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Author Topic: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)  (Read 4634 times)

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nfldbox

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #20 on: January 23, 2014, 08:37:28 PM »

Try having a regular time in a friend's house, preferably with a few people but just one would do. This is the beginning of "an audience" and also of "leading a tune." Even the most friendly and accepting session is a bit daunting when starting out.
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malcolmbebb

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #21 on: January 23, 2014, 09:50:15 PM »

Not of immediate value, but this is where events like Melodeon Playgroup and beginners'/steady speed sessions are of value.
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Rob2Hook

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #22 on: January 24, 2014, 01:09:47 PM »

Yes, we all know or remember that throbbing pulse and rush of blood to the head - then setting off at hyperspeed, playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order (easily achieved on a melodeon).  Part of the "cure" is hearing someone else do the same so you can analyze it.  The speed control becomes variable and others joining in can help by anchoring the tempo at the lower end of the scale.  Unfortunately many take it as a challenge and join in at the maximum speed of those little rushes when your head is spinning - then accelerate!

A bit of planning helps a bit.  If you know a strong player in the room perhaps you can explain your intentions so that he/she can be first to join in (already knowing what the tune is, no matter how badly mangled) and knows you only want to play at dance speed.  Try to get the initial shock out of your system before you start by gently taking deep slow breaths and remember, the only proper reaction to a complete car crash is to laugh it off.

Rob.
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Sage Herb

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #23 on: January 24, 2014, 01:23:40 PM »

A bit of planning helps a bit.  If you know a strong player in the room perhaps you can explain your intentions so that he/she can be first to join in (already knowing what the tune is, no matter how badly mangled) and knows you only want to play at dance speed.  Try to get the initial shock out of your system before you start by gently taking deep slow breaths and remember, the only proper reaction to a complete car crash is to laugh it off.

Rob.
Yes, we've all crashed a few cars in our time! One thing to try is to run the first few bars of the tune in your head at the speed you want to play it at, and only then start to actually play. Of course the pause will feel like an age, but it isn't and no-one else should jump in if you've been invited to start a tune and are obviously about to do so. Keep your nerve and keep at it.
Good luck
Steve
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Marje

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #24 on: January 24, 2014, 02:12:53 PM »

I too suffer from 'start up ' nerves, but I find it is easing slightly. As others have said, keep going!
My saving grace was that the main players on the sessions were old friends and I was reasonably aware of their repertoire as I used to play concertina. The first tunes I learnt were ones they all knew, so as long as I got the first few notes out and they realised what it was they then joined in...... so if I then blew up and totally lost it I could catch up in my own time.
A cunning plan that still works for me  8)
Q

And for me. The first tune set I play in an evening will always be one I know the others will join in. In many ways I prefer not to start tunes at all, just to follow, but as the session I go to most regularly is one that I run, I feel that I'm the one who needs to be ready to kick things off or to start a tune if the session loses momentum. The other thing about starting a tunes is that you get to pick your favourite tunes, or (if you're feeling brave) introduce new tunes to the rest of the players.

Of course there are many confident, competent players who enjoy doing their "party pieces" and don't particularly want others to join in. I may feel like that with a song, but it's not something I aspire to with tunes.
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Chris Brimley

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #25 on: January 24, 2014, 02:39:23 PM »

We've all been here! 

On the basis of what I know now, after very many years, I would say that the most important thing is to relax into whatever group you're in (chat with them individually), try to be confident in yourself, and pretend to yourself you've been doing it for ages.  The danger is that you become so worried that you unreasonably feel the others are threatening you - (they are not, they are just as reticent as you, even if they seem like gods.)  If you make approaches to them and ask them about the club, they will almost certainly be friendly. (But if they are not, don't bother going back there)! 

And pick tunes that you really do know well.  Then, when it's your turn to play them, don't 'overthink' the technicalities in the fingering of the notes, just concentrate on the higher things - the feel of the tune, the overall highs and lows, and the general 'groove'.  You will be surprised at the huge approval you will gain if you manage to do this.  And when you make the inevitable mistakes, keep the rhythm and groove going, and pick it up when you can.  The audience will be willing you along, and it's actually more important to communicate with them than it is to play the right notes.
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Anahata

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #26 on: January 24, 2014, 03:11:57 PM »

The first tunes I learnt were ones they all knew, so as long as I got the first few notes out and they realised what it was they then joined in...... so if I then blew up and totally lost it I could catch up in my own time.
A cunning plan that still works for me  8)
Q

Yes, but I'm sure I've seen people in sessions who only know how to start a tune and can't actually play anything all the way through. Don't become one of them!

While this is a useful ploy for a beginner who's finding their feet, sooner or later you are going to find yourself leading a tune others don't know. When you can do it, it's incredibly satisfying to find yourself introducing others to a tune that you like, if they like it as well. To begin with you are faced with a peculiar problem - after twice through the tune playing almost solo, you have to decide whether to stop because you're just a playing a solo and that's not what the a session is about, or keep going several times more than usual because others are starting to pick it up and would like to keep going until they've got most of it.

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pikey

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2014, 03:16:07 PM »

Me too. I was nearly last up to play in a session led by Dan Quinn last August in Whitby. I decided to play two scottishches I know well, but started off too fast, fluffed half the notes, and made a cock up. It was so bad that Dan didn't recognise the second tune, which is one he recorded with Flowers and Frolics !! Being a nice bloke he commented that he hadn't mastered the B part either.......
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #28 on: January 24, 2014, 05:00:00 PM »

Fair comment Anahata.
I'd never start a tune I really did'nt know well when in the quiet of my own house, it was a trick to get me going when first starting sessions.
As someone else said, I too have good and bad sessions, the good ones where I'm on form and can start and hold some tunes, and The bad ones when I just feel tired, out of sorts and discretion means I join in rather than lead.  The really bad ones are when I listen ;)

The last one I went to was interesting. The main couple of lead box players weren't around so I was joined by a row of fiddlers. It had a really different feel, and an opportunity for me to play some things I'd not normally do. It wasn't the normal full on massive session, more thoughtful and reflective one which meant I had to step up to the mark a bit. I enjoyed that, and felt I was progressing, another little step along. It all helps.
Q
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I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Anahata

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #29 on: January 24, 2014, 05:13:41 PM »

Fair comment Anahata.

