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[mselic]

I have often found myself playing slightly ahead of the beat, and a little rushed.  This becomes most apparent when listening back to recordings of myself, but I've begun to notice when I do it in real-time as well. I can easily be swept up in the passion of the music while playing and not notice that I'm speeding up, etc.  It has taken being very mindful to reel things back in and keep a steady beat.  This is ongoing work for me, but I'd like to think that I am improving in that regard.

[Dick Rees]

I suggest a fresh start with new tunes rather than "unlearning" the rushed ones.

Regarding the suggestions about learning the dance steps to get a body-feel for tempo and phrasing, get out of your chair and play standing up.  This can help you with the feeling.  Keep time by shifting weight from one leg to the other bar for bar in 3/4 time or on the even and odd beats of duple meter.

The bigger the muscles used, the steadier the rhythm.  Fingers are not always the best for this as they're busy with the flow/rhythm of the melody.  Give them a break and use your feet for the overall beat.

Good luck, have fun.

[Stiamh]

I've started with slowing down by a lot and over emphasizing the beat with cuts and increased bellows pressure on every accented note.

You are courageous in asking for opinions here and I commend you for being prepared to go back to square one as it were. However, I would be wary of applying a technique such as the one you describe above. You acknowledge the danger of it sounding awkward, but I would say it could easily end up sounding mechanical, the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

It's my belief that the key to playing any type of music authentically on any instrument is listening - and hearing (you can do the first without the second!). If you really know the sound you are trying to achieve in your mind, sooner or later your muscles will find a way to do it - whereas if you don't, they can't  That has been my experience of trying to master Irish music on three different instruments.

So I would suggest, as well as the diligent practising you are proposing, a lot of careful listening to good traditional players in the style that interests you, and not just box players, perhaps especially not box players. And lots of lilting. Seriously.  No doubt you saw this clip of Kevin Burke singing a comical song, posted on thesession.org recently. His lilting would tell you he'd have good style as fiddler even if you'd never heard him play. 

[Chris Ryall]

Milleret and Pignol very strongly recommend practice against a metronome both in their videos, and in weekend courses.   There are several sits on t'Internet, or my little electronic one was about £6

[Tufty]

"It's my belief that the key to playing any type of music authentically on any instrument is listening - and hearing (you can do the first without the second!). If you really know the sound you are trying to achieve in your mind, sooner or later your muscles will find a way to do it - whereas if you don't, they can't"
[/quote]
Couldn't agree more! When I started playing French trad. music I spent the first year hunting down good traditional  players on CD and soaking up the sound. The sound I was trying to achieve was was rather an old fashioned Auvergne style, rather than the modern, jazz influenced style and many of the players I discovered were long dead eg Martin Cayla and Tonin Trupel but it meant that their rhythms and decorations just became the natural way for me to play - I had never heard the tunes played any other way!

[Boyen]

I don't disagree but listening is not the problem. I have over 40 cd's with ITM music I like and a whole spotify collection next to it. All tunes I know come from a recording that I like. That Emma's Waltz recording I made here 13 Damnien Mullane track 2.

[playandteach]

I agree, Boyen. We can listen and think that we are achieving what we heard, but when we listen to our own playing we can see that it doesn't quite make it. I think you're right to try to identify technical weaknesses (if - as in my case - you can play perfectly well in time and with shape on another instrument, but not the melodeon, then it really must be a technical weakness).
Subtler timing issues can be helped by thinking in longer phrases. I used to teach a way of growing constantly in dynamic until the peak of the phrase was reached. And surprisingly when you do that, you can find out that you are not actually getting louder at all, just maintaining the direction of the phrase. People talk so much about dynamics - which for me is a lego approach to musical playing, and not enough about direction.
We also forget that instruments like the organ have to use very subtle rhythmic adjustments to create direction to the phrase.
None of this is is about your playing, just thoughts about the issue in general. And I do play much less well in time on the melodeon than on my other instruments.

[Dave Praties]

Well, here's a thing. I have always had trouble playing melodeon and not speeding up. I just don't realise i am doing it until too late. I have been practicing playing against a metronome, and it has begun to help, but recently had a revelation. In the dim and distant past, when the world was in black and white, I was a harpsichord player, often playing continuo in small groups. I was known as a good time keeper. So why can't I do it on melodeon? What is the difference? Turns out for me, that it is the presence or absence of written music. If i play tunes I know well by ear on the melodeon, I speed up, but if I follow the dots while playing, I dont! Make of that what you will, but it is helping me with my speeding habit. Dave

[Squeaky Pete]

Subtler timing issues can be helped by thinking in longer phrases. I used to teach a way of growing constantly in dynamic until the peak of the phrase was reached. And surprisingly when you do that, you can find out that you are not actually getting louder at all, just maintaining the direction of the phrase.

Well Pete, you've done it again. You've just thrown in another little pearl.
This is something I've been trying to address in my playing and you've pointed the direction to get me started.

