Melodeon.net Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome to the new melodeon.net forum

Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: Goals, Levels etc.  (Read 14687 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

ladydetemps

  • Emote Wizard
  • Forum Librarian
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3768
  • Castagnari Tommy D/G, Hohner 1 row 4 stop in C
    • My Youtube Channel
Goals, Levels etc.
« on: September 02, 2009, 04:22:30 PM »

So I class myself as a beginner and will do until I reach my goals of:
-Playing left and right hands at same time Waltz, Reel, Jig etc.
-Playing at least 10 tunes off by heart
-being able to play in either row and know what buttons to use without writing them down
-Playing at a normal pace accurately not snails place
-To play a tune without anyone walking out the room or rolling their eyes and other signs of boredom/disaproval.

Are these reasonable benchmarks?

What are your goals and what level would you say you are at?

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #1 on: September 02, 2009, 04:45:17 PM »

LDT- goals are good.
However, I would personally want to pitch things into the three categories of Long / Medium / & Short Term goals
and I would be focusing on quality not quantity.

Quote
-Playing left and right hands at same time Waltz, Reel, Jig etc.
Good idea, but I concentrated on Waltz (short term goal), I then moved onto Strathspeys & Reels (medium) and am now working on Jigs (longer term).
Quote
-Playing at least 10 tunes off by heart
I have no idea how many tunes I know off by heart, but what I do know is that I also forget just as many. So I have to keep on playing the ones I want to play.

Quote
-being able to play in either row and know what buttons to use without writing them down
OK, I got round this by starting off playing most tunes in G at first - then I took a whole week where I only played tunes in D. Thought D was hard at first - but now I know its easy peasy.

Quote
-Playing at a normal pace accurately not snails place
Yep - its the accuracy bit that gets me every time!

Quote
-To play a tune without anyone walking out the room or rolling their eyes and other signs of boredom/disaproval.
I think this is definitely going to have to be a very very long term goal for me ;)

Whats most important is not to try and achieve them all in one hit - my advice would be to spread 'em out a bit!
Regards
AL
Logged

ladydetemps

  • Emote Wizard
  • Forum Librarian
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3768
  • Castagnari Tommy D/G, Hohner 1 row 4 stop in C
    • My Youtube Channel
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2009, 04:53:57 PM »

Quote
Quote
-Playing at least 10 tunes off by heart
I have no idea how many tunes I know off by heart, but what I do know is that I also forget just as many. So I have to keep on playing the ones I want to play.
I seem to only be able to memorise 3 at a time...then when I add a new one an old one falls out my head. Its like I've started trying to memorise another song and I'm starting to forget how to play bobbie shaftoe.  :-[

I wondered if it was better to just keep to the three tunes.

Quote
Quote
-being able to play in either row and know what buttons to use without writing them down
OK, I got round this by starting off playing most tunes in G at first - then I took a whole week where I only played tunes in D. Thought D was hard at first - but now I know its easy peasy.
I can get G...D just won't 'click' its like going backwards.
Quote
-Playing at a normal pace accurately not snails place
Yep - its the accuracy bit that gets me every time!



Mike Higgins

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 338
    • Strolling to Italy
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2009, 05:39:22 PM »

Quote
Quote
-Playing left and right hands at same time Waltz, Reel, Jig etc.
Good idea, but I concentrated on Waltz (short term goal), I then moved onto Strathspeys & Reels (medium) and am now working on Jigs (longer term).

This is quite strange, as a morris accompanist on the old D/G/ pokerwork I can play hornpipes and jigs with relative ease, waltzes OK too, but strathspeys!!!!!!!! They sound awful when I play them. I would have gone for waltzes then jigs then horpipes but most of all tunes I like. I think that having a reason to play a tune is very important. I learn new morris tunes at a much faster rate than other stuff.
Logged
Mike from Ponte Caffaro

ladydetemps

  • Emote Wizard
  • Forum Librarian
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3768
  • Castagnari Tommy D/G, Hohner 1 row 4 stop in C
    • My Youtube Channel
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2009, 06:09:19 PM »

I can play tunes i dont like. But the ones i want to play are too difficult. Its not fair.

ganderbox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 734
  • Melodeons from Brittany, Italy, Germany* and Leeds
    • www.choughedtobits.co.uk
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2009, 06:34:59 PM »

I think that having a reason to play a tune is very important. I learn new morris tunes at a much faster rate than other stuff.

Yes, I'd agree with that. It's all too easy to drift around and have a go at lots of tunes, but never learn any of them properly. If you have to learn a particular tune, say for morris, you know you will have to play it in public at some point, and it really focusses the mind.

I can play tunes i dont like. But the ones i want to play are too difficult. Its not fair.

