percussion at sessions

Subject: percussion at sessions
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 08:32 AM

Any views on "percussion" at acoustic sessions? At nearly all of the sessions I've been to, there's been some sort of percussion - usually a bodhran, and occasionally one of those wooden seaty-beaty things that you sit on and bang with your hands (don't know what they're called but they can make a great sound).

I used to do a bit of drumming years ago, and was contemplating getting a bit of jug-band-type kit together - perhaps a washboard, blocks/skulls, hit-hat, even a small drum. Just enough to back up the sessions now and then without getting in the way.

Anyone do this?

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Leadfingers
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 08:58 AM

Volume is the only problem - Washboard kit is normally OK , but once you start adding Hi Hat and such its TOO easy to overpower acoustic stuff !

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 09:38 AM

Yes - that had occurred to me - was thinking of using thimbles and/or brushes.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: bubblyrat
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:03 AM

We always take a bag of "things " with us to our Marlow Bottom Acoustic session ( shaky eggs, rattles,tambourines,etc) and lay them out on a table for people to pick up and join in with if a) they want to and b)it suits the tune ! I like to join in,if not playing,with different sized and filled glasses and two pens-----very satisfying !! But I guess not every session feels as comfortable with the arrangement as we do----although most of our joiners-in are pretty good,I have to say.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Stu
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:13 AM

If it's an Irish trad session then bodhran if you're a good, sensitive player and know the tunes inside out, otherwise forget it, especially shakey eggs and those sodding things you sit an and beat with your palms - how to destroy the subtlety of the music in one fell swoop.

That said, if it's not a trad Irish session and no-one minds then go for it but remember the melody players need to be heard. There used to be a session over the hill from our house where anything went, and it could be a wonderful, mad night out.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: GUEST,Joe P
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:21 AM

Sometimes a bit of bad percussion can totally put me off the rhythm of a tune, but on the other hand a friend dof mine plays one of the boxes you sit on, and played well it can sound great.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: GUEST,Tom Bliss
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:23 AM

Cajon - pronounced ca-hon

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Will Fly
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:29 AM

Our monthly sessions at the Bull in Ditchling usually attract anything from 12-20 musicians. Most nights we have a trombone and alto sax along with the guitars, mandolins, fiddles, accordeons, concertinas, whistles, smallpipes, etc. The guitars can barely be heard - it's a huge sound, and the cajon and bodhran give a real pulse to the tunes. And we play anything from traditional tunes to blues, jazz and ragtime.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: open mike
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 10:36 AM

see many threads about shaky eggs
and, oh, the bodhran jokes!

(i play bodhran, but it does not
always fit in.)

i used to have a basket of claves,
spoons, maracas, shaky eggs, (and veggies)
and other rhythm instruments for
folks to join in with on jams.

the problem is that most of the
folks who come to a jam without
their own instrument are often
non-musicians, and do not have
a sense of rhythm.

be alert for clues from the
others in the session as to
whether what you are playing
is enhancing the situation
or not.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Mr Red
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 11:54 AM

When in doubt play quietly.

I have been known to go to bluegrass sessions but id did play with a brush, a washing-up brush.

And no-one said a word, except the guy leaving as i entered who siad I was brave. Nah! considerate.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 12:53 PM

Have you heard Tone Deaf Leopard?

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Ernest
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 01:38 PM

It is also a good idea not to join in on every song/tune but only in those where the instrument fits in. And a variety of percussion helps too....

Best
Ernest

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 07:25 PM

Yes, knowing when NOT to play is the best thing any percussionist can learn: as a percussionist myself (came up thro' classical orchestral stuff)I know there are times when you have to sit thro 397 bars rest! And some pieces where percussion just doesn't happen.

I once saw a bodhran player who was complaining about his sore wrist at the end of a 3-day festival - I was (then) too polite to tell him the obvious - "If you hadn't felt compelled to play through absolutely everything, you wouldn't be in this state now!" - but I was certainly thinking it!

On the other hand there are some songs even where a good percussionist is an asset and can enhance the song, so I will on occasion invite one or a number of people to join in.

A cajon is on my Christmas list.

And shaky eggs should always be played in TWOS (one in each hand), so you can get counter-rhythms.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 08:44 PM

The appropriateness of percussion in sessions generally declines in direct proportion to the alcohol intake of the percussionist.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Sep 08 - 09:38 PM

More Percussion!

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer came down on her head!"

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Stu
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 04:00 AM

"And shaky eggs should always be played in TWOS (one in each hand), so you can get counter-rhythms."

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 05:22 AM

We have a lady at our sessions who occasionally shakes a large pineapple...just the one (collapse of Stigweard).

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 07:50 AM

Please tell the lady she has it wrong. The instruction is quite plainly PUSH pineapple - shake the TREE.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Acorn4
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 09:45 AM

Bodran player with a sore wrist?

I'll refrain from the temptation of making the obvious comment!

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: bubblyrat
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 09:57 AM

I know a singer called "Lefty" who has a cahon (made in Germany, I believe, although associated with flamenco).He wanders about at festivals with it in a tailor-made case strapped on his back, and you think " Bloody hell !! That's a big melodeon ! ", ---then out comes this tea -chest and he sits on it and plays it !! I absolutely MUST have one !!

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 10:01 AM

He puts a box into a box?

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Will Fly
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 12:37 PM

He puts a box into a box?

Quite possibly. The cahon player I know keeps his in a huge gig bag and carries it on his back.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: My guru always said
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 01:43 PM

Lefty's Cajon has another brilliant use at festivals - he keeps a loo roll in it!

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: cptsnapper
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 03:00 PM

Does anyone know " The Spoons Murder " by Hammy Hamilton, Seamus Creagh and Con O'Drisceoil from the album "It's No Secret"?

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Jack Campin
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 03:46 PM

I met a tea-chest bass player at an anti-nuclear demonstration in Scotland in the late 70s. He stayed on the site for a few days, and made good use of his instrument as a haybox oven.

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 07:28 PM

BWL; re your comment: that could and does apply to ANY instrumentalist, not just percussionists!
Stigweard, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH to you too!

Subject: RE: percussion at sessions
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 07:33 AM

The appropriateness of percussion in sessions generally declines in direct proportion to the alcohol intake of the percussionist.

As Tattie Bogle says. All people - including those who are not playing, they can get rowdy.

As Humphrey Littleton used to say "Alcohol doesn't make you play any better, but everyone else sounds better!"