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

[Cayden]

Unless you're particularly gifted, have hours of free time every day to practice, or are already expert on another instrument, it takes several years to play at session speed. You'll probably never be able to play as fast and as well as a professional whistle player, and there's a good chance that you'll never master ornamentation at session speeds (although you might think you have).

Sorry to be the one to break the news to you.

One reason is that Irish traditional music at session speeds is just very challenging. Listen carefully to different sorts of music, and you'll find that very few genres play at the pace of a fast reel. So the bar is set very high. I find that most beginners in despair over how slow they are would have no trouble playing along to folk music, for example.

Another reason is that a lot of sessions are dominated by really good musicians who spend a lot of time on their music. Many's the session around the US that really gets rolling around 10 PM on a weeknight -- and if you're a person who holds down a real job, has a family and comes to the music as a hobby, you have to wonder who these people are who can stay out till 2 in the morning playing music. When you get to know them, you'll discover that for one reason or another they don't have a day job or kids or other commitments. Their music is their highest priority. Kudos to them, but don't feel bad if you can't measure up to that standard. If you're lucky, you can find an intermediate session in your area more welcoming to people like yourself. (If not, maybe you should start one!)

Before you start calling me rude (which is rude in itself) : where did I go wrong ?

[BrassBlower]

If someone says "I am not interested in listening to the music, I only want to play it."

Usually all they want to play is The Butterfly and go home.

Or sing 'The Boxer'

And off-key at that.

Hey, Peter, I know how you can really shake up your next session:

Start 'Sleepwalk'.

Slan abhaile,
Jim

[JS]

A while ago, over on the fiddle-l list, somebody kicked up some dust by suggesting that heading off for sessions wasn't very productive for relatively new players, that they'd be better off getting together with a few other musicians regularly and working on a few tunes, at least if the goal was to develop musicianship. Although I enjoy the casual sessions I get to--the social part, hearing new tunes or new players--I think I learn more from the times I've spent with a couple other players, when we can run through tunes a bunch of times, try different tempos, really hear each other and respond to what we're hearing. It helps give practicing more focus too, to know what tunes are going to be played and what I need to work on to get them closer to right.

[Bloomfield]

Another reason is that a lot of sessions are dominated by really good musicians who spend a lot of time on their music. Many's the session around the US that really gets rolling around 10 PM on a weeknight -- and if you're a person who holds down a real job, has a family and comes to the music as a hobby, you have to wonder who these people are who can stay out till 2 in the morning playing music. When you get to know them, you'll discover that for one reason or another they don't have a day job or kids or other commitments. Their music is their highest priority. Kudos to them, but don't feel bad if you can't measure up to that standard. If you're lucky, you can find an intermediate session in your area more welcoming to people like yourself. (If not, maybe you should start one!)

I didn't have a chance to respond to this point yet, but I find it strange (and frankly a bit condescending) that a it is implied here that people whose highest priority is the music (professionals, I guess) are unwelcoming. It's not my experience. On the contrary. I go to a clouple of sessions in NYC (where you'll find a lot of top notch musicians playing out) and they are really very welcoming and friendly. I was shy at first (not being a good player by any strech of the imagination) but was actively encouraged by those whose highest priority was the music. One guy said: "Come out and have some tunes. We don't mind having beginners there, as long as they don't want to start every set." Another time I called a professional musician first to ask if it would be okay for me to sit in on a particular session, again I was encouraged to come and "have some tunes." When I got there I found that it was just three professionals who have recorded and who teach at workshops etc., and me. I took they guy I knew to the side and asked whether he was serious that I could join in, knowing that I had little to add to the music, and that I would be happy to just listen. He was almost offended by the suggestion that they would mind having me there. So I sit in the session and listen when I don't know the tunes (many if not most of them), and I join in when I do know the tune. A couple of times a night they'll look at me and say, "so, what have you got?" At which point I start a set. Or if I am feeling bold I'll quietly try out the first few bars of a tune I have floating around in my head and someone will look over and say, "great tune, man, go ahead," and we'll play that one. Also, at times I've seriously messed up, gone out of tune, forgotten the turn of tunes I started, and otherwise imposed mediocrity. It's not that they don't care about the standard of the music (they do) but they also care about enthusiasm for the music and about having a good relaxed friendly time for everyone. In other words: I am seriously trying to learn and to improve, and that's what matters more to them then the occasional flubbed tune.

[Cayden]

Usually all they want to play is The Butterfly and go home.

Or sing 'The Boxer'

And off-key at that.

