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[Thrupenny Bit]

 Thank you Oul' Boy for your kind words.

Yep, I think Nigel's approach is the best way.... sherberts after playing!
Q

[playandteach]

I do drink, but when I played for a living I never had even one drink before playing. If I knocked a passage over sober, I could accept that it was one of those things, but if you let people down and you've had a drink you are never quite sure if it would have been a different result completely sober. Alertness is vital for adjusting to all the finer points of ensemble too. I did find on the rare occasions that my family had come along to see me, that it made me more conscious of my playing. The best solution to nerves is to focus on the shape of the music, focusing on the direction of the phrases. That takes your mind off everything else. Of course I can't do any of those things on a box.

[Gena Crisman]

Rapper

Playing for rapper is very hard, I found. My local side (when they've had need of a helping hand) want the music played right at the top end of the speed I'm able to achieve - jigs with about 3/8=150 being their kinda minimum speed for comfort. Playing without the bass end seems like a necessity, and honestly it kinda stops sounding like music to me. It's a work in progress, though, because I never really practiced doing any of that before, and I couldn't really read the dance for a toffee.

In terms of 'what I did', playing career wise, I learnt to play like 4 tunes (Winster Gallop, Egan's Polka, Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be, and Cock of the North) and then joined a morris side to gain experience and continue to get more seasoned advice from the melodeon player they would obviously have. 2 and a half years later, I'm still their only melodeon player Edit actually strike that, my mum has mostly packed in with the drum and gone full time melodeon with the side, so, there is two of us.

Just experiencing going and being part of the band though, playing the music, even if only kind-of, and discovering that it will usually be OK has been the most helpful thing for me. But, we have a very big band where it's easy to hide, if one wanted to. Following that, being thrown in at the deep end and having a bad experience, and hating myself for about 48 hours - then coming back out of that and noting that not one single person has ever commented negatively to me about it... that was also, let's say, character building.

I'd still vote option (c).

[busbox]

I remain in awe of those who play successfully with other musicians or dancers. Because I take Erica busking, there is very little pressure on us. We set the repertoire and the tempo. I really cannot recall being daunted by the idea. So I'd recommend busking as a means of breaking the ice.

[playandteach]

I'd find busking the most daunting of all - you are setting up shop to play uninvited - so I feel you'd better be darn good. Especially if you are within earshot of cafes where people are stuck listening, rather than walking on by. I guess we all have our inhibitions. I've got to play with a choir in our Abbey Christmas concert coming up, and I'm already terrified. Someone else is writing the music, but I'm head of music at the local high school, so playing a hobby instrument makes me feel very vulnerable.

[george garside]

I agree with the various comments about the detrimental effects of  imbibing 'falling over juice'' whilst playing  as it  is indeed a double edged sword . i.e  you feel your playing  is great when the opposite is  the reality! 

There is of course the additional penalty of feeling you need a pee half way through a tune, particularly when the nearest bog is far away!

george 

[george garside]

  but I'm head of music at the local high school, so playing a hobby instrument makes me feel very vulnerable.

   

Not sure whether describing a melodeon as a '' hobby instrument''  is a compliment or a criticism of  the box we all love to play

george

[Euan Brown]

Not only is Border more straight forward, it is also FUN...FUN...FUN.
It spans all sorts of levels of skill. Many sides are happy to welcome beginners and bring them on.

I'd love to dance Border Morris (something I once joined in with on a day out in fact), but living in Edinburgh, the nearest side is probably Rag Bag in Berwickshire, which is a bit of a hike.

Thats a pity. There was a time  (a long time ago) when there were at least  4 Morris sides in Edinburgh, one rapper two clogs and one cotswold! BOrder was dome occasionally At one time or another  I played or danced with  them all  (not simultaneously I might add)!     Probably your nearest is now  Banchory who I suspect are still going.  An aside on playing for rapper,   Beltane (which was the disappeared Edinburgh rapper side)  always danced 160 up  (all under 30 years old at the time  including the musicians)!  An evening out with them resulted always in  a very sore right arm.

[Squeaky Pete]

I was thrown in at the deep end. I got my pokerwork in 1977 and soon managed about half a dozen tunes that sounded ok-ish to me. I practised with a couple of very experienced friends in a very informal way and somehow got involved with some of the jubilee celebrations as a bit of quiet background music.
We ended up in a barn and one of the people there happened to be a caller. One thing led to another and I found myself playing all evening with a remarkably limited repertoire. 3 jigs, 2 polkas, a waltz and the Swedish masquerade after a fashion.
Strangely, I wasn't nervous

Not like today.

[george garside]

so far Cotswold, Border and Rapper , and  apalation clog have been mentioned/discussed in this thread  - What about  North West

george

[Julian S]

And nothing can beat that first drink after a successful evening playing for dancing. Sessions and concerts are all very well, but watching people enjoying dancing to your music is just so wonderful. Best way for me to keep motivated in music and life more generally.
 

J

[george garside]

totally agree!
george

[Peadar]

Rapper has to be fast ? really?
As a startig point rapper is a traditional dance of  Tyneide/Durham coal miining communities. The rapper itslf was originally a 2 handled scraper used in grooming pit ponies- it was used to scrape sweat/coal dust off the animal's back, When the students of Kings College formed the Newcastle Kingsmen in 1949 there were thousands of of pit ponies employed underground (I don't know the number of pit ponies the National Coal Board had, but the newly created British Railways then owned 7,000 shunting horses.)

