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Author Topic: ‘Jump starting’ a tune  (Read 4352 times)

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mwatersworld

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‘Jump starting’ a tune
« on: October 09, 2015, 05:30:54 PM »

Although I can remember a fair number of tunes in my head I often find I need first to listen to a few bars on YouTube or a CD to get me started. This is especially true of many Irish reels and jigs even though I ‘know’ them. As soon as I hear a few notes it all comes flooding back. I read music but I tend to play by ear.

Am I alone here or do any of you have any ‘tricks’ you use to get up and rolling?

Mark
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Anahata

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #1 on: October 09, 2015, 05:43:31 PM »

Very common. Some people keep a book of hundreds of printed "incipits" (the 2 bars or so of a tune) to remind them.

Also sometimes I need a "run-up" to get a tune started - start with a bit I can remember half way though the B music, and hope that creates enough momentum for muscle memory - or actually some kind of pattern-matching brain activity - to carry me to the start of the tune that I could otherwise remember.

I think I trained myself not to have this problem too much when I was lead musician for a dance team and was expected to remember how every tune started, sometimes at fairly short notice.
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rees

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2015, 05:45:42 PM »


Also sometimes I need a "run-up" to get a tune started - start with a bit I can remember half way though the B music, and hope that creates enough momentum for muscle memory - or actually some kind of pattern-matching brain activity - to carry me to the start of the tune that I could otherwise remember.

Yep!
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Lester

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2015, 05:56:51 PM »


Also sometimes I need a "run-up" to get a tune started - start with a bit I can remember half way though the B music, and hope that creates enough momentum for muscle memory - or actually some kind of pattern-matching brain activity - to carry me to the start of the tune that I could otherwise remember.

Yep!

Yep!

Chris Brimley

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2015, 06:03:37 PM »

I usually find learning to play the last four bars of the B music on a 32-bar piece are an effective way into the tune, for everyone, not just me.
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Rob2Hook

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2015, 06:39:45 PM »

Yes, but after two false starts (wrong tunes) at a festival spot, the dancers simply decided that my third effort was at least the right type of tune so they went with it.  Obviously not enough beer...  Rather than scurry around looking worried when I get brain freeze, I now challenge the dancers to tell me which tune they are expecting!  Of course it doesn't help when some smarty pants gives me the name of it.  Asking someone to hum it can also yield a bum steer.

There are quite a few session tunes which have a more memorable B part and I need near silence to run it through in my head and find the beginning.  There are also a few tunes that have such similar intros that it's anyone's guess which you'll get when I reach the first bar (not beer this time).

Rob.
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Chris Brimley

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2015, 07:36:00 PM »

I've learnt from social dance playing that actually the most important thing to get right is those first bloomin four bars!  That's the only time everyone's listening, so no excuses, we'd better get it spot on.
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John MacKenzie (Cugiok)

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2015, 08:16:11 PM »

Oh I have this problem, even when I'm learning a tune (ear player) I sometimes can't remember how it starts the next day, when I want to try it again. Mind you, as today is my 73rd birthday, I can always use my age as an excuse.


John
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mwatersworld

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2015, 08:38:19 PM »

Happy Birthday, John!

My issue is almost the opposite - I can remember the latest new tune, trouble is, that then becomes all I can remember!

There are some good tips here though. Thanks to all.

Mark
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Broadland Boy

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2015, 01:31:21 AM »

I try to associate, vaguely, the first few notes of a tune with a hymn, song or nursery rhyme e.g. Trunkles = All things bright & bootiful (go on, cringe you purists  ;))
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Bob Michel

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2015, 03:16:59 AM »

I try to associate, vaguely, the first few notes of a tune with a hymn, song or nursery rhyme e.g. Trunkles = All things bright & bootiful (go on, cringe you purists  ;))

I'd be embarrassed to say just how many years it took me to cotton to the mnemonic usefulness of tune titles. A great many Irish tunes (at any rate) have names that are a good metrical match for the opening phrase, or for some other key phrase in the tune. Sometimes, in fact, the title gets sung ("Oh, the britches full of stitches"; "The frost is all over"; "If I had Maggie in the wood," etc.).

