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   Go Down

Author Topic: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?  (Read 10576 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

melod-ian

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 288
Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« on: September 08, 2009, 08:44:31 PM »

.. strange question, maybe.. seeing as most of us will being playing English, Irish, Scottish ... etc FOLK music.
although i've played it for years.. its something i've DONE not been INTO.
i don't come home and put on The Chieftains cd for example..so i don't class myself as a "folkie'
a lot of this,  was probably going punk in my teens, just listening to folk wasn't 'cool'.

of course now, im older and wiser..and folk is actually becoming cool again..

maybe things would have turned out differently if i'd embraced the 'tradition' a bit more 20 years ago...

anyone else had the same experiences ?

Logged
3 x Acadian's (C,Bb,A),
Hohner corona iiir (GCF)
PS Black Pearl (DG)
and the old hohner erica (DG)

HallelujahAl

  • Guest
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2009, 09:18:48 PM »

 >:E
The answer is of course yes! The combination of beard, baggy jumper, sandals, bad-breath, and a strange desire to jump around waving handkerchiefs is a vital part of being able to play the melodeon well. Which explains why I don't play the melodeon well, as I'm definitely NOT a 'folkie'...no...can't stand the stuff personally...never have been able to see the attraction...best move on now ;D

BTW, and on a more serious I think that some of the greats like my  :-* hero  :-* your man Shand and the like would never have classed themselves as 'Folkies'?

AL
Logged

Bryson

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 105
  • Connemara II - Pokerwork - Lilly - Black Pearl II
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2009, 09:41:19 PM »

Do you have a coat Al?
Logged
A Blackburn Rovers fan since 1957 :( cross rowing on a D/G melodeon since 2007

Bryson

  • Regular debater
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 105
  • Connemara II - Pokerwork - Lilly - Black Pearl II
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2009, 10:10:47 PM »

I listen to a whole range of music from , a Berlin band, called Seeed to Bach.. through Pink Floyd, Steve Earle, Stoned Roses, Bob Marley etc etc
Currently the "folk music" I'm listening to includes Roger Watson's new album Past and Present (in which he has Jackie Oates 5 stringed viola and Tim Waker flugelhorn and cornet). Roger, of course, plays his wonderful dutch melodeons. Well worth a listen. Go and get it! In addition I listen to Squeezy's last three albums with Mr Boden ... very often.
I'm a great beliver in listening to the stuff you want to play, being played by, what I consider to be masters of their trade. Only by listening can I really get into the music. I do use written down stuff to, for example, fully "hear" a complicated run. But the more I have listened actively, the more my ears have "tuned in". Fingers tuning in is another question :).
This is not to say I don't play e.g. Spiers & Boden's Through & Through, when I have guests. I do regularly. And the guests vary in age from 17 to 56. The typical reaction from a young Berliner/in is "Geile sache..."
So to answer the question no you don't have to be a "Folkie" (whatever the exact definition is?) to play the melodeon well. But you need to listen to to people who can, often.
cheers
Bryson
Logged
A Blackburn Rovers fan since 1957 :( cross rowing on a D/G melodeon since 2007

melod-ian

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 288
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2009, 10:55:28 PM »

I listen to a whole range of music from , a Berlin band, called Seeed to Bach.. through Pink Floyd, Steve Earle, Stoned Roses, Bob Marley etc etc
Currently the "folk music" I'm listening to includes Roger Watson's new album Past and Present (in which he has Jackie Oates 5 stringed viola and Tim Waker flugelhorn and cornet). Roger, of course, plays his wonderful dutch melodeons. Well worth a listen. Go and get it! In addition I listen to Squeezy's last three albums with Mr Boden ... very often.
I'm a great beliver in listening to the stuff you want to play, being played by, what I consider to be masters of their trade. Only by listening can I really get into the music. I do use written down stuff to, for example, fully "hear" a complicated run. But the more I have listened actively, the more my ears have "tuned in". Fingers tuning in is another question :).
This is not to say I don't play e.g. Spiers & Boden's Through & Through, when I have guests. I do regularly. And the guests vary in age from 17 to 56. The typical reaction from a young Berliner/in is "Geile sache..."
So to answer the question no you don't have to be a "Folkie" (whatever the exact definition is?) to play the melodeon well. But you need to listen to to people who can, often.
cheers
Bryson


nice to hear Roger Watsons name mentioned there.. he used to be my tutor.
...i dont know what my point is  .. GOOD players would seem to have a vast knowledge / vocabulary of tunes/songs and styles ..but do you have to be really into folk to get there?

i dont consider myself a bad player..i've incorporated blues, rock n roll, R & B etc... into the way i play because those styles of music are more influential to me... but hell,  im playing a FOLK instrument here.....is it wrong I've ignored the folk world?
Logged
3 x Acadian's (C,Bb,A),
Hohner corona iiir (GCF)
PS Black Pearl (DG)
and the old hohner erica (DG)

Stiamh

  • Old grey C#/D pest
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3538
    • Packie Manus Byrne
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2009, 11:06:25 PM »

.....is it wrong I've ignored the folk world?

