Smart phone/Tunepal aided playing at a session

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Re: Smart phone/Tunepal aided playing at a session

Post by Nanohedron »

rykirk wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:26 pmGiven all of the above commentary would you guys also have a problem with a player who showed up with all the tunes memorized ...
First let me say that no one is going to have "all the tunes". There are a lot of tunes, hundreds upon hundreds of them, and a sizeable core group of these tunes will be known in common to a lot of people, but some tunes may not be known to a group, or are newly composed. Hell, we sometimes don't even have the same names for them! I lost a gig once because I thought I didn't know the tune being asked after by a certain name, although in retrospect I found I knew the tune very well, but by another name. It gets complicated sometimes. That said:
rykirk wrote:... but was still a stiff or clunky player? I'm sure there are lots of those out there, memorizing 16 bars isn't too hard afterall. The end result would be about the same, no? What's the etiquette for dealing with that?
I suppose it depends on whose session it is. Some sessions are very welcoming, and some press for quality control. The best etiquette lies with the player in question: When you're at an unfamiliar session in an unfamiliar town, it's best to ask permission to sit in. That given, here in the Twin Cities such a player would be considered maybe intermediate level, but still be welcomed so long as they're pleasant, are there to contribute as best they can, and are trying to up their level. And the clunkiness isn't going to be that much an issue, because almost everyone else is playing along, too. If you have enough good players on hand, group playing masks a lot of offenses. :)

Session quality isn't necessarily higher than stage acts (nor are stage acts necessarily all that good); they're simply marked by the standard traditional ethos of Trad sessions, which is to string a number of tunes together, without a break, for a set the group can play. That's the fundamental feature. It can be a highwire act sometimes, and that's why communities will have their pet pre-arranged sets. Sometimes there are hiccups in the course of trying it on the fly, and then everyone cracks up. It's part of the craic. A couple of times I've started sets that I thought should be okay, but one tune would be, unintentionally, known to none present but me. What to do? I'd stop and apologize, but often in those situations the others are likely to say, "No, keep playing so we can learn it." So you do.

It's not all ensemble playing; the occasional singer or solo party piece happens now and then, but those are usually best left for when the session's winding down.
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Re: Smart phone/Tunepal aided playing at a session

Post by Julia Delaney »

....would you guys also have a problem with a player who showed up with all the tunes memorized but was still a stiff or clunky player?
"You guys" is a very broad category. People who have been playing for only two years post here as often as someone who has been playing for over fifty. There is a wide range of ability and accomplishment of people who post here regularly. And there are as many different types of sessions as there are players with different approaches to the music.

I play in several sessions. One session is open to all comers and beginners are welcome. In a different session we do not welcome bodhran players and other accompanists. We tell them that they are welcome to sit in on one or two sets but not for the two or three hours that the session might last. We only want to play with other melody players.

In yet another session it is often only two or three of us and it is more like a gig, but with no stage presentation or any need or desire for an audience to give us their total attention. Some sessions are social occasions, with laughter and stories, and in other sessions it is all about the music and conversation is limited. This forum is more like an open session, where everybody is welcome and anyone can say whatever he wants to say. Vive la différence.
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Re: Smart phone/Tunepal aided playing at a session

Post by gbyrne »

rykirk wrote: Sat Aug 28, 2021 3:26 pm
Given all of the above commentary would you guys also have a problem with a player who showed up with all the tunes memorized but was still a stiff or clunky player?
Stiff and clunky is more problematic than graceful but needing score. But more often than not, reliance on the score is a precursor to stiff and clunky - as you put it.

Capable will always carry the day. Even if there is a degree of ungainliness about it.
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