Frankly, I didn't believe for a moment you'd be one of those who routinely start a tune they can't finish, and it wasn't intended as a personal criticism. Such people do exist, though.

Quote
The last one I went to was interesting. The main couple of lead box players weren't around so I was joined by a row of fiddlers. It had a really different feel, and an opportunity for me to play some things I'd not normally do. It wasn't the normal full on massive session, more thoughtful and reflective one which meant I had to step up to the mark a bit. I enjoyed that, and felt I was progressing, another little step along. It all helps.
Q
A really nice story. It's good when that happens.

It's funny too, how different surroundings or players can make you suddenly think of playing quite different tunes from those you do in a regular session with the usual participants. That certainly happens to me, anyway.
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #30 on: January 24, 2014, 05:25:46 PM »

Anahata, Don't worry, I knew what you meant  ;)
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Thrupenny Bit

I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

Chris Ryall

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #31 on: January 24, 2014, 08:04:20 PM »

I've had session nerves too, still remember Sage Herb's "a tune too far" after having a go at a scottis that I could play 3x without fault at home :|bl Nerves are part of the human condition, if you don't get them - good on you!

my defence to nerves (wrt tunes I actually know) has been philosophical. The easy phrase "right notes, not necessarily in the right order" has become a bit of a cliche in this forum. It has already appeared in this thread.

But in the main, it is of little practical importance. One of the beauties of our instument is that it is forgiving of melodic variation, subject to a few "nevers" like playing a major 3rd on a minor cord (pulling a C# instead of C can sound a bit raw sometimes, too).

So you muddled the order a bit? Rejoice in it. You just did a variation! If you truly did do it accidentally … you just improvised!

Don't panic. *Never stop! Hear it, and feel it. You might even want to repeat that "rather nice" line second time through ;)

*whereas breaking the rhythm when you aren't soloing commonly is a crime :|glug
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oggiesnr

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #32 on: January 24, 2014, 08:09:51 PM »

There is also that awful moment when you realise that the version of the tune you're leading is significantly different to the version that everyone else knows or that the local tradition has a different number of AB repeats.  Take a bow "John of Paris" (on both counts).  (:)

Steve
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Andrew Wigglesworth

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #33 on: January 24, 2014, 10:34:43 PM »

There is also that awful moment when you realise that the version of the tune you're leading is significantly different to the version that everyone else knows or that the local tradition has a different number of AB repeats.  Take a bow "John of Paris" (on both counts).  (:)

Steve

Not your fault, they should be listening. Full stop.

pikey

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #34 on: January 24, 2014, 11:08:07 PM »

Agree ! Thats when Dino Bincis come in handy....
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Thrupenny Bit

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #35 on: January 25, 2014, 09:57:43 AM »

Yes they should be listening, but it happens.
I find it really frustrating when you've got all revved up, start playing and others go into autopilot and play another tune. I then stop and look very grumpy chuntering " no it's NOT that tune...."
Thankfully it doesn't happen that often and as it's mates they feel suitably embarrassed  >:E
The anaesthetic effect.  :|glug might have a role in this!
Q
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I think I'm starting to get most of the notes in roughly the right order...... sometimes!

george garside

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #36 on: January 25, 2014, 10:10:30 AM »

I have   personal 'rule' when playing in a session   that applies particulary if its my turn to start ?lead a tune... it is  ''never get into a musical fight!''   .  so if the smartarses of the non listening veriety  hijack the tune and  proceed  loudly, fastly and sans phrasing etc  I let them get on with it  and  apply myself to the beer! ( or should it be the beer to myself)

On the other hand if I am running/maintaining order in a large  lead session  and aforesaid smartarses try to hijack a tune that somebody has clearly had to pluck up courage to start  I have been known to stop the proceedings mid tune  so as to suggest that good manners should prevail and the 'owner' of the tune should be followed at  at that persons speed etc.  I have never had to do that more than once in a session!

george
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Ebor_fiddler

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #37 on: January 25, 2014, 10:35:18 AM »

Ours is a mixed session and last night I sang a song that I learned in Junior School and have sung regularly since - "Boney was a Warrior". There are only two short refrains, but I managed successfully to mix them up so badly that they soon turned into giggle material  :|bl - but we all enjoyed ourselves!
Don't worry!
Mind I successfully sang Bob Roberts; "Candlelight Fisherman" alright.  ;D
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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #38 on: January 25, 2014, 03:56:59 PM »

A a song that I learned in Junior School and have sung regularly since - "Boney was a Warrior".

I learned that in junior school too, huddled round the radio when 'Singing Together' was on the BBC School Radio Service. I should imagine there's a few of us cut our teeth on folk songs thanks to that programme!
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Nick Collis Bird

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Re: Sessions......do they all erase your talent? :)
« Reply #39 on: January 25, 2014, 04:02:05 PM »

A a song that I learned in Junior School and have sung regularly since - "Boney was a Warrior".

I learned that in junior school too, huddled round the radio when 'Singing Together' was on the BBC School Radio Service. I should imagine there's a few of us cut our teeth on folk songs thanks to that programme!

Didn't learn it in French though. >:E
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