Hey, Peter, I know how you can really shake up your next session:

Start 'Sleepwalk'.

Slan abhaile,
Jim

That was actually a reference to a hilarious session with the McCarthy sisters, Edel Fox and a few others Bloomfield and myself were at some time ago. A guy from Toronto wandered in and insisted on singing. I still have the lalala circling my mind regularly.

It's not my experience. On the contrary.

'You've come this far you may as well start one'

[BrassBlower]

Or sing 'The Boxer'

And off-key at that.

Hey, Peter, I know how you can really shake up your next session:

Start 'Sleepwalk'.

Slan abhaile,
Jim

That was actually a reference to a hilarious session with the McCarthy sisters, Edel Fox and a few others Bloomfield and myself were at some time ago. A guy from Toronto wandered in and insisted on singing. I still have the lalala circling my mind regularly.

[Cayden]

hehe you don't know the half of it

[Bloomfield]

That was actually a reference to a hilarious session with the McCarthy sisters, Edel Fox and a few others Bloomfield and myself were at some time ago. A guy from Toronto wandered in and insisted on singing. I still have the lalala circling my mind regularly.

It was a study in what not to do. The guy sang an Irish song, and did so credibly (to everyone's applause), but then couldn't leave well enough alone. Reduced inhibition as a result of drink, perhaps. He took Ado Morris's guitar (a no-no in my book right there) and went into The Boxer... Just not the right sort of thing for an Irish session. Everyone started laughing about it and singing along off key on the lalala (reduced inhibitions perhaps on part of some of the musicians). They guy then got offended and started insisting that it was actually a very sad and serious song (which wasn't the point at all) and then announced loudly that he thought there was an inside joke here at his expense and he wished someone would tell him what was going on. I don't think anyone did, and it's really a bit much to expect, too. As it was, if the guy had just listened and observed for a night, he would easily have noticed that people were playing tunes, that songs were considered the more edifying for being very occasional, and that it was all Irish material.

[Bloomfield]

It's not my experience. On the contrary.

'You've come this far you may as well start one'

You know, that was just such a great moment, and Conor knew what it meant to me and I think that added to the music all around.

[monkey587]

I was recently at a session with a rather large and diverse group of people. The one irish guy (from ireland!), who was so sure about his rhythm, yet so wrong, started the a set of obscure (but recognizeable) tunes in Gm. Most of the session joined in for the first tune and dropped out for the second, except for the irishman and a visiting fiddler from Boston, definitely "pro-level" and a class act. The contrast between his playing of the tune with good rhythm and the other guy flailing through it was striking. He eventually gave up and stopped, as the other one lept ahead, fell behind, started parts over, etc, and it was just too much of a mess to work with. The irishman crashed to the ending of his set and made a 'duelling fiddles' comment which seemed to imply that the bostonian was the one who had trouble with the set.

So... Bad rhythm, obscure set of tunes in unusual key, condescending to someone to whom one ought to be inquiring about lessons. These are bad things for a beginner to do at a session.

[BrassBlower]

hehe you don't know the half of it

According to Bloomie, you're right. I really don't know the half of it.

Now I'm gonna have that tune mucking up my brain all day. I'm just thankful it's the S&G version, and not the one you were subjected to. Dad-blasted earworm!

[shadeclan]

. . . Dazling, lightning-fast passages of ITM launched at us by top-shelf master grade, professional assault musicians in unbelievably bewildering time signatures is mandatory for hired guns . . .

Editing is a little crude, but you get the idea . . .

[Loren]

Listen up Sucka, don't bring our session down!

I Pity the Fool who can't keep up on them reels, ya hear? Hell, even Murdock can play faster than you!









Loren

[PhilO]

Bloomfield, Monkey 587, Shadeclan - great posts all!

Philo

[FJohnSharp]

What would you like to see elaborated on? I think it's a good idea to let go of the notion the highest thing in Irish music is to sit in on a session. It isn't, it's a way of socialising and can be good fun, sometimes really great music emerges on the fly. But overall the noise of the drinkers is just too intrusive, pubs are not the most conductive environment for playing good music. While playing with other people requires specific skills that are good to develop I also think playing sessions often can have a limiting impact on your playing. It's a part of playing Irish music these days I suppose but it's not the purpose or the last word in Traditional music.

So what is the purpose of playing Irish music, or any music for that matter? I personally play (and this applies to my symphony and my concert band) for the spirit of musicianship and to make someone else's day a little better for having listened. You're right that in the session venues there's not a lot of listening going on, but there's some, and it's more for me, anyway. Selfish but true.