I used to play tenor uke sometimes in jams, but around here they are kindof mixed acoustic jams because we don’t have enough itrad players for a session. So the bluegrassers have to put up with whistles and bodhrans, the folkies have to put up with tunes, and the bluegrassers with hornpipes, and the pickers with singing. So you get to play whatever you show up with - very egalitarian.
When I go to jams or sessions outside my home ones, I try to assess the situation and determine which of my intruments fits best with the group. For example at real bluegrass jams I only play whistle if specifically invited to, then I call things they know like Red Haired Boy. I think I agree with Susan that at an itrad session, I would wait to be invited to play the uke or if i was really good, maybe ask if it was ok.
I am fond of the uke because of what it led to:
I tuned the tenor uke to GCEA with a string set that allowed the G to be an octave lower (not my dog has fleas). I learned from playing it that I liked playing stringed instruments and singing with them. Because of my physical troubles, a six string is out of the question for now, but it prompted me to seek out at tenor guitar (4 steel strings).
So now I’m playing guitar (tho 4 strings) and taking lessons and having a blast. I feel more like the folk player I imagine being and feel more comfortable at most types of jams around there. But I sure enough pull out the whistles or the bodhran when I can. But my poor ukie is neglected except when I play it with my neices (they strum, I chord so far).
I don’t think the ukulele needs to be so typecast. It’s a member of the guitar family and can be used in many of the same situations as the 6-string guitar. Due to its nonmetal strings, it has a very mellow tone.
Use discretion as on any instrument. If unaccompanied melody is required, don’t sit there strumming chords. Most important of all, though, don’t take an ukulele to a session with my friends Susnfx and Murphy Stout.
Don’t tell anyone it’s a uke. Tell them it’s a leprechaun guitar. If they balk, ask them to tell you what the difference is, if they’re so smart.
It’s not like a leprechaun could play a full size guitar. Or even a 1/2 size.
I think it all depends of how it is played. Someone with experience of playing trad ITM could probably make it fit right in.
I remember watching a session a few years ago when a very talented banjo player got out a 1/2 guitar with four strings (both E-strings gone) for a few sets and made it sound fantastic. Don’t think it was tuned GDAE, more likely some open tuning that worked well on four strings.
Well stated Walden!
Perhaps to avoid the kind of disagreement to which Susnfx was referring it would be wise to insert a term such as “pure drop” or something in order to describe the kind of musical style which would not welcome smudged borders.
Generally, I would be disappointed if there were no envelope-pushing in music, but I’m also a fan of historical preservation, and I wish anyone who gets in a huff over these definitions could just say “this is this and that is that.”
Yes the are plenty of music snobs out there…the idea that many have that the instruments they subscribe to are traditional is often a load of cobblers…they may have become’traditional’ in that they have been played for a longish time…but the authors of true IT were the poorest working classes…who couldnt afford some of the fancy gear about today…and many 'traditional ’ instruments were not even invented when IT was played in these early communities…button accordions verse piano accordions…the debate simply never existed…so think before you put down boundaries that simply never existed within true Irish communities…Get a grip of that…Come up with what you consider true IT traditional instruments and see how that compares with instrument used today by even ‘trasditional’ groups..Les.
well, yes, but the boundaries for what the poor sods that you speak of already exist…we are not going back in time here…of course the most common and easiest to obtain instruments are what has been handed down through the tradition…fact is no one really played a ukelele for the music back then..didn’t play guitar either, and didn’t play accordian until the church decided to outlaw the music for individuals, and to hold group dances (ceileidh) instead..then the accordian came into fashion as a cheap way to fill a hall with music…
So the boundary does exist now, not necessarliy because the early trad musicians ( I doubt that they called themselves that) had a joint committee meeting and said what was and what wasn’t suitable…it wasn’t even an option. That’s the whole idea of the meaning of the phrase “traditional”…it’s history…the uke, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki did not exist in the tradition. Doesn’t mean that they were or were not suited for it…they just did not exist within it.
If you can come up with a trad ukelele album, I’d love to see it…
Actually, sunnybear, I tend to agree with you…its just that I am a miserable old codger…like to stir things up a bit…but no harm intended…in truth I have lots to learn about IT…but I love it all the same…and am at last gettng to grips with jigs and reels etc…I am, even at my age , more progressive than some might think…they played what they had and could afford but I do not think that means other..‘suitable’ accoustic instruments cannot be deployed today…Les.
