For the Beginner Who Asks: Why Can't I Play Faster?

[FJohnSharp]

Thepoint that few types of music play as fast as the speed of an average reel is ludricous in itself.

There is no reason why anybody wouldn't be able to play in a decent manner, given they put a bit of work in. Thousands of people of all ages seem to manage, why not you guys? Just take it handy and work at it, you may surprise yourself although it won't come in weeks or months. If you don't start deluding yourself you won't have to work at it because you'll never be any good anyway you'll not get anywhere.

They play reels at my session at about 210, which is not really fast by many standards, but I can only play two tunes that fast--Silver spear and Sally Gardens. I can play snippits of other tunes--like the A part to St Anne's reel or the opening to Dick Gossip's--at that speed. I can play them all at much slower speed, but not that speed. But it's taking me a long time to make progress on any other reels.

[Loren]

Great story Phil. Oh how I can relate........


http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?p=mou ... 8%26b%3D21




Loren

[brewerpaul]

Some areas have "slow sessions" where newer players are catered to. See if you can find one of those. I used to go to one session where the first hour was slow (although the pace used to creep up) then the better players would show up and kick things into higher gear.\
If you can't find a slow session, maybe you could start one.

Actually Mike (slowair) and I have been kicking around the idea of having a little session at lunch, since we work less than a mile apart from each other - that is, if he ever gets back to me about it. . .

In other words: Mike, check your PM's

Keep me posted too. If I'm free I might be convinced to make the trek to Albany, maybe bring an octave mando for variety.

[Cayden]

Well, I think you answered yourself Peter ol' chap. No longer should you be puzzled over the phrase "session speed", especially when used by US players. We just play the tunes faster in session.

No, it shows there no such thing as 'sessionspeed' because this shows that while some people play ridiculously fast, others prefer not to. And fast=exciting? Remember the old:

“… it was never simple-hearted enough to speak plainly, and so, intensely. It therefore
dazzles us rather than moves us.”

[Bloomfield]

"... if that's a lament I'd like to hear them when they're jolly."

[Wanderer]

I think I already conceeded that faster != better.

[Cayden]

"... if that's a lament I'd like to hear them when they're jolly."

Exactly, just a jumble of..nothing, for whom the cap fits and we all know a few don't we

[srt19170]

In my experience good sessions are rarely 'very fast'.

I'm trying to picture the speed in a session Peter would consider very fast .

Being very, very good at something skews your viewpoint. I'm one (or at least was) of the best programmers in the world. My team won the World Programming Championship back in the 80s. To me, programming was like breathing, and it seemed to me that with a little effort, anyone could be a decent programmer.

Then I taught programming to college undergraduates for a few years. Young, bright, motivated kids with plenty of time to devote to learning.
Turned out, even for the above-average student, programming is not so easy to learn.

Oh, it wasn't impossible. I'd say anyone of average intelligence can learn to be a decent programmer. But will they master it in six months of part-time effort? No. Will they ever be as good as I was? For most people, no. For whatever reason, I'm blessed with the right tools to be an exceptional programmer.

So while I respect Peter enormously, I think his view on this topic is a little skewed by his own tremendous skills and experience. And because of self-selection, this skewing tends to be pervasive in the traditional music scene. For example, it's common wisdom that everyone can and should learn tunes by ear. However, about half of the adult population is tone deaf, and about a quarter of the population cannot even distinguish between two notes a semi-tone apart. Sure, all the session regulars have no problem learning by ear, but that's not because everyone can do it. It's because the ones who can't have been weeded out.

My point is that if you're new to the music you need to take the advice and wisdom from the "wise old men" with a bit of salt. Understand that these are often the people with best skills and the best experience for the music, and recognize that you don't have to (and probably won't) measure up to their expectations.

-- Scott

[Cayden]

Mitch at OzWHistles has conveniently put a few bits on-line I would not consider very fast while still very acceptable : reel and jig .

I wouldn't consider Seamus Ennis' clip above very fast either, it really doesn't need to be if you have rhythm and lift.

[dfernandez77]

... faster != better.

Regular expressions in a whistle discussion?

You need to write a tune entitled All your base are belong to us.

[malanstevenson]

Quote:
Well, I think you answered yourself Peter ol' chap. No longer should you be puzzled over the phrase "session speed", especially when used by US players. We just play the tunes faster in session.


