Tips for switching away from tabs

[fancypiper]

I said I don't feel with my ears ("that's a joke, son" as that rooster used to say to the little chicken hawk)....

The other thing I tried to say was that the tune just suddenly appears under your fingers (you play it without actually sitting down, learning and practicing it),

That happened to me several times this year at the Loch Norman games.

Now if I just took the time to type all those liner notes into the internet CDDB that weren't already submitted, I would know the tune is called (insert name) instead of track 6.ogg.

Lots of my database are recordings were done by friends when they visited some well known players, so the liner notes don't exist.

Agreed, at a session (and sometimes at the gigs, if the venue has that certain "feel" to it, the name of the tune and a tale about it can really add to the tune (frosting on the cake).

[Key_of_D]

Now if I just took the time to type all those liner notes into the internet CDDB that weren't already submitted, I would know the tune is called (insert name) instead of track 6.ogg.

You just answered your own problem. You have the liner notes!

[fancypiper]

I do for some, but for the home/field/radio recordings I only have the artist's name and if they don't verbally say what the name of the tunes are, I only have names like cddatrack<number>.

The tune now playing is "Maid at the Spinning Wheel" and the internet CDDA data base has it labeled "Scatter the Mud" which is the second tune of the set.

I have recorded some of the sessions at the schools I have been to (Swannanoa Gathering near Asheville, NC and Irish Week in Elkins WV), and I didn't carry pen and pad to take notes because I knew that somebody will start a new tune and I am too busy figuring out which button is the pause button on my tape recorder which gave up the ghost before I lost my mind...

Besides, I am on the drug prednisone again just now.

That drug must be worse than illegal street drugs as I sometimes can't recall the names of nieces/nephews and I have false memories.

When your own brain tells you lies, it can really be confusing. I have to go ask someone if I have done <whatever>, something that I have a memory of doing and find out that I haven't done it. Then I think I haven't done something and find out that I have done it maybe two or three times.

I was having to take morphine until I had my gall bladder removed as well. I finally was able to stop that drug about 5 months ago, but it's effects on my mind has never been like the prednisone.

All my elderly friends (and some of my young friends) have two names for what I have:

CRS (Can't Remember Something for the polite version of the term ) syndrome or "old timer's disease".

Hey, I just remembered something!

I am tapering off the prednisone, so my memory is improving (that is, if I remember correctly...)

I actually remembered a new friend that I made this year at the Loch Norman games, but I got his first and second name backwards.

I am so sore this morning and I thought I had gotten into fairly decent shape by my walks and gardening, but apparently not enough to party hearty for a full weekend.

I ain't complaining though as I feel so much better not to have pain bad enough to have to take strong pain relief medicines. I don't even take the motrin (ibuprophene horse pills, I call them) that I was prescribed when I didn't need the morphine any longer.

Life is a trip, isn't it? And my mother always said "Getting old isn't for sissies".

I don't really mind as long as the tune will stay under my fingers. It just frustrates the new trad music addics like it did me when I first started in the music when I would hear a really neat tune and want to run home and learn it "right now"

I think the term "Gan Anim" was invented to cover my and other's situation. The tune will stick, but the name is gone.

What is sad, though, I can't call it <somebodys name> favorite/fancy/etc 'cause I can't remember the folks name that I learned it from except for the time before I had to take prednisone.

I need some coffee and I am getting too long winded (fingered?) in this post.

Did I meet any of you at the Loch Norman Highland Games? I was wearing a straw hat with an red Old Time Music T shirt and hanging around annoying some really great musicians (who's names I can't recall just now...)?

One of my friends that I met again had just gotten her fiddle the year before I met her (IIRC caution, of course) and could only play one tune very slowly. That was about 3 years (or was it seven?) ago and now she knows tons of tunes and plays them extremely well.

[brewerpaul]

[quote="Basch I'll see if I can order it somewhere. Got an ISBN number somewhere?

And I have also nooted that (as mentioned) learing by ear is not as hard as it sounds. It's at least helping my existing tunes sound better [/quote]

You can get the Clarke Tinwhistle right from the source, with or without a whistle:

http://www.pennywhistle.com/clarkepage.html

[fancypiper]

I roomed with Bill Ochs the first time (IIRC) I was able to go to Elkins WV.

He gave me the Micho Russell video for being a "nice roomate".

Caution: He tells fibs sometimes because he heard me practicing outside before class and told me I was a "great piper"

I know better than that!

I would love to meet and hang with him again. He is a very great piper/whistler indeed!

He has a Taylor full set (again, IIRC).

Naomi's Fancy's third CD, "Crossing Borders" is released and will soon be available on CD Baby. Previews are on Naomi's Fancy's myspace website.

[toumi]

Just to add more noise to the discussion, I would like to put in a vote for learning from other people. I often think that we are hard wired to learn from others. I have a lot yet to learn about music, but the things i know the best are the songs and ideas that I have learned from others. I have learned tunes by ear and by notation, but the ones i learned the best i learned with friends, at church, and other odd places. It is not always an available option, but in my humble opinion, when the opportunity becomes available, it is hard to beat learning from another person.

[walrii]

I think we need to make a distinction between "reading music" and "sight reading music." At least to me, reading music means being able to waddle through a tune using the dots so I don't have to experiment with which note the tune starts on or what that high jump in the third measure ends up on. I still have to hear the tune and have it in my head if I'm going to get anywhere close sounding like the composer intended. "Reading music" is one tool to learn a tune but not the only one.

"Sight reading music" means, IMHO, having either a gift or extensive training that enables one to look a sheet of music and hear the tune in one's head (after having made an educated guess what the composer intended) then being able to play the tune right from the page. I can read music and find it helpful in learning; I am light years from being able to sight read music, probably will never learn to sight read and really don't see much use for sight reading in traditional music.

Having said all that, I am currently working on learning tunes entirely by ear. I listen to the tunes over and over on my mp3 player then try to play along. A few sections just fell into place under my fingers almost from the first try; other sections have eluded me for days. If nothing else, I'm listening more critically to the music and thinking more about the structure of the tune.

My guess is that learning from someone else is probably the easiest way. When you play with someone, you get to see the finger positions, hear the music, get explanations about stuff you are missing and feedback on your own playing. Sadly, north Texas appears to have only one whistle player, so I'm figuring it out on my own most days.

[fancypiper]

Sadly, north Texas appears to have only one whistle player, so I'm figuring it out on my own most days.

Easy solution: Buy a bunch of Clarke Megs and carry them around, then, when you spot a likely looking suspect,

Pssst! Hey kid, here is a free whistle..

First thing you know, woodenflutes and uilleann bagpipes start to show up. A tinwhistle is a gateway drug, you know

[hathair_bláth]

Walrii, I feel your pain.

As far as sight-reading music goes (that is, looking at the dots and being able to hum the tune or what have you), the easiest way to do it is the do-ray-mi-fa-so-la method. The lowest note you see is do, second lowest is ray, and so on and so forth. As long as you are familiar enough with your scales, you should be able to hum out the basic tune. It takes a bit of practice, though.

[walrii]

Sadly, north Texas appears to have only one whistle player, so I'm figuring it out on my own most days.

Easy solution: Buy a bunch of Clarke Megs and carry them around, then, when you spot a likely looking suspect,

Pssst! Hey kid, here is a free whistle..

First thing you know, woodenflutes and uilleann bagpipes start to show up. A tinwhistle is a gateway drug, you know

I like that idea! Can I get arrested for "pushing tin?"