Or is it just my imagination? I’ve got several jigs, a slip jig, a polka, a barn dance, even a slide in my limited repertoire.
Tried Rolling in the Ryegrass and Wind That Shakes the Barley, but didn’t enjoy playing them much–couldn’t seem get the hang of them, and they are forgotten now.
Then I tried Cooley’s, and despite weeks and weeks of practice I can’t get it up to speed–the fingering just seems so awkward, esp. in that Part B. When attempting to play along “session style” with YouTube videos, I’m left in the dust.
So, moving on to The Flax in Bloom, in which the fingering seems less arduous… I’ve got the notes okay, but HOW on earth does one play a reel at speed?
Any tips for getting tunes up to “session speed”? (Is there such a thing?) Must reels always be played breakneck? Is it okay to slow 'em down a bit?
(Finding spots to breathe also seems more difficult with reels. Where do you typically sneak breaths?)
IMO, reels are more difficult. I don’t really know why. Part of it seems to be the rhythm, which, for some reason, seems harder to pick up than jig rhythm.
I don’t think there’s a short cut to getting reels “up to session speed”. My ‘big tip’ for getting them up to speed to to always practise them slowly. In time, they will get better, and faster, without you knowing. But still, in practice, practise them slowly.
Reels do seem like they’re more work to get right than jigs. It seems even worse on stringed instruments than whistles/flutes. It’ll get better, though. Reels come as naturally as jigs now for me, at least on whistle. Mandolin is another matter!
My attempts at reels are poor at the moment, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but…
Find a reel that you like. Initially I tried the reels in my learner books, and had difficulties. When I listened to them on the web I realised that I did not care enough for them to put the time in.
Like an easy reel. I liked the Banshee - but I have difficulty making it sound like a reel (but that could just be me). So I picked ‘The Merry Blacksmith’, and suddenly my reel is more real (groan). Not perfect, or fast enough yet, but progressing well enough (though I may be deluded).
Use a metronome. Well it works for me, though I am still at the stage where I consider it a success if I can get round the reel twice without loosing the plot. I allow myself minor goofs, if I can jump back in at the right time and continue. And oddly enough, the metronome makes that easier - I am ‘hearing’ the tune in my head now and know where I ‘should be’. Hearing the tune in my head seems to help with with breathing as well as with recovering from mistakes. I am not sure if I can explain that though, but being able to recover seems to be better practice than continually restarting.
Each practice I start slow to remind my fingers and then build up the speed step by step. There seems to be a speed which is fast enough to enjoy the ‘energy’ of the tune, but not too fast for my fingers to cope with. I find that comfortable tempo and practice there for a while. Then I allow myself some fun at the end upping the tempo a bit. Over the days the comfortable tempo seems to creep up.
I am not sure what a reasonable tempo for reels is - 120 -130bpm was comfortable this morning. That is probably too slow for the local session on their favourites - I will find out this week .
When I’ve taught Irish whistle, flute, or pipes, it seems that with most people jigs are the easiest things to learn, reels a bit more difficult, but sean nos airs the most difficult.
You’re talking about the speed of crotchets, I guess, Phill. Most people, after a while, come to think of reels in terms of having two main beats per bar, and your speed would be, in that case, 60 - 65 bpm for reels at the moment. To put it in context, what for me is a comfortable session speed for reels (on fiddle or whistle, but not necessarily flute just yet) would be around 108 bpm.
But, for the OP, I would strongly suggest not worrying about speeding up - ever. You will speed up eventually without worrying about it. In the meantime, plenty of slow practice will build a solid playing style and will pay dividends in the long run.
And remember speed is not the most important thing. Listen to the difference between Joannie Madden and Mary Bergin playing a reel. Personally, I like Joannie Madden’s speed much better, though some would consider it too slow. In my own head I seem to fall into this certain speed, which varys slightly from tune to tune. I love it. When I push them faster, it’s fun, but I never stay at the more rapid speed, I always fall back to the tempo in my head for that tune.
