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Author Topic: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs  (Read 14154 times)

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boxcall

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #40 on: March 16, 2018, 06:13:17 PM »

Here's my go on this one, two weeks in to learning it.
Probably sounds like a bunch of notes mashed together at this point. (:)
I'm just trying to keep things moving here ;)

https://soundcloud.com/boxcall/tripping-upstairs
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Fred

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #41 on: March 17, 2018, 03:54:55 PM »

Well played!

Personally I must say that I'm really struggling with this tune. It's not the type of melodies I normally play, so it's definitely something new for me to learn. Often enough it works out pretty well (with just minor hickups) but when I start recording, I mess it all up again... If I can't get a relatively clean recording until the end of the month, I will most likely just upload a messed up version of it to proof that I have at least tried to learn the tune! :D
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boxcall

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #42 on: March 17, 2018, 04:15:37 PM »

Thanks Fred
There's a few places where I need to clean it up and then increase the speed a little.
I also could do better with bass end, I like how Mike Carney does it on his sound cloud recording, I'll have to listen to it a few more times and see if I can reproduce something similar. It's got a good jig feel to it.

This is one of those jigs that has a lot of power IMO like the swallowtail etc. good pick!!

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Jack Humphreys

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #43 on: March 18, 2018, 09:36:18 AM »

Here's my contribution  (:)

https://youtu.be/O7Q6us4KLDM

Saul

Really delighted to have heard this and found your youtube Channel, Saul.  To my ears, real quality of playing and musicianship, with careful articulation of each note and interesting variations of chords and voicing.  Now I'll listen to all your others. Thanks.

howard mitchell

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #44 on: March 18, 2018, 11:00:32 AM »

For various reasons I'm not able to make recordings this month, but here's a video of the The Derbyshire Volunteers with me somewhere in the lineup, playing Tripping Upstairs.

The video is taken from side stage, near to the brass section so the soprano and baritone saxes (when they come in) tend to dominate whereas the fiddles and concertinas are way over the other side.
You can see that I suffer from the baritone sax in my right ear and percussion behind. No problem staying with the rhythm but hearing my co-melodeon player Doug Eunson on the left is sometimes a challenge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URpRvTKwlPs
Other videos of the same event are available.


Mitch
« Last Edit: March 18, 2018, 11:04:24 AM by Howard Mitchell-Borts (Mitch) »
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Clive Williams

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #45 on: March 18, 2018, 04:36:27 PM »

Here's my take on this - a straightforward take on the Giasco I in D/G.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BruCuOwXoY

Cheers, Clive

Fred

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #46 on: March 18, 2018, 05:49:23 PM »

Lovely recordings from everyone.

I've finally managed to get a recording of my playing which I'm fairly happy with. Nothing special to be honest. I'm just happy that I'm done with this tune and have submitted my TotM contribution for March 2018.  So that's a win in my book. :D

https://soundcloud.com/laubblaeser/tripping-upstairs-take-1

Best wishes,
Fred
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boxcall

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #47 on: March 18, 2018, 06:27:16 PM »

Sounds good Fred!

Everyone else too!

I like the way some are doing the first measure holding a couple notes, it sound good and it actually a bit easier. I find I'm having trouble fitting those notes in cleanly.
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #48 on: March 26, 2018, 11:14:43 AM »

Here's mine. Extraordinary how difficult I find it to think and play as soon as record is pressed.

https://soundcloud.com/greg-bradfield-smith/tripping-upstairs
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Greg Smith
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Fred

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #49 on: March 26, 2018, 03:17:05 PM »

Well played Greg. I also had the same feeling every time I pressed the red button when trying to record this tune. :)
I very much liked your second rendition of the A part, with the variation on the chords.

Slight idea for improvement would be to change the chord you play on the first and third bar bars 1,2,5 and 6 of the B part. It seems like you are playing a DG melodeon , so I would recommend to maybe try out a B chord at that place (or maybe you don't have such a chord?).
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #50 on: March 26, 2018, 03:34:10 PM »

Thanks.
I play a D chord with a B bass on those bars. It gives a Bm7 chord. I found myself preferring more D chord and less of the B  bass (:)
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Greg Smith
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Jesse Smith

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #51 on: March 28, 2018, 06:23:14 AM »

I'm planning on getting a recording made in the last days of March. This tune has really been a stretch for me... I had to jump forward about 15 tunes in the Mally beginner book. It's coming together better than I ever expected at the start of the month, but still needs polishing.

The big issue I am having is that this tune really wants to be played at a real lick, no matter how slow and stately I try to practice it. It's like a running dog pulling its master by the leash. It takes a real effort to keep it at a reasonable "practice tempo". I guess some tunes just naturally prefer to be played fast.

