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16 Apr 99 - 05:00 AM (#71256) Subject: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: Ian Stephenson Show off tunes might be great if everyone is quiet and listening, but has anyone had any bad experiences of playing your favourite show-off tunes only to discover that you seem to be the only one to hear it? Sometimes in sessions I see people getting annoyed because one person is playing one technically advanced tune after another -sometimes it leaves people out and spoils a good night. However, they are FANTASTIC for playing at folk clubs, aren't they! Cheers, Ian (I'm a Guitarist -in case you can't tell from the dis-jointed sen ten ces!) |
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16 Apr 99 - 06:08 AM (#71265) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: Ian Stephenson P.S. Has anyone heard of a tune called "wizards walk"? Someone recommended it to me. Has anyone got a midi file or abc or the dots?? Cheers |
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16 Apr 99 - 08:38 AM (#71280) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: hank One might be okay, but you can't follow a show tune with anything. show tunes are out cause the audience is drained (in a good way!) from the last one, so it won't get the reaction it otherwise would. Anything other then a show tune is going to be lost. So if one person is hoggin all the show tunes (you can only do so many in a night) it leaves every else unable to do one, and it make the next person unable to do anything and be noticed. (may as well play three verses of twinkle twinkle little star each time for all it matters) Varity is the spice of life. Advanced tunes are NOT the only powerful ones. Many simple songs have great power. Most songs do not have exceptional power, and yet they are worth playing. Respect your fellows by doing a few of the show ones, but a lot of ones that make it possibale for others to play what they want. I haven't played enough sessions to see this behavior, but I can imangine how it happens. |
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16 Apr 99 - 09:13 AM (#71286) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: Ian Stephenson Cheers Hank I think that you're right about not following a show-off tune. A good idea I've found is to play a song or tune that EVERYBODY knows so it will sound nice and powerful. |
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16 Apr 99 - 10:10 AM (#71303) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: Ian Stephenson refresh |
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16 Apr 99 - 12:34 PM (#71337) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: The Shambles I don't know if the session is the best place for 'show off' tunes, as I always think that the format always allows for a good opportunity of the group to show it's 'greater than the sum of it's parts'. That's not possible if not all the members of the group don't know it or can't reach the speed of the tune being played. As to speed, it was interesting that a golfer taking part in the Masters golf was asked what effect playing a big tournament had on his game. He replied to the effect that 'the adrenaline' resulted in him hitting the ball a few yards more than his normal game. I have noticed the same effect when starting a tune in a session, and for probably the same reason. I tend to play the tune a great deal faster than I would normally. I don't know if this is showing off though, as it usually sounds terrible, especially as tunes only seem to get faster, when everyone joins in, they never seem to get slower. It might explain a lot of the comments from 'old timers' when they say the music is played too fast today? As to not knowing the tunes, there appear to be some experienced session melody players who seem to find it an affront, if they do not know the tune. A little like an un-climbed mountain to a climber or an un-ticked bird to a birder. Most of the tunes I play best, because I know them better, are in fact the ones that I write myself. I don't tend to play them much at sessions because the melody players, understandably, get bored because they can't add much to a strange tune. The guitar and the bodhran players don't care though and seem to be able to contribute, whether they know the tune or not. I have recently had a conversation about playing original tunes at session. One person said words to the effect that there were enough good tunes already. The other person thought for a while and came out with some very wise words, I thought. He said " we all need to live in houses, some of us live in them just as they are, others change things around a bit and some people like to build their own from scratch"........................ I suppose not everyone would want to live a house that I built though? |
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16 Apr 99 - 04:21 PM (#71387) Subject: RE: Show-off tunes in sessions? From: Bert This is the house that Sham built, This is the song he sang in the house that Sham built This is the tune that they played all wrong, when they played to the song he sang in the house that Sham built........ |