Celtic slow jam

Subject: Celtic slow jam
From: MandolinPaul
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 06:35 PM

I'm going to my first one on Thursday. What are the essential songs that I should try to know.

Paul

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From:
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 08:16 PM

irish lullaby

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: bunkerhill
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 08:19 PM

Paul S: The slow jams in my neck of the woods put out a play list. Might check with yours to see if they do same. Celt music covers so much territory, you could memorize everything in O'Neill's Fiddle Tunes of Ireland and still end up at a seissiun where they're playing unfamiliar songs.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 08:37 PM

"Celtic slow jam" - I thought this was a thread about fruit recipes. You mean you have sessions with speed limits? And a ticket from some Irish cop if you go too fast?

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 08:51 PM

Paul, I don't know the term "slow jam" but jig wise what seems to me to be a few of the universal UK (or at least where I live) ones are The Kesh, Morrisons, Lark in the Morning and Humours of Glendart.

Jon

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Áine
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 09:49 PM

Well, you know what they say down here in Texas: 'It must be jelly, 'cuz jam don't shake like that!'

Seriously (ha!), this is a good place to tell a story on my friend Mary from Belfast who was visiting me a couple of summers ago (her first visit to the U.S.). We were driving around town, seeing the sights, when my two youngest starting yammering that they were hungry. It being almost lunchtime, I told them that we'd be home soon and I would fix them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I heard this strange gargling noise coming out of Mary, so I looked over, and she had gone white in the face and appeared ready to faint. I asked her what was wrong, but she just waved me off, being unable to speak at that point.

Well, we got home and into the house and I started to make the kid's PBJ's. Mary just stood there in the kitchen, watching me pull out the bread, then the peanut butter, and at that point she squeaked, 'You really aren't going to put jelly on those, are you?' I looked at her quizically and said, 'Of course!'

'Jaysus,' she says, 'Now I've seen everything!'

So, I opened up the cabinet and took down the jar of grape jelly, began spreading it on the sandwiches, and I hear Mary gaffawing behind me. I turned and she was doubled over with laughter! 'I thought you were going to put jelly on those sandwiches, not JAM!,' she says.

This is when she explained to me that 'jelly' in Belfast means 'jello' here in the U.S. But you know what -- I think my kids would probably eat that on peanut butter, too!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: harpgirl
Date: 05 Dec 99 - 11:49 PM

...Well I see Jon and I are thinking in a similar vein. I would add Merrily Kiss The Quaker, Behind the Haystack, Road to Lisdoonvarna, Tobin's Jig, Dennis Murphy's Slide...harpgirl

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 12:17 AM

For the past twenty five years (to my knowledge) there has been a tune book called "Begged Borrowowed and Stolen" circulating around the Australian folk scene. There are 98 tunes in this book and it is so well known that some musicians just call out the number rather than the names of the tunes .-)
That being said some of the 'sets' are much more commonly known than otheres and you can turn up at any session and these sets will invariably come up
1 South Wind, Munster Cloak,
2 Blackthorn Stick,Rakes of Kildare,Haste to the Wedding
3Joe Burke's Jig, Over the Oceans,Saddle the Pony.
4 Lannigans ball , Top of Cork Road,Tripping up the Stairs
5 Foxhunters Jig, Rocky Road to Dublin
6 Pat Horans #1, Pat Horans #2 Fourty Pound Float. 7 New York Girls, Siege of Ennis, Bog in the Valley.
8 Rakes of Mallow, Davy Knick Knack, Soldiers Joy.

If anyone wants the music for any of these (I don't do MIDI, no facility)drop me an e-mail [e-mail]. I'll scan it and send as a JPEG.
Regards Ted

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Ted from Australia
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 12:20 AM

otherers? Bugger!!

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Paul S
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 12:25 PM

Goddam! I've never heard of any of those tunes (this is my first venture into the whole Celtic thing). I guess I'd better do some learning before Thursday.

Thanks kids.

Paul.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 01:27 PM

Well, they say the man who knew the names of all the tunes didn't know the tunes.

If you've been listeninmg to any tune sessions you'll probably know lots of the tunes anyhow. You pick them up by a process of osmosis.

Any set of tunes in most sessions seems to end with someone saying. "What was that we were playing?", followed by an argument as to what it was. The best musician in sessions I klnw when you ask him he's likely to say "it was e minor and D wasn't it?" or whatever.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: paddymac
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 03:21 PM

Paul - The "Fiddler's Fake Book" and "O'Neill's" will provide you more trad tunes than you'll ever likely have a need for, but as noted above, there seem always to be local favorites not found in either of those sources.

