A "tip" for beginners/intermediate players

[IDAwHOa]

Sorry to contribute to this diatribe, but:

[Jim Wright]

Down here in the South .. we hunt those Kudos .... they be fast and hard to hit ... but mighty tasty when cooked right!

jim

[Talbert St. Claire]

Edited w/ some additional tips.

Thank you.

[Scott McCallister]

...So, I want you to please try this simple but effective exercise below.

1-Take a good size wall clock & watch the second hand as it ticks away (give this a few minutes before playing). Get into a really comfortable position before trying this exercise. Now try playing your tune to the second hand as it ticks away.

Good suggestion. And, if you want to play slower or faster than 60 beats per minute, there's a device called a metronome. Metronomes are available at all fine music retail outlets.

Best, John

Woah! Careful there jmccain! You can't just go about whipping out the "M" word around here especially when there are clocks to be stared at!

This kind of pell-mell attitude about using stuff as a reference will only lead to debauchery. What next, a device that people can use as a reference of pitch?! I can see this going as far as people making little written reminders about how a tune starts or changes into the B part, or worse even how a whole tune goes!

And these, these music outlets you talk about... what's that all about? I suppose they would have all kinds of things that I could use to maintain my instrument with like some sort of grease for tuning slides and polishing cloths that "remove tarnish" Bah! I can rub the tennon of my whistle in the crook of my nose and lube it up fine. As far as your cleaning rag, I like to soak my whistles in a plastic bag filled with a private blend of ammonia and tobacco... they come out looking just the way I like.... Music outlets, indeed.

[Wanderer]

That's hilarious, Scott!

[jmccain]

...
Woah! Careful there jmccain! You can't just go about whipping out the "M" word around here especially when there are clocks to be stared at!

Funny! But dude, when a bunch of palm trees take over your session and can only play one tempo, and staring at their watches while doing so, you're going to be so sorry you took away the "M" option.

Best, John

[Scott McCallister]

The saddest thing is that all of these arguments can be found on this board :roll: ... except maybe the nose thing... I have only done/seen that with fishing rod segments.

I'm just floored sometimes by the persistent need to reinvent the wheel because people are so afraid of betraying the Traditional part of Irish Trad.

It would be like having an old junker guitar that is in pretty bad shape because you wanted to learn the blues. The art form is alive and vibrant, its content as fresh and contemporary (and timeless) as the emotions being conveyed. Clinging to an old tool may be good for inspiration, but new well working equipment will always shorten the distance from inspiration to appreciation (applause, money, fame, etc...)

There are so many other tools out there that have already been put through their paces refined, reworked, in many cases near perfected.

The music will survive... why make it harder than it has to be by stumbling on equipment?

[Bloomfield]

The saddest thing is that all of these arguments can be found on this board :roll: ... except maybe the nose thing... I have only done/seen that with fishing rod segments.

I'm just floored sometimes by the persistent need to reinvent the wheel because people are so afraid of betraying the Traditional part of Irish Trad.
....

Unlike that you'll understand before you are willing to start listening.

[Wormdiet]

The saddest thing is that all of these arguments can be found on this board :roll: ... except maybe the nose thing... I have only done/seen that with fishing rod segments.

+1

Good post.

[Scott McCallister]

Unlike that you'll understand before you are willing to start listening.

?

[NicoMoreno]

Unlike should be unlikely... In other words... um...

[Whitmores75087]

Talbert, I have to assume you're not aware of what a metronome is. Look it up on Google or E-bay. Handy dandy little things. Does what the clock will do, but you can vary the timing of the beat.

[Scott McCallister]

Unlike should be unlikely... In other words... um...

oh, I get what he is going for here, but I never said what I think he thinks he thought I said.

Use all the pieces, the new and the old. Funny thing about traditions, Bloom... they usually end up changing... or dying, just like everything else.

[Bloomfield]

Use all the pieces, the new and the old. Funny thing about traditions, Bloom... they usually end up changing... or dying, just like everything else.

Fair enough, and I've never doubted it. It just sounds so silly to stand on the outside and lecture to the ones on inside what they are doing right and wrong and how they'll die if they don't change, and how you don't understand.

Funny thing about any style of music (or art) is that those who have it are the best ones to ask what works, doesn't work, matters or doesn't matter.

[Jan Erik]

I've found that watching my Davy Spillane clock helps much more than the cheap clock I got at Target.