Forum to Learn New Tunes

travhicks · Post by **travhicks** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 2:08 pm

Greetings!

I am a bit of a casual lurker on this board. I haven't contributed a whole lot to this community; however, I feel like I'm still "learning" more than "doing" and can stand to sit back and let others do the talking for now. One thing that just struck me, though, is the type of information/gossip/instruction, etc., that I "get" from this forum. It seems to break down into the following categories, for me: technical assistance, announcements (tionols, items for sale, etc), criticisms, reviews, musical instruction, requests for information, and maybe a few others. One thing that I personally need right now, as a workaholic architect and devoted father, is a venue to learn new tunes. I don't make it to the sessions much any more, and I have found it difficult, lately, to force myself to sit down and learn new tunes. Somehow attending a session regularly used to hold me accountable to learning new tunes. Sitting at home by myself lacks that accountability. Has anyone ever tried to use this forum to learn new tunes and to hold each other accountable to learning those tunes? You could almost announce a tune per week, give a few recorded examples, ask everyone to go off and learn it, provide moral and technical support during the week, and then have some wrap-up at the end of the week. People could post to the clips n snips site for feedback, if they're up for it...or not, if they don't feel up for that kind of exposure. Anyway, I'm just wondering if there are others out there like myself who could use the added focus of "something...anything" to learn new tunes. In a way, this approach is similar to scoiltrad, but without the devoted professional instruction/feedback. Would anyone be up for a trial tune of the week? Suggestions, anyone??

anima · Post by **anima** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 5:06 pm

ok, so name your tune.

Jeff

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 5:13 pm

Perhaps we need to stratify a couple of levels - newbie (i.e. slow session) and advanced.

I like the concept, but one per week is a bit agressive for me given my experience level. One per month would be better, I've a full time job and a family as well.

Regards,
Gary

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Feb 17, 2004 5:13 pm

And name your preferred version. And your preferred level of difficulty.

Experience on this board suggests that these issues will lead to the usual amount of acrimony and bickering. Perhaps a dedicated web site would be more appropriate to what you are proposing.

djm

phcook · Post by **phcook** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:35 am

And perhaps name a place to find a jpeg file of te tune, for those who prefer reading before hearing.

Philippe

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 7:22 am

In the meantime, check this and have fun!
That should keep you busy for a bit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/

travhicks · Post by **travhicks** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:42 am

EDITED!! When looking back at the tunes from BMc's CD, I remembered that they aren't the most common of session tunes, so I've revised my suggested set of tunes. Read below.

OK, since I started this thread, then I should at least respond to some of the comments...all well taken. I don't have the means to establish a website for such an endeavor; therefore, I would be appealing to those of similar interests on this forum...a subset of the C+F group. In regards to experience level, version, etc., all I can say is that there's no way this exercise would please everyone. I'll just throw something out there, and if you're interested, then join in; if not, then I can understand. I didn't have any particular tunes, styles, versions, etc., in mind when I posted this yesterday. Since the question arose, then I'll propose that, as a test, a group of us learn Ronan Browne & Peter O'Loughlin's set of jigs on their new album, Touch Me If You Dare, the set including Jackson's Morning Brush and The Pipe on the Hob. It seems as though this album is quite universally respected on this board, and the tunes were selected for their being some of the cornerstones of Irish traditional music. So, I'll offer this: if anyone wants to commit to learning this set of tunes over the next few weeks, let me know by PM. Then, we can post our results, in one form or another, online. Prerequisites? The CD, I guess, and the ability to learn and play a jig. Experience level? I guess it can vary, as long as you can play a jig, which would seem to include more folks here than not. Here's a place to find notation of some common tunes: http://thesession.org/tunes/

Any takers?

Travis

JamieKerr · Post by **JamieKerr** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:45 am

Travis, please check your private messages...

Thanks

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 1:53 pm

I can host the sound file(s) and sheet music images at our site, but don't have the time right now to develop them. If someone is interested in taking on the work of this and comes up with a nice format (both visually and intellectually) that would work you're welcome to contact me and I can get it posted straight away.

Brian~

phcook · Post by **phcook** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 2:14 am

Thanks Travis!

Philippe