At slight risk of thread creep, I'd be interested in hearing what folks consider to be a "slow jam". Here in the piney woods of north florida, it's generally meant to be a session intended to be "beginner friendly", in contrast to the regular sessions in which tunes are routinely played at a break-neck pace. Often a fine demonstration of virtuosity, but often also an insult to the music.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: bunkerhill
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 03:34 PM

Jon and McG of H: Slow jam is a learning session. Tunes are played very slowly so that novices can catch on. To a listener, this is probably about as palatable as peanut butter without jam, jelly or jello, but I'm deeply grateful to the experienced players and teachers who organize them; they make the sacrifice of listening to 18 rounds of Cluck old Hen or Joe Clark (or South Wind or Down the Broom at a Celt session) so youngsters and newbies can catch on before going out to a real session (or, in my case, get sense enough to leave the instrument home). Ted: Thanks, I'd been calling that dance number the Siege of Venice.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: lamarca
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 04:43 PM

The folks who run the Washington Irish Festival decided to put out a CD of music taped at the previous festivals as a fundraiser (with the performers' permission). A friend of mine was on the "listening committee" that went through the hours of recordings to decide what to include. He said they could have put together an entire CD of different bands playing "The Bucks of Orranmore" - it was the tune most frequently played in combination with other tunes by all the bands we had that year, like Solas, Dervish, Altan, Nomos, etc., etc., etc.!

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 08:37 PM

I reckon it's harder to play slow than to play fast - the mistakes stand out. Which would make it logical to keep it slow for beginners I suppose.

Anyway that's what a slow jam is then. American, I take it from your comment about peanut butter - over this side of the ocean we tend to prefer it with Marmite or cheese, or on its own.

But it always makes me chuckle when you finish off a set by doubling up the speed, and the listeners get impressed, and you know that it was only the speed that allowed you to get away with some of the mistakes.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 06 Dec 99 - 09:04 PM

Paul S, Tune (or rule ) #1 Enjoy yourself...

Jon

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: alison
Date: 07 Dec 99 - 08:15 PM

slow tunes...... Ashokan farewell, Tambhair dom do lambh, (Give me your hand), Planxty Irwin.

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: GUEST,Moca
Date: 28 Oct 01 - 05:22 AM

Looking for words and music to Southwind.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: paddymac
Date: 28 Oct 01 - 10:13 PM

Guest Moca - you might have better luck if you start a new thread with the prefix "Lyr. Req.". With your request hidden away here, the one person in all the world who might be able to answer it 'right now' might never see it.

Go back to the main forum page and follow the prompts in the start a thread box near the top left. It's easy to do. Good Luck.

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: jeffp
Date: 29 Oct 01 - 09:48 AM

Moca - you should find your answers by clicking here.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Celtic slow jam
From: GUEST,Claymore
Date: 29 Oct 01 - 11:41 AM

We have been having slow jams at O'Hurley's General Store in Shepherdstown, WV for some twenty years, and while Celtic music is a major portion of the music we play, we also do many of the derivative pieces as Appalachian or Old Time. In our little corner of the world, a "slow jam" is not necessarily a "teaching jam" but that purpose is accomplished through the actual process of the slow jam.

The concept comes from the fact that in fast jams, the big dogs tend to monopolize the porch, and will drive the tune list from those tunes they can play loudest, fastest or first. This may be a good way to go if you want to learn the repertoire of the biggest dog (or dogs) on the porch, but after several visits, it can get old unless that what you really want to do.

We usually have some twenty musicians and a crowd of forty or fifty listening to the tunes, with many of both being regulars. The slow jam comes from the following conventions:

We sit in a circle, facing inboard with the audience outside and nearest the fire (to protect our instruments and tuning). The harps, hammered dulcimers, and fiddles sit together but other instruments are usually dispersed, especially the bodhrans. Instruments that take up a lot of space, (cello, bass, viola de gamba, uilleann pipes etc.) go to the "corners of the circle".

Each musician get a turn to do one of three things; 1. Name a tune or a medley of tunes, 2. Sing a song or play a solo with or without other designated musicians, or 3. Request a solo or designated grouping from another members of the circle. On a given night you will probably get four or five turns, so the newer people practice during the week to be ready for "their" turn.

We usually have several dancers who show up, and they are given "request privileges' as are visiting musicians, poets or singers, and space is created amongst the audience for those who wish to waltz, clog or ceili.

While some people do not like this format, (usually bluegrass or session musicians), it works for us and allows some semblance of order, when you have diverse instruments and musicians, and dancers coming for a fifty mile radius from the town. While several of the older members of the group go on to other jams in the area, they frequently return to work up new pieces, or to pick up some of the latest tunes going around. It may not be typical, but it works for us...