We played!
Boy, did we play! We played:
- Gentle Maiden Munster Cloak (Waltzes)
- Galway Bay (April 08 Waltz o' the Month) -- next month, we'll work on inserting it in between the two waltzes in the set above. Probably best to think about playing each waltz only twice in that case.
- Mountain Road Swinging on a Gate Merry Blacksmith (Reels)
- Kesh Jig Father O'Flynn (Top O' Cork Road) Blackthorn Stick (Jigs)
- Eagle's Whistle (March slow tune o' the month) Inisheer
- Hinchy's Delight (two part April jig o' the month) Rose in the Heather (Jigs)
- Father Kelly's Speed the Plough (more Reels)
- Birthday Cake somewhere in there....yum!
- The Otter's Holt (April reel o' the month) Earl's Chair (NEW tune) (Reel)
- Tonra's Tobin's Morrison's Out on the Ocean
- The Swallow's Tail Cooley's Come West Along the Road (Reels)
I think that was about it. A few of us messed around a little with Long Golden Hair in two keys, and I got some suggestions for tunes to play next time. Elaine brought a March/Polka, and says she has a few suggestions. David (whistle) gave me some tune suggestions.
Your May Challenge: Come up with a tune to go after The Otter's Holt! If you're feeling creative, how about two tunes? Your entries should be e-mailed to me by April 30, 2008: fidilkid@hotmail.com.
Next Session: May 7, 2008, 7:30 PM.
Birthdays
It was nice to see such a big group last night, and happy birthday again to Dyan and also to Leanne. We have two friends here that are each celebrating a big birthday. One is ecstatic and embracing the experience, one is a little sad at reaching a milestone. One thing I've learned after so many birthdays of my own is that every one is a blessing, even as it carries us further along the stream of our lives. If you're feeling a little sad about getting there and maybe not having done something you had hoped to achieve, you're certainly not alone. I view every birthday as a personal New Year - a chance to make another resolution and to take one step (even if it is only one step this year) toward whatever huge thing I always wanted to do. So, my friends, find your next step! This is your year! Have a great one!
Tunes
I'm so glad that people continue to bring tunes to contribute. It would be great if you e-mailed the names of the tunes a couple of weeks BEFORE the session so that I can include them in the list.
As mentioned, I will continue to work on notation for each of the tunes on the session list. It occurs to me that there are folks who only learn by ear, and in their case, I think it'll be helpful to include a .wav or .mp3 file of the tune as well. I will get to work on that shortly, as well.
Techno-thoughts
This very nicely segues into my technology blips. Both David (mandolin, etc.) and Fritz (uilleann pipes, etc.) have sent me useful comments on how they are wrestling technology into becoming a very useful beast of burden. Their comments follow:
From Fritz:
"What I am currently doing notationwise is go to http://www.thesession.org/ or http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind or downloading and searching through the Norbeck files at http://www.norbeck.nu/index.html for my ABC file. I then copy and paste the tune as you would regular text into the ABC Navigator program http://abcnavigator.free.fr/abcnvgt.php?lang=eng and print out the sheet music.
More detailed instructions (there is no manual for ABC Navigator): While in the program window of ABC Navigator hit the ABC button and then the edit mode button and paste the ABC file into the program’s edit window. Hit the ok button and then the “maximize score panel button” and the file will display as typical music notation. You can then have the program play the tune or you can read it and play it yourself or print it out. The rendering is very good and the whole process is free!
For editing music I am using Noteworthy Composer http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/ . It is fairly inexpensive and does a great job of creating any kind of classical notation. A trick I use to get a trad tune into editable mode is to save an ABC file in ABC Navigator as midi and then open it in Noteworthy Composer (Noteworthy wont accept ABC format).
Fritz "
*Trad note: Noteworthy makes very nice looking notation. If you were at yesterday's session, you'll have gotten a copy of Fritz' transcription of Planxty Fitzgerald, which was done in Noteworthy.
From Dave:
"Here are some links and some software notes that might be blog-worthy : First, if you find an ABC for a song and you want to turn that intosheet music or a MIDI file, you can go here: http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html you can just copy / paste the ABC text into the web page and it willgenerate both sheet music and MIDI.... for those of us too lazy toinstall software such as Noteworthy. Next, a bunch of free trad mp3s from Comhaltas, from their books of popular tunes. Helpful to those of us who are trying to learn commontunes, by ear: http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_seisiun_book_volume_1/ http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foinn_seisiun_book_volume_2/ And last, I guess, maybe it's worth mentioning to people that there'snow lots of software that lets you slow music down. Software likeAmazing Slow Downer isn't new. But if you just want to slow a trackdown to make it easier to learn, then both Windows Media Player andQuicktime can do that. In WMP, press Ctrl-Shift-S for Slow mode(press Ctrl-Shift-N to return to Normal speed). In Quicktime, clickon Window menu > Show A/V Controls, to show the dialog that has aPlayback Speed control. At least, that's where the options arelocated in the current versions of the software, on my Windows PC.
Dave"
*Trad note: These are some great tips also. I agree with Dave that Comhaltas is a great resource for tunes. In fact, they also preserve stories and songs, in case you're interested. One thing to watch for, as we've found with TheSession.org and other sources, is that you will always find minor oddities in versions. I'm seeing a pattern with that, and I now generally expect to have to modify a version to sync up with whatever I understand is a common session version. For other sources, I highly recommend Dave Mallinson's books (one hundred enduring session tunes, one hundred annoying session tunes, one hundred polkas that will make you want to put your eye out...you get the idea). In playing and discussing the tunes, we've found that there are the least amount of differences on standard session tunes with those books.
In Conclusion...
Thanks again, Lads for such a fabulous evening of music. I look forward to seeing everyone next month -- we'll continue this ultra-organized approach, as I think it keeps us all on track. Please practice the session sets of tunes on the right hand side of the screen there. I will be adding the new sets shortly.
Please send me an e-mail (fidilkid@hotmail.com) if you need music files or sheet music for any of the tunes in the sets. Elaine, I will get you my version of Mountain Road.
I would really like to see more people memorizing tunes, and not just relying on the sheet music. As you know, I'm not a big proponent of, "I can play anything. What page is it on?" That's my hang-up, I suppose, and I certainly won't throw you out if you use sheet music for everything. The rhythm of the session overall is dependent upon people having enough tunes to make the music flow at a certain speed and with enough confidence to make it as much fun to listen to as it is to play.
In the few years I've gone to Ireland and played in sessions, I've made loads of mistakes, embarrassed myself plenty, learned a lot about the music and how it is shared, and have NEVER ONCE seen a music stand or sheet music at a session. So, right or wrong, my hope is to give you guys the chance to practice the music enough to be able to play it without spots in front of you! Whether or not it ever happens for any or all of you doesn't really matter, I suppose! It's the journey that's the grand Craic, eh?
Happy Spring and see you all very, very soon!
The Trad