You don't know what your point is. So what on earth do you want us to say? That we are sure you are brilliant even if you don't listen to the Chieftains?

Well what I say is... MUYOFM !  >:E


melod-ian

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 288
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2009, 11:10:46 PM »

Quote
That we are sure you are brilliant even if you don't listen to the Chieftains?
ok, if you like steve, ...  i've had a bad day at work... could do with a bit of praise   ;) ;) ;)
« Last Edit: September 08, 2009, 11:12:23 PM by melod-ian »
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: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2009, 11:18:53 PM »

Quote
MUYOFM !


What this mean??? I don't speak this language!!
Logged
Mike from Ponte Caffaro

Stiamh

  • Old grey C#/D pest
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3538
    • Packie Manus Byrne
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2009, 11:43:11 PM »

Ian,

This is the 21st century and it's OK to be different! You can come out of the closet as a non-folkie melodeonista without fear.

I'm sure you are brilliant. (We all are! Aren't we?) I didn't think folkies listened to the Chieftains anyway.

All the best
Steve

PS Mike the cryptic acronym means, in my language, "make up your own mind."

melodeon

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1732
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2009, 11:57:15 PM »

I grew up in the US folk scare of the late 50's through 60's (which was ended  by the likes of the Beatles, no judgement here)
I appreciate folk music  but don't understand nor appreciate nor listen to "modern folkie singer songwriters" ( the ruination of society along with yuppies)

I also observe that the more a Folk" person insists they are " folk"  the further they are from the heart and essence of it;
much like trying to manufacture folk art.. can't be done...

There are melodeon players I do not consider "folkie"  but do play traditional music, albeit
minus the affectations of Birkenstocks, SAABS , Prius's or Subarus and requisite political bumper stickers.

Logged

Ebor_fiddler

  • Chris
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2340
  • Hohner 1040 C One-Row, Sandpiper D/G, Liliput C/F
    • Ebor Morris
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #10 on: September 09, 2009, 12:03:04 AM »

Most of the East Anglian box players can't be regarded as "folkies" either - listen to their repertoire. Cecil Sharp would be shocked!  :o
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.

DRUMKILBO

  • Guest
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2009, 12:40:49 AM »

Interesting point that HallelujahAl raises about our mutual hero " your man Shand" saying that Shand would never have classed himself as a folk musician. I'm sure he wouldn't, but, in a tribute to him by the BBC a few years ago, a famous [in Scotland anyway] Glasgow Comedian/ Presenter/Actor by the name of Andy Cameron described Jimmy Shand as  the original folk musician [again in Scotland anyway ] which took me aback a wee bittie, but maybe he had a point. To me a folk musician has either earned a living from the soil/ the sea or any other means of hard toil, mining, weaving, steelworking etc., etc.,[ Shand was at one time a miner and his father was a plooman ] and the music comes from the heart and also from the hunger as a means to improve oneself. Contentment does not spawn creativity, that is why with a few exceptions, the well heeled, silver spoon brigade rarely contribute anything to the "Arts" except money.
Most of the outstanding musicians, singers in Scotland that I know of [ and you could extend that to comedians and entertainers probably throughout the world ] were born into poor circumstances and strove to improve themselves.
The other way of looking at it was, like my Grandfather who was a Plooman [ploughman with horse] and his father before him and my Granny, they all played melodeon or fiddle as a natural form of relaxation and expression and never appeared on a stage but purely in their own and their neighbours homes, is that what is a genuine "folk musician?"  :-\
Ian.
Logged

EeeJay

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 642
  • Old Grey Paolo
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2009, 12:58:11 AM »

In a word, no. Seem to be doing perfectly well without...  8)

And I've never truly regarded myself as such. Traditional music nut, yes, OK guilty as charged. And Morris muso. But Folkie/Folky? Errrrm... nope. Many of the people I meet in Irish sessions would not define themselves as such either.

