Too slow airs

[bcullen]

Oh I get it. You play the instrument like a sound sample or a Karioke backing so we can all sing along, how niece.
I think I will stick with "Lord Mayo" (the air not march) and the "The song of books" and the like. Then listen to Danny Boy and wait for that NOTE does it have words or just that NOTE. Oh yes the beautiful "Mull of Kintare"


Where's the vomit emicon

[Nanohedron]

Oh I get it. You play the instrument like a sound sample or a Karioke backing so we can all sing along, how niece.

Well, you took the ball and ran with it, all right, but in a completely wrong direction. You might want to rethink being so snide.

[chaos97]

I don't know, I've always preferred the slower playing of airs. I like hearing the blending of the tones & shifting of the harmonics particularly on a nice flat set. And it's funny Ennis is brought up because I've always considered him one of the slower ones. Playing along with him sometimes and it can feel like he'll hold a note forever. Immediately the G at the end of his first run through Easter Snow (TRFF) comes to mind. And comparing it to other versions I have he is one of the slowest. You could also compare his version of Amhran na Leabhar (mentioned above) to JOBM's on NPU source, which seems to come directly from SE, and Jimmy's i think is much more playing at an appropriate singing pace while Ennis' is more drawn out.

Even in singing I think speed will be a matter of taste and contention. Some of the singers from Connemara will spend several seconds putting 'an blas' into a single syllable - which I think, brings us into the often said "Ulster singing tends to put emphasis on lyrics and a clearer enunciation." Almost as if they have to justify themselves against the stranglehold the Connemara singing had taken in the competitions and in peoples minds as the 'proper' sean nos.

Of course these are generalizations and one player can play better on way than another playing another... I think it's just a matter of preference. The same is usually said about dance tunes (over and over). I've heard some say they can't stand players like R Hannan as they consider it too fast, but I just consider it a different approach that carries with it it's own nuances. For instance, something like Ennis' variation in Miss Monahan 2nd time through going back to bottom D in places throughout the first section (which Hannan uses as well), works nicely when done at a lively speed. It plays percussively against the melody and wouldn't work as well played at a slower tempo.

What I think Im trying to say is that different ways of playing tend to emphasis different things, and ultimately it's a matter of preference without one way of being more correct.

[bcullen]

Hi Moderateror Love the word "snide" it also needs an emo

Maybe I am on the wrong track. I have just been to a gig and on the way played a few CDs
I noted the following tunes by Gay McKeon that grabbed my attention
Lord Mayo , Stan le Maigh and Frank Roches Favourite Each tune has a range of beautiful musical
gymnastics. The feeling that there are unspoken words in the tunes and the player is trying to convey a meaning (atmosphere)
is moving and an absolute joy to listen to. "Made my day"

As for Danny Boy I saw a tv special on a number of people playing/singing Danny Boy. It was terrible until I heard
a version by Eric Clapton, again he milked it for all it was worth and nailed it


Each to his/her own

[Driftwood]

I belong to the "play it how you feel" camp. Some musicians appear to take great liberties with folk music. Sometimes I like what they do and sometimes I don't. Try as I might, I can't really put myself in the shoes of someone living 200 years ago in another country. Most often I will play a piece like I've heard someone else play it but I'm bound to sound different from them anyway.

[Nanohedron]

Maybe I am on the wrong track.

This time you sure are. Me, doing trad sing-alongs? Anyone who knows me would laugh their asses off at the idea. You mistook a simple rule of thumb I go by to be something way more than it really is. Thought I was being clear enough.

The feeling that there are unspoken words in the tunes and the player is trying to convey a meaning (atmosphere)
is moving and an absolute joy to listen to.

Yes.

As for Danny Boy I saw a tv special on a number of people playing/singing Danny Boy. It was terrible...

I would have thought I had died and gone to Hell. You do realize that I did that Danny Boy schtick on the other page just for laughs, don't you?

...until I heard a version by Eric Clapton, again he milked it for all it was worth and nailed it

If anyone could do it, Clapton wouldn't surprise me.

[rorybbellows]

Keep in mind that when playing to a crowd of trad enthusiasts, it should be no surprise that at least one listener might know the song, and if you're that person, there's nothing worse than hearing an air played with no discernible connection to the lyrics of the song it comes from. A roomful of people who know the song but can't follow it in your playing means you're in trouble.

Lighten up will ya! I don't know what the trad enthusiasts are like over your way, but the one's I know dont give a sh1t as long as the musician gives it a genuine go and plays well .

RORY

[Brus]

As for Danny Boy I saw a tv special on a number of people playing/singing Danny Boy. It was terrible until I heard
a version by Eric Clapton, again he milked it for all it was worth and nailed it

How about Danny Boy sung by a classical soprano?

Here's Austrian singer Anna Prohaska (part Irish on her mother's side):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG9EQtyl_cU

[Nanohedron]

Lighten up will ya! I don't know what the trad enthusiasts are like over your way, but the one's I know dont give a sh1t as long as the musician gives it a genuine go and plays well .

Well, of course! But what do you do with the knowledgeable audience member who cares enough to say something worth considering? Do you tell them to lighten up?

I don't go around like some Trad Police. But those are the guidelines my betters advised me to go for when playing airs, and I took it to heart because I thought it was clearly a good idea. I happen to like having a coherent and reliable strategy to hang my hat on. And what of it? Why waste your time jumping down my throat over something you can't be bothered with? Everybody else is going to do what they're going to do, so I'm going to go right ahead and do things my way, too, and if it means for me that some thinking is involved, so be it. I could see you telling me to lighten up if I couldn't let the matter go, but you're the one still chewing on it, not me, and about stuff in an old post I thought we'd all moved on from by now.

Ah, it's good to see the old surliness back in the UP Forum. I was starting to wonder where it went...

[Tjones]

When I was at the Piper’s Gathering in 2015, Torrin Ryan talked about his research and playing of slow airs. He had recently won the slow airs category in his division at the all Ireland’s and it was quite delightful to listen to his approach and playing of slow airs. He said he had spent a lot of time going over old style sean-nós singing to develop his style as well as listening the older pipers like Willie Clancy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR6cfC2AfJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPH9-DO8q8

[bcullen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXPH9-DO8q8

Thanks Tjones. Brilliant couldn't understand a word he played . Wasn't there a famous piper who went off
and played for the fairy people and they granted him an absolute mastery of his pipes?
I wonder if they visit Australia my address is...........

[myles]

Wasn't there a famous piper who went off
and played for the fairy people and they granted him an absolute mastery of his pipes?

Turlough Macsweeney of Donegal, I think. The story was that he was so disturbed by the experience he ran all the way home with the pipes still attached, and by the time he got back was just wearing the bellows.

Here he is with the pipes back in one piece:

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/itma. ... 42a-ph.jpg


Surliness fans will be pleased to note that he was notoriously surly as well

[myles]

Well, of course! But what do you do with the knowledgeable audience member who cares enough to say something worth considering? Do you tell them to lighten up?

I think a bigger problem is the not especially knowledgable audience member who has no particular interest in the subtle sonic interplay of chanter and drones and just finds the more dirge-like airs depressing.

I can also see that some tunes can come across as a bit abstract. Amhran na Leabhar is a good example actually, if people are trying to follow the Ennis setting. But I suppose the lesson is to understand and respect the basic tune first before adding the twiddly rubato stuff. That's giving it a "genuine go" I reckon.

[Ceann Cromtha]

The prime example of playing "The Derry Air/Danny Boy" on uilleann pipes is that of Leo Rowsome (with full regulator accompaniment, which is a showpiece in itself).

[rorybbellows]

Actually come to think about it, I haven;t a clue what I talking about so disregard all my previous posts in this thread.

RORY