Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => Teaching and Learning => Topic started by: arty on July 01, 2015, 10:06:42 AM
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This month's Tune of the Month is The Rose of Raby. There are two submissions posted so far, mine and Ellisteph's.
I have noticed, how 'stiff' my playing is, in comparison to Ellisteph's, which is 'fluid and free'. How does one achieve that fluidity, that freedom? Is it just experience, practice and confidence?
I have been playing just three years, my guess is that Ellisteph has been playing longer.
Would playing scales and exercises help me?
Any advice would be great (:)
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This month's Tune of the Month is The Rose of Raby. There are two submissions posted so far, mine and Ellisteph's.
I have noticed, how 'stiff' my playing is, in comparison to Ellisteph's, which is 'fluid and free'. How does one achieve that fluidity, that freedom? Is it just experience, practice and confidence?
I have been playing just three years, my guess is that Ellisteph has been playing longer.
Would playing scales and exercises help me?
Any advice would be great (:)
Arty, you guess right - I have been playing melodeons for 38 years and that may partially explain the fluidity you mention. However, I think there's more to it than that. I'm sure that playing regularly with other musicians helps, so you are concentrating on keeping time with them instead of what you are doing. You need to achieve the complicated feat of detaching yourself from the mechanics of what you are doing without losing it all together. As long as you know a tune really well - that's where practicing comes in - it's possible to go into a sort of trance whilst playing. This also has it's drawbacks - you might forget where you are, as I did in this recording when I put 3 B parts at the end, hence the abrupt ending where I edited it.
Also, compare the way we both play the basses - I tend not to do too much vamping and hold the chords down longer with either one or both the bass chord buttons. Varying this can make the overall sound a bit smoother.
Finally, I think you overstate your lack of fluidity - your version sounds really good to me!
Hope this helps,
Ellis.
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Agree totally about the benefits of playing 'with others' . Any instrument of course, not just melodeons!
However for those who don't have this benefit available it is well worth trying to play along with you tube videos, DVDS, MP3's gramaphones or whatever sources of tunes are available
george
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Thank you Ellisteph....that's helpful.
In the last few months, I have been learning tunes from the sheet music, then committing them to memory and I have found that it has helped a lot. But, unlike you, I don't go in to a trance, for me the concentration is sometimes intense, especially with a piece like The Rose of Raby, which I found quite hard for me. I guess it will come....practice and patience. I have a friend who plays the whistle really well and we play together from time to time. You're right, that is helpful.
I will never have your experience....in thirty five years time, I will be dead ha, ha :o
And thank you George, for your suggestion about playing along with You Tube - I'll try that.