There must be some easy tunes that you like. There was a thread recently about easy E minor tunes (Tralee Gaol, Rochdale Coconut Dance etc.)
Logged
Pauline from Cornwall

*  including a customised Hohner Club from Cornwall (and very nice it is too!).

Mike Higgins

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 338
    • Strolling to Italy
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2009, 06:46:07 PM »

Quote
I can play tunes i dont like. But the ones i want to play are too difficult. Its not fair.

I like very simple tunes which can then be ornamented ad infinitum. This means that you can start fairly simply and get progressively more complex as skill levels increase. This is a good, easy, measure of progress, you will suddenly think "blimey I couldn't have played that six months ago". A really good example of starting simply and getting steadily more difficult until the ridiculously difficult ending is Graeme Mackay' Kate Dalrymple, found on YouTube.

Keep struggling on like the rest of us.

Mike
Logged
Mike from Ponte Caffaro

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2009, 06:48:20 PM »

Quote
Kate Dalrymple,
I'm getting nervous Mike - you've obviously been practising and ornamenting ad infinitum?
AL
Logged

melod-ian

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 288
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #8 on: September 02, 2009, 07:31:15 PM »

So I class myself as a beginner and will do until I reach my goals of:
-Playing left and right hands at same time Waltz, Reel, Jig etc.
-Playing at least 10 tunes off by heart
-being able to play in either row and know what buttons to use without writing them down
-Playing at a normal pace accurately not snails place
-To play a tune without anyone walking out the room or rolling their eyes and other signs of boredom/disaproval.

Are these reasonable benchmarks?

What are your goals and what level would you say you are at?

trying to remember at least 10 tunes off by heart... that's my problem

walzes are real buggers to lean at the beginning especially if you've haven't been playing the left hand long. it might seem for a while you're going backwards .. but its still the best thing to start every bass style early
a few years back i was teaching somebody who'd been playing morris tunes for three years.. and was totally stumped at a waltz 
Logged
3 x Acadian's (C,Bb,A),
Hohner corona iiir (GCF)
PS Black Pearl (DG)
and the old hohner erica (DG)

Mike Higgins

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 338
    • Strolling to Italy
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #9 on: September 02, 2009, 08:41:12 PM »

Quote
I'm getting nervous Mike - you've obviously been practising and ornamenting ad infinitum?

I've never had a problem with ad infinitum its the tunes that cause me grief. Also, you are the bloke who can play strathspeys!!!!!! 

My wife used to do a sword dance which she learned from an aul wyfie from Aberdeenshire and as the accompanist I strathspeyed up an english tune in a hornpipey sort of way and she could dance to it, there's invention for you.
Logged
Mike from Ponte Caffaro

GbH

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 695
    • GbH Online
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2009, 08:48:07 PM »

As they differ a bit from what's been posted already, here are some of my current goals:

1.  Improve tempo-drift issues.  This has been improving, but hasn't sorted itself out yet.  

2.  Learn a good selection of tunes that the general public are likely to recognise, including stuff that appeals to children.  When people don't know the tunes, it seems that they're likely to  start complaining that everything sounds the same.

3.  Establish a Giordy-specific repertoire - something that's got a bit neglected since I started playing a proper instrument.

4.  Take more opportunities to play to people and find ways to make it more fun to watch.

5.  Learn something interesting in B minor.

6.  Learn more about accompaniment - so far, I'm finding it too easy to fall into using the same patterns, when I really should be looking for variations and colour.

7.  Make debut performance with our 'band', which will probably just be a friends and family thing, but a milestone nonetheless.
Logged
"You sir, are mad as an omelette on a bicycle! " - C Williams

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2009, 08:51:07 PM »

Quote
you are the bloke who can play strathspeys!!!!!!
Never said I was any good though ;D

Back to topic: I think that 'remembering' tunes is the wrong way to go about it. I don't expect to hold them in my head - ever - its getting them into the fingers that counts!

I just sat and looked at a hymn book last night and played each tune,. page by page, just from looking at the words (so no dots). I'd never played them before but - with he odd mistake thrown in for good measure - I got through most of them. And I'm sure that's because I'm getting the notes into my fingers so that they know where to go. Ok - so some of them were wildly transposed which is another reason why I need an F/Bb/Eb.
AL
Logged

Ebor_fiddler

  • Chris
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2340
  • Hohner 1040 C One-Row, Sandpiper D/G, Liliput C/F
    • Ebor Morris
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2009, 08:54:08 PM »

LDT - you're a lady after my own heart! Those are my goals too. I've got to the stage where I'm not an absolute beginner, but have not yet got as far as "Improver" (or have I said that before somewhere?)

