Expanding the repertoire

[Leech]

I can read music, but do a lot better with a recording with which to listen. I also drive 100 miles to work give or take, so it's a nice way to get those tunes beaten into my brain. I was wondering is anyone can recommend a CD with a collection of common session tunes so I can get learning and not embarrass myself at sessions. Any help yinz can afford is much apprecciated.
-Leech-

[brianc]

I can read music, but do a lot better with a recording with which to listen. I also drive 100 miles to work give or take, so it's a nice way to get those tunes beaten into my brain. I was wondering is anyone can recommend a CD with a collection of common session tunes so I can get learning and not embarrass myself at sessions. Any help yinz can afford is much apprecciated.
-Leech-

Get this book & CD:


121 Favorite Irish Session Tunes

http://www.homespuntapes.com/prodpg/pro ... &prodType=

Or this one:

Irish Session Tunes: Blue Book CD
http://www.ossianusa.com/Merchant2/merc ... e=00685-CD

They also have the Blue Book and the Orange Book. Be sure to get the CDs if you want to hear the tunes, of course. The nice thing about the Blue and Orange books is that the tunes are played as sets.

[billh]

I dunno about the 'session tunes' recordings.

"Doublin'" by Paddy Keenan and Paddy Glackin has lots of common session tunes, and played at a moderately brisk tempo (as opposed to 'mad fast'). I think you'd be better off picking recordings that were on favorites lists for their own merit than choosing something packaged for session learning.

You're right though, listening is really the key - reading the tunes from a page won't get you there.

The classic recordings of the greats (i.e. Clancy, Ennis, etc. and of course of fiddle/flute players as well) are widely known, so those tracks will be played in sessions or at least known and recognized. You might search the archives for lists of "classic" recordings.

I'm talking of course about stuff from the pre-CD era here, though many of the classic recordings have been re-issued on CD.

If you are inclined towards having notes on a page (again, of mixed benefit/harm since it can circumvent the ears!), here's an idea: obtain Ceol Rince na hEireann volume I, full of fantastic tunes, and check the tune sources listed in the back. Where possible, track down recordings of the same artists playing those tunes, and learn from the recordings. CRE v. 3 may be of interest because rather than being notated from live musical performances, it is a collection of transcriptions of commercial recordings. The fact that a recording made it into CRE 3 is a fairly good sign that it has high merit and is respective of the tradition (and that it is not too recent a recording).

Bill

[Joseph E. Smith]

Listening is really the key - reading the tunes from a page won't get you there .

Yes, beyond all doubt I hold this to be true. If one knows how to read music, then learning from sheet music goes a long way in pointing the piper in the right direction.

Combining the two, listening and reading, one has a strong method for learning tunes.

I agree, reading from a page won't get you there, but it can't hurt in figuring out the bare bones of a tune... of course, that is also subject to the particular setting of the sheet music.

Perhaps the statement "reading from a page won't get you all the way there", might be a more accurate way to put it.

[billh]

I edited my previous message to include comments about Ceol Rince na h-Eireann. V3 is a good way to get both recordings and transcriptions to go with them (though I prefer V1 in general for tunes).

[totokots]

I would recommend "Touch Me if You Dare" by Ronan Browne (pipes and flute) and Peadar O'Loughlin- this CD features a lot of commonly heard session tunes played at a beautiful steady pace. (I'm assuming you want recommendations featuring pipes?).

[John O'Gara]

I just recently picked up these two books for fiddle with CD. Tunes are played at a nice pace for learning:

http://www.elderly.com/books/items/01-900084.htm

http://www.elderly.com/books/items/01-900085.htm

[CHasR]

Philadelphia Ceili Group http://www.philadelphiaceiligroup.org
has a CD which covers some common seisun work. I cant recall if there's a piper on there, but at least you'll have the tunes;

And yes indeed, listening and reading together is definitely the right way to get tunes in your ears +fingers to stay.

Nice dog too.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Nice dog too.

Bullys rule! But, they are not very conducive to a intense practice session... they have a tendency to jump all over the pipes and the piper if they feel the slightest bit ignored. At 65 lbs, my boyo has no difficulty distracting me, whether I'm reading sheet music or listening to tunes.

[CHasR]

not to hijack yer CD search, ("yinz"...must be a Ptsbrgh thing...)

my dog's completely given up on the whole situation... She sees pipes come out, she just goes for a snooze...(1/2 chow, 1/2 Bordercollie)

[vanfleet]

Hey Leech;
I'd like to offer a different approach; looks like you are from the Pittsburgh area, and probably hoping to attend Pittsburgh sessions? Just go! Listen to the tunes they play there, and ask the tune names if you don't know them. Practice up on the tunes you actually hear them playing and eventually you'll be playing along.

The session in Pittsburgh is going to include completely different tunes than the one in Philadelphia, or Chicago. The locals will have their favorites, copied off their favorite recordings or tune books or learned from their teachers. As far as I can tell, nobody actually *uses* those 1001 favorite session tunes lists . . . you could learn 999 of them, and still find yourself sitting in a session with your finger up your nose.

Part of the fun of a local session is just that -- its the local favorites!

We could have another discussion sometime about whether the session includes a piper on a regular basis, and whether the musicians will play piping tunes or avoid them . . .

[DarthWeasel]

Sitting in at a session regularly, recording it, and listening again an again is the best way to learn that session’s set of tunes, no question. Even ask someone after a set, “Hey what was that tune?”

I’m going up to Philly to play on Sunday and I’ve never worried about what tunes they normally play. I do have recordings and I’m working on some of them but when I do go (which is rare) the people there are usually polite enough to let me throw in a few sets. If the right people are there, they always seem to know the tune and pick up on it and play along.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Leech, while working on being able to sit in with a session is an admirable goal, I feel that developing your piping to a higher plane is a far better one. Trying to play at break neck speeds (something I find akin to a social suicide) does nothing but waste the music. Mind you, that is simply my opinion, but wouldn't you rather be able to take advantage of every skill and nuance, of every mode of expression that only the Uilleann Pipes can evoke? There simply is no room in session playing which allows the pipes and piper to do any of that... if you ask me, that's a terrible shame.

Session playing won't make you a better piper, but it might make you a lazy one.

[DarthWeasel]

I don't think it needs to be one or the other.
Getting out every once and a while and playing a few tunes is alot of fun (for me anyway). But I agree that you should keep the real goal in mind.

[malanstevenson]

As the esteemed Mr. Power said to the assembled pipers at the SCUPC tionol a few weeks back, 'most of you already play too many tunes for the level you're playing.' To that end we went back and polished up a chestnut (An Phis Fliuch) that most of us already knew, but (speaking for myself) tended to rush through in playing with others. As Himself said, that tune is all about the interplay and contrast between the open and closed playing. Blasting through it with a fiddle player is fun, but all the piperly bits get flattened.

That being said, I confess that I am a tune hoor (as opposed to a toon hoor - although I do have a South Park problem), more often than not to the detriment of playing very many new tunes well and developing a piperly approach to them. And this in turn is a direct result of session attendance, and the desire to keep up with the Joneses who play so many more tunes than I do. And don't get me started on speed merchants, which further murders good piping (for most mortals). That's why its good to have another instrument to pull out at sessions (flute/whistle in my case, fiddle in Mr. Power's), so I can plug away in the brawl and don't have to butcher good piping tunes. Once in a while the pipes come out and assert their stately selves, and on a few tunes I can play a decent, stripped-down version of a tune that I'm happy with, but for the most part I find the rythmic, pulsing quality of flute-playing more suited to session playing. YMMV.