Gang, I just wanted to remind you that this weekend, February 12-14, 2010, is the annual DanceFlurry Festival!
Visit http://www.danceflurry.org/festival/index.html for more information, including times, schedules, locations, jamming, performers....and parking!
Have a great time and hope to see you there!!!
The Trad
p.s. make sure you go see Nightingale, one of my very favorite bands! Also, Storyteller Bairbre McCarthy will be there with her very large posse, including one of our very favorite local fiddlers: Maura MacNamara! Bairbre and Maura are finishing up an album to be released very soon. Eyes open here for details!
Showing posts with label Irish music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Irish music. Show all posts
1.15.2010
Irish Slow Session at The Jam & Sing Thing
Hi, Friends! I'd like to invite you all the come to the Jam & Sing Thing this weekend (http://www.jamsingthing.webs.com/ for schedule, ticket prices, staff/workshops, etc.), January 15-17, 2010 on Madison Avenue in Albany, NY.
We're doing an "As If" Old Songs Irish Slow Session so folks who haven't visited us at Old Songs on the second Wednesday of the month can see what we're all about.
Tonight, Friday 1/15, we have guest teacher David Smith teaching one of four tunes (we'll see what people want to work on). We will provide sheet music, so bring a pencil to mark changes. Bring a recorder to capture what the tunes sound like! I will also lead a tune, and then we'll take suggestions from the group for tunes to work on slowly. We'll also play some of our standard Old Songs Slow Session sets (look to the right for more info), and we can see if we have tunes in common to share!
If you're an intermediate player and have 50-150 tunes at speed, feel free to participate in the Tri-City Trad Irish Mist Session that will follow in the same location. Those who are newer to the music are invited to stay and participate when they can!
See you at the Jam & Sing Thing!
The Trad
fidilkid at hotmail dot com
See you at the Jam & Sing Thing!
The Trad
fidilkid at hotmail dot com
7.26.2008
Walking the Dog or "How I found my Beginner's Mind"
As many of you know, our dog is getting on in years. This means that her get-up-and-go is starting to...well, you know. I've started walking her on a lead so I don't have to worry that she'll wander into the road if a car comes by, instead of going off the road like I need her to. We used to walk three miles every morning at a nice, brisk pace. Now we walk maybe a mile, and the walking part is punctuated by frequent stops to sniff, root around in undergrowth, and maybe lap some water out of a mud puddle.
I don't rush her. I listen to her being her dogly self while I enjoy the sunshine, the gorgeous meadows, the cows in the neighboring farm's fields. I suspect the lead makes her feel connected to me. I know I feel more connected to her as she ages. I feel like I have to care for her more, look after her more, love her more. What strikes me, though, is the amount of time I have now to really look around me as we meander down the road. There is only one side road near our house and it is more heavily travelled than ours. We don't generally walk that way. If we were to walk a loop from our house, it would be about six miles long. That's a little more time than I want to invest, and I don't think she'd survive the trek. Instead, we walk south along our road for maybe a half mile. And then we walk back north along our road.
As we walked along in the glorious sunshine yesterday evening, it struck me that I've been observing this stretch of road through the seasons for over seven years now. I'm starting to notice things changing. Little things. Neighbor's got a new combine. There are three calves in the upper field. The county road crew doesn't know how to patch potholes very well. The farmers down the road rebuilt part of their stone wall. The former councilman has his garden in. The new folks have someone to mow for them. Little things that punctuate country life.
I like having a history with these little things. It is the stuff of living. They say not to sweat the small stuff, but actually, I think the small stuff is kind of the point. Did you ever notice that practicing your instrument is like walking the same stretch of road every day for a year? You focus on the little things until suddenly they're automatic, and then you're really free to look at (or listen to) the bigger picture! One day you're grinding away in a session because they're playing one of the six tunes you know and you'll be darned if you'll miss your chance to play it! You keep going to sessions, you keep playing at home, you take your lessons, and so on. And then it happens...one day you realize that you're not struggling to keep up! You're actually trading variations with someone and smiling and you're ready for the tune change. Or you're just listening because the people you're hanging with are so much fun to listen to...and...YEAH! This Irish Music stuff is so cool!!!!
That's when you realize that, now more than ever, those stupid scales and breath- or bow-control strategies and interval exercises are critical. And suddenly you're focused back on the little things. When you reach that point, you've achieved what Zen Buddhism calls "Beginner's Mind." You don't need to know it all, but the simple choice to focus on the little things changes everything. When does it happen, you ask? Well, it's that moment when you discover that knowing the scales in every key makes it quicker to learn a tune. It's the willingness to revisit a sticky spot in a tune, whether you're adjusting your fingering or breathing or bowing or phrasing, to see if there is a new way to play it. It is the ability to hear the pulse of a tune in someone else's playing and to know that you will give your all to get that same sound.
Above all, it is the patience to hear the music from all the players that surround you, good or bad, new or old, and respect their journey and incorporate it into your own experience.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read what I have to say. I'm sorry, but I've got to go now. I have to walk the dog.
The Trad
I don't rush her. I listen to her being her dogly self while I enjoy the sunshine, the gorgeous meadows, the cows in the neighboring farm's fields. I suspect the lead makes her feel connected to me. I know I feel more connected to her as she ages. I feel like I have to care for her more, look after her more, love her more. What strikes me, though, is the amount of time I have now to really look around me as we meander down the road. There is only one side road near our house and it is more heavily travelled than ours. We don't generally walk that way. If we were to walk a loop from our house, it would be about six miles long. That's a little more time than I want to invest, and I don't think she'd survive the trek. Instead, we walk south along our road for maybe a half mile. And then we walk back north along our road.
As we walked along in the glorious sunshine yesterday evening, it struck me that I've been observing this stretch of road through the seasons for over seven years now. I'm starting to notice things changing. Little things. Neighbor's got a new combine. There are three calves in the upper field. The county road crew doesn't know how to patch potholes very well. The farmers down the road rebuilt part of their stone wall. The former councilman has his garden in. The new folks have someone to mow for them. Little things that punctuate country life.
I like having a history with these little things. It is the stuff of living. They say not to sweat the small stuff, but actually, I think the small stuff is kind of the point. Did you ever notice that practicing your instrument is like walking the same stretch of road every day for a year? You focus on the little things until suddenly they're automatic, and then you're really free to look at (or listen to) the bigger picture! One day you're grinding away in a session because they're playing one of the six tunes you know and you'll be darned if you'll miss your chance to play it! You keep going to sessions, you keep playing at home, you take your lessons, and so on. And then it happens...one day you realize that you're not struggling to keep up! You're actually trading variations with someone and smiling and you're ready for the tune change. Or you're just listening because the people you're hanging with are so much fun to listen to...and...YEAH! This Irish Music stuff is so cool!!!!
That's when you realize that, now more than ever, those stupid scales and breath- or bow-control strategies and interval exercises are critical. And suddenly you're focused back on the little things. When you reach that point, you've achieved what Zen Buddhism calls "Beginner's Mind." You don't need to know it all, but the simple choice to focus on the little things changes everything. When does it happen, you ask? Well, it's that moment when you discover that knowing the scales in every key makes it quicker to learn a tune. It's the willingness to revisit a sticky spot in a tune, whether you're adjusting your fingering or breathing or bowing or phrasing, to see if there is a new way to play it. It is the ability to hear the pulse of a tune in someone else's playing and to know that you will give your all to get that same sound.
Above all, it is the patience to hear the music from all the players that surround you, good or bad, new or old, and respect their journey and incorporate it into your own experience.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read what I have to say. I'm sorry, but I've got to go now. I have to walk the dog.
The Trad
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
