After some thinking, the Pub seemed the best place for this topic. I wouldn't want whistlers, flutists, pipers, etc. and etc. to feel excluded.

That said, I had a great whistle lesson over Skype earlier this week (with a fellow C&F member who shall remain anonymous for the time being). This also brought the realization that Skype and similar such platforms can be very effective tools, and not just for teaching. Peer review, virtual sessions, and general socializing are three possibilities that come to mind. I, for one, would be very interested in exploring any or all of these possibilities. It should be noted that I am not using this post to seek instruction; the board already has an area for that, and I already have a teacher.

So, the shiny lure is now in the water; or, if you prefer, the flag has been run up the pole. Will I get any bites or salutes?

Virtual sessions would be almost impossible because of the time lag inherent in these kinds of conference meeting programs, many have tried, & failed.

You could try using it as a chat forum, but then you get the problem of time differentials around the world, & again the time lag causes some problems - been there done that, (on one of my harmonica forums).

Peer reviews would likely be best on a video site, as it would otherwise disappear never to be seen again.

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Keith.
Trying to do justice to my various musical instruments.

Virtual sessions are impractical, and virtual face-to-face chat may work.


I have considered uploading to YouTube, but that comes with another problem: YouTube's inane and hideously overmanned peanut gallery. Their commentary is not something I find desirable, so I'm looking at ways around that. Disabling comments would mean those not in the peanut gallery wouldn't be able to give meaningful and desired feedback. I'm not sure if embedding herein would eliminate undesired commentary. For now, restricting the video's visibility to those who have the link seems like the best option. Or perhaps there exists another video-hosting site? Losing access to the footage may be a worthwhile tradeoff.

latency is the problem: latency is introduced at every stage. Latency and drops outs.

You pay the notes, a mic picks up the notes and convert them to electrical impulses, an AD converter chip in your computer converts them to digital information. Then it travels by any number of routes to the other musician, whose computer had a DA chip that turns the digital info back into electrical impulses and then to a speaker. Every stage adds latency, delay. It's fine for conversation.

But a small amount of latency, varying as it will between even two players, will make it impossible to get any kind of decent "feel" going.

Strikes me that that's no different from life in the 3D. Either your memory serves, or it doesn't.

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"Time is the wisest counselor of all." - Pericles

"I remain not entirely convinced of it." - Nano

Taking notes will eliminate any worry about my memory serving...as long as I can make sense of what I wrote.

Yes, but some sessions and, I think, folk clubs have been having 'sessions' on Zoom where they take it in turn to lead and everyone else is muted. I think there are 'round the room' musical gatherings where not everyone joins in any case.

It's clearly not the same but one advantage is hearing details of each individual's take on a tune that may got lost in a session. The challenge of leading a tune without support from others who join in is a plus point for some - certainly a learning opportunity. Also a chance for a chat between tunes with people who may not meet for months.

The main technical issue is that the tempo can be slightly erratic - good for practicing paying attention!

I understand there are some hi-tech solutions that work well enough to play together over a few hundred miles with a good connection.

I have seen cool videos where a chamber orchestra or other small group plays together but in their own home. There must be some kind of program that people use to have the sound a bit better than just playing into a webcam for a standard youtube recording but idk. You could record a familiar song solo and then people could play your song and record themselves playing along and then you could go to the Trad tech forum and have some smart techie person combine videos. Sounds easy right?

If yu disable you tube comments you could start a thread for peer review here and post a link to your video? Then people could reply in the forum?

Michelle

I did think of something similar, but that is a better idea. More than likely I will be producing a few videos in the not-too-distant future.

I’ve tried a session like this—exactly as you said: the leader put everyone on mute and it ended up feeling like playing along with a recording since I could hear the person I was playing against but they couldn’t hear me. Seemed a little pointless so didn’t really feel compelled to join in subsequent sessions. Wish there was a good solution for the latency. Sigh. Missing sessions so much.

We have been using JamKazam for sessions. Some problems, but surprisingly good. Latency is about 20ms, but all the players are within 20 miles of each other. 4 is the most you can play with reliably. You need a good audio interface and fast computer and fibre. We find we can't play full speed reels so we exist on a diet of Hornpipes Jigs Mazurkas and Waltzes!

Has anyone tried Jamulus, https://jamulus.io ? There's a band in the area using it, or so I hear.

What about using tiktok for a session, like it was used for The Wellerman, where each iteration adds another player? The first one or two people wouldn't get that session feel but as it progressed it would develop more depth.