[Dick Rees]

I don't disagree but listening is not the problem. I have over 40 cd's with ITM music I like and a whole spotify collection next to it. All tunes I know come from a recording that I like. That Emma's Waltz recording I made here 13 Damnien Mullane track 2.

Seriously, I don't think speed/tempo is the problem.  I think you're just not finding "the groove".  So if you wanna play fast, play fast...but for Heaven's sake, stay in the groove.
Here's some ageless wisdom from the movie Silver Streak:

https://youtu.be/JgAxvukW9dA

[Boyen]

I've had a lot of time to practice last few months. And a lot of analysing and thinking. I'm not quite there yet I'd say but I do feel like I got to the point where I at least can tap my foot on the music. From that point I hope it's an indication that there is a groove. Then again.. A metronome doesn't make a groove =(. But I do feel like, especially after the first two measures I can feel a downbeat better than in my previous recordings.

Anyway for the recording below as soon as I listen back I feel like I should really take it easier and let the music breathe but I'm totally not conscious of that while playing. I do think the second and third time through are more relaxed and even though I make errors it stays within the beat which is a big step for me. Please let me know if that is what you guys hear as well! More than welcome to indicate my blind spots.

I think I need to start working on dynamics as well. And get even a bit more relaxed than I play the second and third time through..
https://youtu.be/lihr6p-lYj0

[Winston Smith]

I couldn't even manage a scale at that speed! Sounds fine to me, though.

[CAB]

Not offering a detailed critique - that sounds pretty good to me too and better than many of us aspire to.  I missed this thread first time round but it strikes me listening to your earlier clips that, although you were sensibly asking for advice, there was some good playing going on in there.  In particular, although there were things to improve in your Emma's Waltz, you were already introducing cuts and various decorations.  Now you seem to have found the groove much more and are applying a lot of technique, like fast triplets, to great effect.  Not flawless of course but much improved and nice to listen to.  My local Irish set dancers would welcome your playing (though they'd probably demand even more speed  ).  Keep up the good work.

[Calum]

There are three things I'd suggest working on, and they're all attacking the same underlying problem:

1 - Spend a period of time playing *everything* quietly and consciously making your right hand as slow and relaxed as possible.  No "jabbing" at the buttons.
2 - Play with a backing of some kind - a drum machine is easy and works well, or someone can record guitar or piano backing tracks for you (or you can generate them yourself using techno-wizardy, but that's beyond me)
3 - Record every practice session and listen back to it 24 hours later.

The problem as I perceive it is that although your technical level is very high, you haven't yet had to make the breakthrough to playing "through" the instrument, that is directing the sound with your musical mind without having to concentrate on your physical technique.  That's also why I suggest recording, because in this state you cannot clearly hear what you play, what you hear is what you intend, not what actually comes out the box. 

I think if you do these three things consistently you'll notice a difference within a week or two at most, because you have done all the hard work - all that remains is to remove the training wheels.

[Stotty]

For anyone who has trouble speeding up, I think it is worth a try downloading and using the Live BPM beat detector app if you use a smartphone.  As long as it can pick up a beat in your playing it works like a speedometer, so you can react to changes in your speed, without having the difficulty of trying to play with a metronome.

[george garside]

The brilliant moth organ player ,the late Will Atkinson  was running a workshop in which he asked everybody to play a tune of their choosing so he could make helpful comments.  One  gun  played  reasonably well but somewhat rushed!  Will's comment was '' every tune has a natural speed and you'd find it much easier to play at its natural speed''

I wasn't the culprit  but found it  gave me  something very useful to reflect on and put into action   which  brought about a worthwhile improvement in my playing

(when my turn came Will commented  ' you made two mistakes'  which I thought was not too bad - .... he then went on to say ''and if you played it through three times that would be six''


getting  the hang of accompanying singer(s) can make a  big difference to playing  as  you need to very closely follow the phrasing of the singer rather than the singer following you!

If playing for dancing  , ceilidh, morris, clog stepping or whatever  get the hang of playing to the feet of the best dancer  rather than doing your own thing and expecting the dancers to follow you. i.e synchonise your foot tapping with that of the dancers

when playing alone  try to keep a very steady foot tapping ryithm  or  maybe a  very gentle swayingof the shoulders when playing a haunting slow air  or maybe a gentle waltz

most importantly thing in terms of rhythm, dynamics and phrasing  which are the essential ingredients that transform playing the right notes in the right order  into 'music' which in turn  should eliminate  speeding up

george

[Stiamh]

Great if you can tap your foot to the music and bravo for all the dedicated practice.

I'd like to hear you play Rolling in the Ryegrass or The Wind that Shakes the Barley or The Boyne Hunt or some other tune with much simpler phrasing than the Moving Cloud.

At 90 bpm (max!)

With a good groove and backbeat.

That will tell us (you, and all of us following your progress) a great deal.   

[george garside]

indeed!
george

[Chris Ryall]

Metronome. They cost about £6 nowadays. Some are free on the Web

[Boyen]

Alright.. I'm not sure if this is 90bpm,thats how it sounded in my head. I'll make another if it needs to be slower.
https://youtu.be/lCqsfmGh9k8