I suspect that some of these titles ("The Lark in the Morning"..."The Woman of the House"..."The Geese in the Bog"...) may have been concocted for this very reason. Probably most of the correspondences are figments of my imagination. But in either case, I find they work remarkably well.

Bob Michel
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WestOz

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #11 on: October 10, 2015, 04:07:47 AM »

In order to kick-start tunes, I began recording the first couple of bars of each tune on my iphone - this works too well, and I became totally reliant on it, as my memory became lazy. I have now abandoned this, and use some of the "tricks" other Melnetters have described. I also find that I can easily recall the Morris tunes I learned 20 years ago - it is the more recent ones which are most difficult to bring to mind.
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Malcolm Clapp

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #12 on: October 10, 2015, 05:03:54 AM »

....I also find that I can easily recall the Morris tunes I learned 20 years ago - it is the more recent ones which are most difficult to bring to mind.

Blame global warming, mate   >:E

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Julian S

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #13 on: October 10, 2015, 08:50:38 AM »

I'm beginning to worry that for each new tune I learn another one (or two..) exit the brain pan. Maybe I've reached disc capacity. Interesting idea about last four bars to kick start - with my usual half baked attempt at organisation I have at least four mini manuscript books with first few bars of tunes but no quick means of finding the tune I want. There are obvious solutions I suppose !
Reading music helps - but maybe thats too easy a prop and what about those that can't?
And as for tune titles - how does anyone cope with, say, the loads of unnamed an dros (which may be quite similar) or bourrees ? Invent ones own name for each one maybe ?
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911377brian

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #14 on: October 10, 2015, 11:31:24 AM »

I've got a little note book with the tune names in it, and alongside each I've written the button numbers of the first few bars with "suck and blow" (S &B ) over each number. It's crude, but it works, and as I don't read music it seemed the only way forward. I take no pride in being musically illiterate by the way..... :|bl
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malcolmbebb

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #15 on: October 10, 2015, 12:21:23 PM »

We have a little crib sheet with the first few bars. But what works best for me is still remembering a few bars in the B, then going on to automatic until I'm half way through the A. Usually all right from there.

The crib sheet is limited because quite a few Morris tunes have similar beginnings to the A and you need to get past the bit where they diverge. This is less of a problem on the B - although not 100%.
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2015, 01:38:54 PM »

Happy Birthday, John!

My issue is almost the opposite - I can remember the latest new tune, trouble is, that then becomes all I can remember!

There are some good tips here though. Thanks to all.


Sometimes I suspect that everytime I squeeze another tune into my brainbox an old one climbs out, thinking it is no longer needed. At the end of last season  I took a few weeks off from the usual morris set and learnt some different stuff. Come last week's first practice night I couldn't remember how any of them started. I had to twiddle around, working them out, while the side was setting up and the foreman talked the figures through. Didn't raise my level in the popularity stakes, because they like absolute quiet.

On a vaguely related theme, my fiddle player and I discussed the feasibility of taking a leaf out of the dancer's book and playing what we fancied and expecting the dancers to guess what's coming. That's what they generally expect us to do :-)
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syale

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2015, 05:38:45 PM »

I use Tunepal to kick start my memory. 1 or 2 bars is all it takes

Stephen
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Clive Williams

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2015, 05:50:28 PM »

I used to write out a couple of bars in melodeon tab (number of button, push/pull, etc), but these days, you can't really beat an ABC app on a phone.

exiletaff

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Re: ‘Jump starting’ a tune
« Reply #19 on: October 10, 2015, 09:40:35 PM »

Greg

I agree, its ok for the dancers to have a walk and talk through, but the music members of the same side have to remain silent.
Being a mind reader of what the music will be amidst all the noise of Swanage seafront isn't in the remit. Short sticks and long sticks apply to a number of dances; The music for the hanky dance I do sometimes remember.
So a hint to any dancers reading this is - please let the musicians (I take a liberty calling myself a musician after only a couple of years) know as soon as possible what they require. A number of us are over 70 and need the time to remember and play it through in our heads.
Having said all that I still enjoy playing? for the side, and the social side in the pub afterwards.

All the best
Al
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