Al - I wish I had a half-decent hymnbook. I can only get hold of an organ copy of ours which is about as much use as Tony Blair a blessing from Ian Paisley!
Logged
I'm a Yorkie!
My other melodeon's a fiddle, but one of my Hohners has six strings! I also play a very red Hawkins Bazaar in C and a generic Klingenthaler spoon bass in F.!! My other pets (played) are gobirons - Hohner Marine Band in C, Hohner Tremolo in D and a Chinese Thingy Tremolo in G.

Falseknight

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 449
    • False Knight
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #13 on: September 02, 2009, 10:46:52 PM »

The "Grail" is to hear in your head what you want to play and have it come out at the fingers without having to think about it.  That is what all the "technique" and practise is to enable.

I can do it some (most of) the time on frets, but for most of the time NOT on melodeon.
Logged

joe

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 185
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #14 on: September 02, 2009, 11:08:05 PM »

5.  Learn something interesting in B minor.

One of my goals at the moment, especially now I have a melodeon with the low notes. my other current goals:
- Learn all the Bampton Morris tunes, (10 years and still not learnt them all, laziness is a small part).
- Learn to use the new bass and accidental notes that I have more effectively.
- Be able to play consistently well at sessions, and play as well at sessions as at home.
- Play some tunes fluently in F on a DG.
- Learn some obscure tunes for fun.
Logged

ganderbox

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 734
  • Melodeons from Brittany, Italy, Germany* and Leeds
    • www.choughedtobits.co.uk
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #15 on: September 03, 2009, 12:07:41 AM »

- Be able to play consistently well at sessions, and play as well at sessions as at home.

If you ever manage this one, please let me know the secret!
Logged
Pauline from Cornwall

*  including a customised Hohner Club from Cornwall (and very nice it is too!).

joe

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 185
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #16 on: September 03, 2009, 08:01:38 AM »

i know its a bizarre one, the right amount of beer seems to help a bit
Logged

Chris Ryall

  • "doc 3-row"
  • French Interpreter
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 10169
  • Wirral UK
    • Chris Ryall
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #17 on: September 03, 2009, 08:18:21 AM »

Excellent topic! I'm exploring a new C/G with full base at present. I'll 'transpose' into 'D/G' for comminality. 

I'd like to play reasonable fuently in keys of  'A' and 'E', that is without resorting to 'blue' notes. I had got a long way into F on my Oakwood. But now I've got a 'Bb' chord set I need to use it.

For years I've loved tunes that move between G and G minor. While possible on 'standard box' it's now so much easier. Just attempted my first polska! (hmmm - some real timing issues there).

So my 'other end' goal is harmonic minors. Perhaps I shouldn't attack that until after half-time  ;D

I'd had a go at Klesma when I got in with hebrew lot in the pub at St Chartier last year. Great stuff, albeit they played 'Have a Nagila' three times. Have a .. have two .. have three Nagilas (:) It takes you into diminished scales - but there are only 3 of these. But its a swathe of new territory.

Finally - I have bravely subscribed to the Irish tuition at Witney. Unlike many here, Irish music doesn't 'move my fingers'. But do I surely need its tecnnique.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2009, 08:24:37 AM by chrisryall »
Logged
  _       _    _      _ 

Lester

  • MADman
  • Mods and volunteers
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 9107
  • Hohners'R'me
    • Lester's Melodeon Emporium and Tune-a-Rama
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2009, 08:27:09 AM »

i know its a bizarre one, the right amount of beer seems to help a bit

In my formative melodeon years and when I drank I would have totally agreed with this but I had a major problem, the difference between "not enough yet" and "too much" seemed to be about two mouthfuls.   :-\

ladydetemps

  • Emote Wizard
  • Forum Librarian
  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3768
  • Castagnari Tommy D/G, Hohner 1 row 4 stop in C
    • My Youtube Channel
Re: Goals, Levels etc.
« Reply #19 on: September 03, 2009, 09:06:59 AM »

LDT - you're a lady after my own heart! Those are my goals too. I've got to the stage where I'm not an absolute beginner, but have not yet got as far as "Improver" (or have I said that before somewhere?)
Yeah...that limbo position where your nither absolute beginner, or "Improver". It makes trying to decide on workshops hard.

The "Grail" is to hear in your head what you want to play and have it come out at the fingers without having to think about it.  That is what all the "technique" and practise is to enable.

I can do it some (most of) the time on frets, but for most of the time NOT on melodeon.
my fingers and brain disagree most of the time....actually my fingers, ear and brain all don't communicate or agree. :P
Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Up
 


Melodeon.net - (c) Theo Gibb; Clive Williams 2010. The access and use of this website and forum featuring these terms and conditions constitutes your acceptance of these terms and conditions.
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal