Listening in the age of the internet

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rexykik
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Listening in the age of the internet

Post by rexykik »

I'm relatively new to ITM, and was curious what the experience folks in this board thought about how best to go about studious listening when so much content is available. My goal is to develop a solid feeling of the rhythms in ITM.

I have both the Mary Bergin Feadoga Stain albums (~30 tracks), as well as the Comhaltas Foin Seisiun 4 cd pack (229 session tune tracks), and a few other albums.

Should I take the lot and stick it on shuffle, or sit down with an album/subset of tunes until I know each track in my head, before moving on?

Do you think it would be worthwhile to just listen to a lot of the same rhythm/style at the same time (e.g., jigs) to gain a feel for it before listening to a different rhythm, or listen to a variety to get an immediate sense of contrast?

Thanks for your thoughts.
Celticexile
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Re: Listening in the age of the internet

Post by Celticexile »

Relatively new myself, I've definitely found the learning curve easier to climb by concentrating on one rhythm at a time for the "quality" practice periods.

Listening came first (lots of it!), but at first I'd then go for playing the tunes I found appealing. The notes came easily, but the rhythm/drive/lilt/swing, or whatever you like to call it, evaded capture. Progress definitely speeded up when I concentrated both listening and practice on one class of tunes - in my case I started with jigs. I found it much easier to pick up the nuances via similarities rather than contrasts.

Obviously, this presented me with multiple learning curves to climb but each was an easier step than attacking the ITM mountain all at once. I'm still climbing, but apparently there's a wonderful view from the top!
Kypfer
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Re: Listening in the age of the internet

Post by Kypfer »

Should I take the lot and stick it on shuffle, or sit down with an album/subset of tunes until I know each track in my head, before moving on?
... FWIW, I always have a big bunch of tunes on the player in the van, sometimes all by one or two artists, sometimes a selection of different artists (though usually in the same vein). The lot is put onto shuffle and allowed to repeat ad-infinitum. Over a period of time some of the tunes "infiltrate into the sub-concious" and when they repeat I think, "I remember this, I like this one" and make a mental note of it. At the next practice opportunity I'll make efforts to source the sheet music, else at least try to figure it out "by ear" (I'm not very good at that).
This way I find myself practicing tunes I've pre-determined that I like and am partially familiar with, consequently I find I'm likely to learn to play them a lot more easily.

YMMV ... but whatever, enjoy :)
"I'm playing all the right notes—but not necessarily in the right order."
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