70 years on and it is 36 years since I left the Kingsmen - I was a member for a couple of years as an undergraduate in the early 80's - a time when the traditional coal and iron industries of the area where in catastrophic decline. By the time I joined the Kingsmen  circa 1981 they were one of the longest established rapper teams with an unbroken history. They had also stuck with dancing at the traditional pace- always in jig time but quite slow. In the shuffle the beating foot was turned out for the first beat and straight forward for the second so the toes made a circular movement. Many of the newer sides - formed in areas where rapper wasn't a traditional dance (like everywhere south of the River Wear) danced much faster and their dancers reduced the shuffle to a kick out and back.

But the beat is (agree with George here) absolutely essntial. Rapper is a hard shoe dance and when you hit the spot all the dancers feet come down together on every beat- as in clog the percussion section is the team's feet. On a Friday night pub crawl (dancing round the pubs in a district was the means of raising cash to go to festivals) the one thing you didn't want was the audience clapping along because if you couldn't hear your own feet you couldn't hear the rythm....or the fiddler for that matter.

That's my tuppence worth. But what do I know.

 

[Tone Dumb Greg]

Rapper has to be fast ? really?

Even when it  is played at a less than absolutely flat out pace, it is played in ways that a beginner would  take a certain amount of time to come to terms with. Something to aspire to, I think, rather than a starting point.

I do think The Kingsmen are great.

[Anne Croucher]

Now you've done it - a few years ago I went along to see Anonymous Morris at Wimborne folk festival and played along as I had my recorders with me - then I took my drum along to various events where they were dancing, then I got a snare drum - then was lured into trying to play melodeon - this year there was one run of eight days which included the Swanage folk festival weekend where I was out every day - Anonymous Thursday, Swanage Friday Saturday Sunday, Monday was longsword practice, Tuesday a longsword dance out, Wednesday was Cotswold (Bampton), and then it was Anonymous again on the Thursday.
These days my husband enquires not if I am going out, but if I will be in.

[Helena Handcart]

The rapper itslf was originally a 2 handled scraper used in grooming pit ponies- it was used to scrape sweat/coal dust off the animal's back

Nope.  Although this old chestnut is oft repeated, I don't believe there is a shred of evidence for it.

[Andrew Kennedy]

Although rappers do bear some resemblance to things like this: https://www.tattiniriding.com/en-us/product/sweat-scraper-two-handles-stainless-steel-1779?fr=p-1810/url

[The Oul' Boy]

Thats a pity. There was a time  (a long time ago) when there were at least  4 Morris sides in Edinburgh, one rapper two clogs and one cotswold! BOrder was dome occasionally At one time or another  I played or danced with  them all  (not simultaneously I might add)!     Probably your nearest is now  Banchory who I suspect are still going.  An aside on playing for rapper,   Beltane (which was the disappeared Edinburgh rapper side)  always danced 160 up  (all under 30 years old at the time  including the musicians)!  An evening out with them resulted always in  a very sore right arm.

Wow! A golden age. Alas there don't seem to be any morris sides in Edinburgh now at all, the nearest being Border Reivers in Glasgow and Rag Bag in Berwickshire I think.

[Euan Brown]

Yes really?  Well of course opinion is divided on speed.   I remember the Kingsmen well. I think you came up to Edinburgh a few times in the late 70s/80s. Maybe we met? We danced Winlaton and  got our 'speeding instructions' straight from the horses mouth so to speak from  Jack Atkins himself. Here is a pic of the team with Jack when he taught us the dance.   Of course its different for different dances the 'high Spen' we did was much more sedate! But I could not even attempt is now;  it's a young mans dance at that speed for sure!   I can also confirm the clapping problem.

Rapper has to be fast ? really?
As a startig point rapper is a traditional dance of  Tyneide/Durham coal miining communities. The rapper itslf was originally a 2 handled scraper used in grooming pit ponies- it was used to scrape sweat/coal dust off the animal's back, When the students of Kings College formed the Newcastle Kingsmen in 1949 there were thousands of of pit ponies employed underground (I don't know the number of pit ponies the National Coal Board had, but the newly created British Railways then owned 7,000 shunting horses.)

70 years on and it is 36 years since I left the Kingsmen - I was a member for a couple of years as an undergraduate in the early 80's - a time when the traditional coal and iron industries of the area where in catastrophic decline. By the time I joined the Kingsmen  circa 1981 they were one of the longest established rapper teams with an unbroken history. They had also stuck with dancing at the traditional pace- always in jig time but quite slow. In the shuffle the beating foot was turned out for the first beat and straight forward for the second so the toes made a circular movement. Many of the newer sides - formed in areas where rapper wasn't a traditional dance (like everywhere south of the River Wear) danced much faster and their dancers reduced the shuffle to a kick out and back.

But the beat is (agree with George here) absolutely essntial. Rapper is a hard shoe dance and when you hit the spot all the dancers feet come down together on every beat- as in clog the percussion section is the team's feet. On a Friday night pub crawl (dancing round the pubs in a district was the means of raising cash to go to festivals) the one thing you didn't want was the audience clapping along because if you couldn't hear your own feet you couldn't hear the rythm....or the fiddler for that matter.

That's my tuppence worth. But what do I know.

[Tone Dumb Greg]

This sounds about the usual tempo. Works great for youngsters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=8_JVb97s0EY&feature=emb_logo

Not that fast but very solid.