And the other problem is that it really tests my air button control, which is not really up to the task yet.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2018, 06:24:57 AM by Jesse Smith »
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Malcolm

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #52 on: March 28, 2018, 07:16:37 AM »

I know what you mean. My fiddle playing sister used to use it for the rapper team she used to play for which it fitted perfectly but stick with it as it is a tasty tune. Keeping the notes nice and crisp and clipped might help a little on the air button front too. Good luck with it.
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #53 on: March 28, 2018, 11:11:19 AM »


The big issue I am having is that this tune really wants to be played at a real lick, no matter how slow and stately I try to practice it. It's like a running dog pulling its master by the leash. It takes a real effort to keep it at a reasonable "practice tempo". I guess some tunes just naturally prefer to be played fast.

And the other problem is that it really tests my air button control, which is not really up to the task yet.

While few here will argue with the benefits of slow practice, it is not the only way to practice. There are drawbacks to too much slow practice, as you are finding. One being that you are only practicing the tune played slowly. When you come up to tempo everything will feel different. Maybe you have reached the point where playing through at tempo and working through sticky bits slowly will be of benefit.

With the air button control, it helps to make the extra bellows extensions happen in the natural direction, where you can. I wanted to go D(maj) G(maj), rather than D(maj) Em in the first bar. I found I was running a bit short of air, because it meant staying on the push to get the D and G chords, together with what came after. I tried something I had not thought of before, which seems incredibly obvious in hindsight. I played the whole of the first bar on the G row, using pull D chord push G chord. Then switched to the D row for the second bar. Worked a treat.
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Greg Smith
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george garside

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #54 on: March 28, 2018, 12:51:50 PM »

tripping up the stairs can be played with  a nice 'bouncy' English ceilidh type of rhythm  entirely on the D row  and instead of crossing the rows  use the pull E bass (not chord) to give a bit of variation here and there. As  a dance tune  the bass needs to be crisp to give the required lift  and rhythm is more important than perfect bass harmony.

played in this way  the bellows  can remain in the range of 4 to 6 inches open with hardly any use of the air button  even when using 3 voice treble. Keeping the bellows 'tight' makes it easier to highlight individual notes by  changing their volume as a further addition to the all important rhythm and lift!

others may disagree!

georg ;)e
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Stiamh

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #55 on: March 28, 2018, 01:38:02 PM »

The big issue I am having is that this tune really wants to be played at a real lick, no matter how slow and stately I try to practice it. It's like a running dog pulling its master by the leash. It takes a real effort to keep it at a reasonable "practice tempo". I guess some tunes just naturally prefer to be played fast.

One thing that might help you with this is focusing on what you might call the "internal rhythm" of the tune. To make the tune sound like a jig, you can't play all the notes in a bar or in a group of three 8th notes/quavers the same way. If you do, the tune is a) likely to sound like a load of nonsense b) run away with you.

Jigs - at least the way they are supposed to be played in the Irish tradition, and no doubt Scottish and English as well - are actually trickier to master than people realize, because the internal rhythm needs to be brought out. Different instruments have different mechanics, meaning that the internal rhythm to be handled in a different way. On fiddle, for example, it is much easier to adjust the length of individual notes in a group of three than it is on the box, I think anyway.

But you want to aim for the first note to be the longest, the second to be the shortest, and the third to be in between the two. (This is not the same as dotting the first note and halving the second one, btw.) It's tricky. You can lean into the first note a little bit, but not too much. Some people recommend leaning on the third but be careful with this too. You can easily make the tune sound silly emphasising either the first or the third too much. I'd suggest instead concentrating on giving the first a tiny swell and making the second note light and unobtrusive - but still there. And the third note will take care of itself (hopefully).

This kind of thing is why people sometimes say it's harder to play a dance tune well slowly than to play it fast. I don't agree - people don't realize that if it sounds like rubbish played slowly, it almost certainly sounds like rubbish when played fast. I would say however that if you can state the internal rhythm in a satisfactory way, playing a tune slowly will be easy - and strangely satisfying.  :|glug

Edited to add a missing word.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2018, 01:40:01 PM by Stiamh »
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george garside

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #56 on: March 28, 2018, 04:22:39 PM »

seconded!
g
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Jesse Smith

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #57 on: March 28, 2018, 05:16:52 PM »

Maybe you have reached the point where playing through at tempo and working through sticky bits slowly will be of benefit.
Yes, that's more or less the situation. I can play at the tempo it seems to like but not necessarily get through it reliably without a showstopper mistake. But if I start the tune at a more stately pace where I feel comfortable then by the end of the B part I'm zipping along again. IMO this is something I need to work on because being able to hold a steady tempo without racing is really important, at any tempo.
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Tone Dumb Greg

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #58 on: March 28, 2018, 06:33:36 PM »

I am a bit disappointed not to see contributions here from irish chromatic players-and the fast tune theme, come to that. I would have thought it a good opportunity for them.
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Greg Smith
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boxcall

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Re: Tune of the Month for March 2018: Tripping Upstairs
« Reply #59 on: March 28, 2018, 09:40:56 PM »

I contributed,  I play a D/C# but played it on my one row.

Unless you were playing on B/C ( I think)  most other Irish players would play it up and down the row.

I wouldn't say I played it fast, as I just started learning it.
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