The Yin and Yang of Solstice

Friends,

You know me, so you know my proclivity toward negative self-talk and the dark side. Solstice, and summer's in particular, is my annual resetting of intention to have more light and bright in my life.

I remember the first time I knew I was in love with Irish music. It was the Old Songs Festival where Trian (Billy McComisky, Liz Carroll, and Daithi Sproule) played. At that same festival, I came into contact with the band Nightingale. That combination of musicians and music changed the way I listened to music. And pointed out, in a story I often tell, how differently great musicians approach the music to get similar results.

A few years after that, I had another perspective-changing experience. There's a fantastic fiddle player named Sandy Jones, who hails from Ohio (at least last time I checked...). At Irish Arts Week, I saw Sandy sitting on the outskirts of one of those impossibly huge sessions, and asked him what his top 10 recordings were. A bit of background: Patrick Ourceau had conscientiously given us a list of the top 10 recordings he felt we needed to have to be properly educated. As a result, I was inspired to assemble my "must have" list, so I went to all my favorite players and asked. Sandy looked at me funny, considered the question, and said simply, "session tapes." I went away confused. Of course, at the time, I wasn't playing in the kinds of sessions he was playing in. It was an entirely different universe.

All right, Trad, what the h*** are you talking about? What do they have to do with the Dark Side? Well, truth be told, it got me thinking about where the music comes from, and how it gets from one person to another. The grungy crackly session tapes (or mp3s these days) are just as important and influential as the professional studio recordings.

For the past six months, I've been listening to almost nothing BUT session tapes -- recordings of sessions with friends over there this past Winter. Brilliant playing -- unadorned, straight forward, brilliant tunes, gorgeous settings, lots of fun. Two days ago, I was having literally A tune with some friends of mine (we were working out the kinks in The Wind that Shakes the Barley -- although we're still not certain we have the "right" version!), and my friend C asked if I ever taught or played the tunes we learned in Ireland over here at session. I had to think about it. I'd been so busy soaking them up and enjoying the energy of the tunes, that it hadn't occurred to me to share. So, thanks to C, that'll change!

And, in the process of thinking about that, I realized that I had stopped listening to other players (with the exception of Willie Kelly and Mike Rafferty) almost completely. So...I put the Trian CD in my car stereo. I've been tooling around for the past two days with it blasting in the speakers. Now, granted yer basic '06 Sentra doesn't exactly boast a high falutin' stereo system, but it gets the job done. You know, maybe I'll give you some tunes from them. They've got great Liz compositions just dripping all over that CD.

It's nice to be reminded that your heroes are still as damned amazing as they were 12 years ago, anyway. And I'm going to let them sit in there and play for awhile. Daithi's accompaniment is so subtle and textured, and absolutely perfect with Billy's driving and nimble box playing. Liz is from another planet, so I know I don't have to tell you what her playing adds to the trio. It's a shame they're not still performing together. That was a power trio.

David P. and I were talking maybe a month ago about the feeling of having "the lift" in the playing. I was listening to Liz Carroll and thinking about the tone and the musicality of her playing. I know the next time I sit down, I'm going to be deliberately focusing on capturing that tone. For fiddles, the control of tone and sound is primarily in the bow and the bow hand. For the whistle and flute, it lies in the breath and breathing. For accordion and concertina? Hand and wrist control. Same for bouzouki and guitar, although you have hand and pick pressure and arm control. Can't help you with French horn, but I'd say for Uilleann pipes, well...nope. Can't help you there, either.

Next time you put a recording in, whether it is a lowly session tape or a studio production, do yourself a favor. Take a listen to the other players. Find someone on that recording whose tone and phrasing catches your ear. See if you can reproduce what they are doing. We learn more than tunes and set lists from recordings. We learn how to really make the music.

So? What are you waiting for? Go make some music!

The Trad