As for slow airs…I despair of ever making mine sound truly Irish. Luckily for me, most of my hearers have never heard the real thing.
(Just a few of my own, inexpert, bumbling thoughts)
Mockingbird,
I’m not clear how long you’ve played the whistle, but to favor jigs over reels is OK. Think of it as a plateau.
Reels, after all, contain 25% more notes per measure (6 eighth notes per measure in a jig & 8 eighth notes per measure in a reel). If you put that into a scenario where you’re playing at 110BPM, you’re really ratcheting up how much work your fingers have to do to get to the end of a phrase.
I agree with the posts upstairs - when practicing use a metronome to help keep your notes even. The metronome should sound 2 beats per measure.
For a jig that would be on the 1 and 4. 123 456
For a reel on the 1 and 5. 1234 5678
Set the metronome to 60BPM and try it. Once you’ve become completely familiar with the tune and how your fingers are working, bump up the speed gradually. After a few days you’ll be comfortably playing, and by that time you’ll have it memorized - which is truly the key, and then you can begin adding your own personality to the performance of the tune.
Sometimes I practice tunes very fast, 120 to 130, to remind myself how much I’m missing by not slowing down. And it always works.
And, yes, I’d leave the sean nos airs for later, too.
One trick I sometimes use to learn a tough reel comes from a recorder playing book.
Instead of playing the reel as a series of even eighth notes, try playing it in hornpipe rhythm-- dotted eighths alternating with sixteenths. For some reason, this seems much easier.. I speculate that the little extra time spent on the dotted eighth lets you anticipate that next note a bit. Once you can play the tune fairly confidently like this, you can start to smooth out and even out the notes. I’ve heard some first rate players who seem to use a bit of this dotted rhythm as a matter of course. Try it!
For me that’s the key, learning the tune I want to rather than one that I “should” play (or be able to play). My big problem is that there aren’t that many reels I like. I think that’s one reason I’m less attracted to ITM than I once was.
I DO like slow reels. Tunes like The Sunset; Helicon’s version of Woman of the House; Solas’s version of O’Dowd’s #9, etc. But for the most part I’m a triple-time guy.
Instead of playing the reel as a series of even eighth notes, try playing it in hornpipe rhythm-- dotted eighths alternating with sixteenths
half of a trick to work on passages from my ‘classical’ training - the other half is to reverse the pattern ie sixteenth followed by dotted eighth (swapping the short note if that makes sense) works wonders to smooth out awkward passages.
I wouldn’t even presume to attempt sean nos, after looking it up a bit on YouTube (having read the vibrato thread here). Who knew traditional music was so involved? I didn’t, before taking up the “simple” pennywhistle.
I am trying to go too fast too soon, I think. (I’m about a year-and-a-half into playing the whistle, but mom-hood makes practice somewhat sporadic–though when I do practice, I tend to focus for a good long while, and I try to practice several times a week.) Thank you very much for the practice advice! Will try it all.
“Find a reel that you like” also resonates. The Flax in Bloom is more fun than the other reels. It’s so cheerful and the [whatever you call them–arpeggios?] seem easier and more natural to play.
You will speed up eventually without worrying about it.
This is comforting–thank you! Whew, I leave here bolstered once again. Thanks so much!
ETA:
Warning: Math Major on the loose. I hate to be picky but 8 is 33% more than 6.
So we have demonstrated mathematically that reels are more difficult!
well you go round in circles I suppose, I’m now thinking jigs are harder
No doubt I’m unknowingly playing the jigs all wrong, too.
Yes, I did think of suggesting that myself a bit earlier in the thread. There is a problem to be aware of: if you do it the classical way that you describe, first doing long note followed by short note and then reversing it, and you practise a passage properly like that, it will tend to come out in the end too smoothe, with all the bounce taken out. In fact, it’s used in classical practice precisely to do that: to smoothe out passages of fast notes. But in this music you don’t want them smoothe.
I still think the technique coud be useful. I’d just say to approach with caution, that’s all.
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Whew, I leave here bolstered once again. Thanks so much!