The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #93416 Message #1798277
Posted By: Vixen
31-Jul-06 - 07:36 PM
Thread Name: Instr. Medleys: How to?
Subject: RE: Instr. Medleys: How to?
Wow! I *knew* this was the place to ask the question!
First, thank you to all with advice!
Second, I'm playing both for listening audiences and dancing audiences, so I'm clearly going to need to keep my audience in mind.
Third, I'm learning the material by ear while having the dots in front of me. I can't read at the tempo I can listen at.
Fourth, I'm playing whistle, so I'm the one whose keys/ranges are limited.
Finally, I'm playing rhythm guitar while learning the tunes, and then switching to whistle when I "get" the melodies.
Kat's "one tune reminded me of another, that one reminded me of another, etc" is where my urge to make medleys comes from. Sorcha's "2nd tune starts on last note of 1st" is very helpful, as is Scrump's "If the 2nd tune (B) starts on the 4th note, but the first (A) finishes on the 4th, you could drop the 1st note of B so you can continue with B from the start of the next bar. Alternatively you could possibly drop the 4th note of the last bar of A instead," and Leeneia's modulation suggestion of "You play some extra chords between the pieces, either block chords or arpeggios ending with (memorize this phrase)the five-seven chord of the new piece".
Thank you for all these ideas I can play around with!!!
As for Mr. Kirkpatrick, I can sympathize with his dislike of gratuitous medlification, and I have experienced "the hypnotic or trance-like state" induced by "exploring a dance tune played over and over again". I found the article interesting!
Thanks again for all the good input! Mudcats are THE BEST!
V