting... how to 'hold' the fiddle by a mix of opposing forces. I'm not going to try to expound on this much more than that skimpy description. Go hear Toby sometime. His workshop was done very well. He had us stand up and do some exercises and experiments to understand opposing forces and the weight of our neighbors' arms.
A good time to mention another workshop that I got to, 'Planning a Workshop' by Lisa Seiverts. She offered a smorgasborg of strategies for making workshops more accessible and experiential.
It was great fun to see how fiddles are built at Dave Golber's 'What's a fiddle' workshop. I learned a few more definitions to help me talk about the parts of a fiddle, styles, types of wood, shapes, and the like. Very instructive. Didn't you always wonder how fiddles are constructed?
And, last but not least, I stopped in on Jane Rothfield's Fiddle and Banjo Duets' workshop, with a banjo player that I'm going to be ashamed to forget his name. (Someone set me straight, and I'll be glad to edit this post.) It was nicely interactive between the audience and artists. Folks got a chance to watch typical jamming and ask questions, some very basic and some upper level. I love to watch the look on people's faces when they understand that OT musicians are playing a tune together for the first time, without practicing but sounding like they'd played it 100 times before. I'd seen Jane in concert in the Albany area, and been to a few workshops. (Jane's who taught me to think of the bow making a tone that was shaped like a bell curve. Thanks, Jane!) It was nice to have the chance to watch her more closely and hear them talk about what tunes to pick and why, the fiddle and the banjo being an iconic foundation for old time music.
My partner found heaps of singing workshops and concerts. The food at the middle school was better than average festival food, I though. Plenty of vegetarian and healthy, yummy, choices. And, the crafts were fun, as always. There was a bones booth and I have to have a moment of applause here for the guy running the booth. He was endlessly patient as he helped potential customers to begin to learn how to play the bones. As I've said, I was traveling uber light, so I had to pass on getting my first pair. Somewhere down the road perhaps.
Appropo of nothing, I've recently printed out a tune list based on the Portland Collections, with tunes from the old time repertoire bolded. It's like my OT tune list, in tiny fonts and 5 columns. Yes indeedy, they're transcribed for the contradance band, not Ramblers or Rounders or Stringbands, but I think it's helpful to be able to see some skeletons and a reminder about tunes that are 'out there' waiting for me to catch up with them.
Otherwise, I've occupied my easier weeks with playing with old friends in the Albany area... Fiddlers' Tour, the Pine Hills Stringband, the Empire State Plaza lunchtime jam at the NYS Museum, and a sweet Unger / Mason jam near Woodstock, NY. The PHSB folks played out at the Shaker Barn at the Pottery Guild show under the Old Songs Festival banner. What a nice old wooden venue with incredible acoustics. A guy came by to tell Ernie that his guitar could be heard across the room at the entrance, separate from 2 fiddles and 2 banjos. Well, Ernie does play some good bass runs and chucks, but even so, that's good sound conduction without any amplification.
And, hat tip to the Charlton Sound folks who video'd the Fiddlers' Tour learning the Aussie 'Old Schoolmaster' by ear and playing their old favorite, The Tassie 'Black Cat. Google Charlton Sound, and you can have a look and listen.
Once again, I'm impressed at how it's really about the people. Although, I'm tempted to say that we do this music thing because we love to find venues in places where we've never been before. We kid ourselves into believing that we do it for the music, but I do so get a kick out of following a map and finding someplace that I've never been before. Mansfield, Massachusetts; The Muddy Cup in Schenectady; the Shaker barn near the Albany Airport; Hobart Town, Tasmania.
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