No, it shows there no such thing as 'sessionspeed' because this shows that while some people play ridiculously fast, others prefer not to.

Peter, I think what Wanderer was getting at is just that the expectations of listeners and players alike are that diddley-dee needs to be very fast to be good - and for that we can thank (on a - literally- accelerating curve as we move through time) the likes of The Bothy Band, De Danann, Altan, Dervish, etc., since that flat-out group sound is what many folks are first exposed to and wind up trying to emulate in their playing in a group context. The pace and approach to tunes as played in Kitty's kitchen is something many are likely rarely exposed to in most places (hereabouts included).

Personally, I have the toughest time playing reels well either fast or slow(er), as I seem to want to 'swing' many of them to the point they almost sound like hornpipes, or fluctuate between that and more flat-out playing (depending on the tune and the instrument - pipes, whistle or flute). The easiest way for me to come to grips with them is to start playing it as a slow reel, get a feel for the 'music' of the tune, experiment with variations, and then gradually speed it up until I reach the point where all that musicality starts to fall apart, pushing it a bit farther each time or just leaving the speed alone, depending on how I've got the tune in my head. With greater speed it eventually starts to become a different tune of course, exhibiting an entirely different character and appeal (or not) all its own, but it can also just get ridiculous and mechanical and the tune becomes a parody of itself, as often happens in sessions where someone starts it too fast.


Mark

[StevieJ]

Peter, you really ought to get out more.

Anyway all this discussion of how fast sessions are or ought to be is a diversion from the original point. Um, what was it again?

Oh yeah I think some of this has to do with the age at which you take up your first instrument and something to do with physical tension. I've seen many enthusiastic people of 40 and over take up Irish music on a first instrument at the school I used to teach at, and heard quite a few of them complain that after a few years' hard work, speed just wasn't coming to them. And I'm not talking about anything I would call remotely fast. Others didn't complain, but... it all seemed like such hard work. After a few years of this teaching I got to the stage where I would try hard to disabuse adult beginners of any expectations they might have before accepting them as fiddle students.

On the other hand those that have played other instruments, especially as children, do much better. I don't know what it's all about - neural pathways established in childhood, the adult's thinking mind interfering with the body, or what. You wouldn't think that the whistle could cause people problems but it can.

Another thing to consider, apart from chronic tension that settles upon us with the stresses of life, is the general temporary level of tension that our workaday existence imposes on us. I remember fondly what would happen to me, back in my fiddle playing days, after a week of sessions at a festival - or even a weekend bash with the chance to play in a relaxed but stimulating atmosphere for 10 or 15 hours over a couple of days. All the systems would wake up, the cares of the working week would melt away, and I could play what seemed like three times faster and better than in real life, surprising myself and others.

[Brian Boru]

Great story Phil. Oh how I can relate........


http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?p=mou ... 8%26b%3D21




Loren

Ok... so that explains the Mountain Dew obsession I have noticed on this site. Its all about speed...

[monkey587]

There are a lot of people caught up in the idea that it takes forever to learn to play in sessions. So they go to "slow sessions" with the hopes that if they get 1bpm faster each time, then 45 years down the road, they'll be able to play in "real" session. While the slow practice idea is really important, at some point you just need to take the leapor you'll second-guess yourself out of ever getting there.

Don't be afraid of sessions. If you're not nearly up to it, go to listen to get a feel for the music. If you're getting closer to it, play quietly and try to match the rhythm of the other players (assuming that rhythm is good). You'll get there if you're willing to listen.

I used to teach guitar, and I found that most of the players who "couldn't get it" mostly couldn't get it because of self-defeating attitudes.

[Bloomfield]

Don't be afraid of sessions. If you're not nearly up to it, go to listen to get a feel for the music. If you're getting closer to it, play quietly and try to match the rhythm of the other players (assuming that rhythm is good). You'll get there if you're willing to listen.

I think that's right. I don't think people go to sessions enough to just listen. It's really important and if you are there week after week for a few months, listening and watching the scene, chances are you'll have a sense of how people behave and treat each other in that session. It seems inconceivable to me how someone could show up at a session for the first time to play. If someone says "I am not interested in listening to the music, I only want to play it." They aren't ready for the music, let alone sessions.