I wouldn't say defining oneself as a folky is necessarily a bad thing, I just peronally find it limiting. My musical tastes/outlets are wider, and so much of what passes under the label of folk doesn't really appeal to me anyway...

And I have a problem with the label anyhow....

I think it's an attitude thing. Ever heard anyone say (when tuning up or suchlike) 'good enough for folk'? Hmmm... kind of sums it up for me... some kind of half baked pratting about... ::)

OK, OK... so maybe I'm a bit harsh, but I find the term a bit too hackneyed/misused... somewhat like the word 'trainspotter'...

Ed J
Logged

graememackay

  • Graeme Mackay
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 596
  • B/C/C# Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeze
    • Graeme's homepage
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2009, 01:01:41 AM »

i agree with drumkilbo!

I think that the current "folk musicians" have stolen the title as their own and there is a "chieftanesk & corryish " image as soon as anyone mentions the word.

Shands music should never be defined as folk music, he was a Scottish Dance Band through and through, but the reasons behind his music gives him the right to be a folk musician.

As for today's "folk music", I like a bit of Kate Rusby, but Mike Hardy on Radio 2 on a wednesday night, doesn't last long on my van stereo on my way to a gig.  The Folk world seems to be stuck on repeat, always the same artists getting the recignition of all the real working musicians entertaining real people, in real pubs & venues.

I soon stick on a good Scottish Dance Music CD....Real music!!!!? :||:

I think its cool, always have.  my mates thought i was cool at school coz i played.  Now I play for a living its the coolest job in the world.  I wouldn't say that cool is a label, just a personal opinion gone cold
Logged
Black Shand Morino

EeeJay

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 642
  • Old Grey Paolo
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2009, 01:14:33 AM »

As for today's "folk music", I like a bit of Kate Rusby, but Mike Hardy on Radio 2 on a wednesday night, doesn't last long on my van stereo on my way to a gig.  The Folk world seems to be stuck on repeat...

Yes, exactly what I was getting at...

R2 'folk' ::) - like Ronseal - does exactly what it says on the tin... pasteurised, MOR compliant gunk. Gave up on it yonks ago. Much better is Radio Derby's offering... loads of bagpipes and discordant racket... t'would scare the bejaysus out of R2 listeners... ;D

Ed J
« Last Edit: September 09, 2009, 01:16:56 AM by EeeJay »
Logged

stevejay

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 709
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #15 on: September 09, 2009, 01:52:02 AM »

I would say I need to be able to push the buttons and squeeze the bellows. After that, it's a matter of opinion how well I am playing.
Logged

Falseknight

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 449
    • False Knight
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2009, 07:56:34 AM »

I don't necessarily see the melodeon as a "folk" instrument.

I suspect it became the mainstay of Morris because it was cheap, loud and relatively easy to play, and never forget that large chunks of Bellowhead would be (are) equally at home in contemprary jazz circles.
Logged

Tyker

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 352
  • Cheviot C#DG,Hohners D and G/C
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #17 on: September 09, 2009, 09:54:54 AM »

As for today's "folk music", I like a bit of Kate Rusby, but Mike Hardy on Radio 2 on a wednesday night, doesn't last long on my van stereo on my way to a gig.  The Folk world seems to be stuck on repeat

Isn't Kate Rusby stuck on repeat !  :(
Logged
Graeme - North Hampshire,UK

There is no noun that can't be verbed

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: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #18 on: September 09, 2009, 10:03:10 AM »

If I had stumbled upon 'folk' music I wouldn't have found squeezeboxes.....I would describe my tastes as eclectic. Anything from Classical to Emo, to pop, to rock to punk to ska and folk is just one of the many genres I like. I tend to go for tunes/songs rather than for bands and genres. It I like a song I like it in most 'formats'.

But if someone called me a folkie...I wouldn't object, like I don't object to being called a Nerd, Geek or Whovian.

Falseknight

  • Respected Sage
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 449
    • False Knight
Re: Do you have to be a 'Folkie' to play the melodeon well ?
« Reply #19 on: September 09, 2009, 10:24:09 AM »

There was a wonderful John Sessions monologue from a good few years ago - "Keith and Mick At The Folk Club" - one of the funniest things I have heard in years.

I wonder what would have happened if dido had been a folkie - would we have been spared pain, or would the establishment have clasped her even tighter to it's bosom?
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3   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