Amateurs play until they get it right......

Irish Flute
1

While I’ve heard the comment that “amateurs play until they get it right, professionals play until they can’t get it wrong” before, someone on “thesession.org” (Guernsey Pete) observed recently that the implication of the comment is that amateurs spend most of their time playing it wrong.

I remember a teacher telling me: “You never make a mistake if you never make a mistake”. But until yesterday, it hadn’t really occurred to me that the way to build up the 100s of correct repetitions was to play a tune as slowly as necessary to play it correctly, right from the beginning. (all my life I’ve had the tendency to play it “close enough for jazz”, rather than aiming for playing something correctly every time).

For the past 4 weeks I have been playing slowly. At the speed maniac’s session in town this week, I had the pleasant experience of playing 3 tunes I am working for the first time in public. To my surprise, I played them fast and well, even though I hadn’t been practising these tunes fast. So add me to the converted about playing slowly. Other benefit is that while I am playing slowly, I have enough spare neurons to work on the tone, breathing, and variations, as well as learning the tune.

Another comment that has just sunk in stems from a remark made by a person a group of us hired to coach our rehearsals for the 2nd Brandenburg concerto (I played the recorder). She said that amateurs often think that the problem is getting the fingers to move fast enough. Then she asked us to relax, and just wiggle our fingers as fast as we could over our instruments. She pointed out that we can all move our fingers faster than we need for any piece, and the real problem is getting the confusion out of the brain, so the fingers get sent clear signals, and we aren’t tense about the possibility of getting it wrong. So this strikes me as another reason for a lot of slow practice.

I realize that for most here, I am demonstrating a keen grasp of the obvious, but there I am.

Best,
Hugh

2

As a very wise and much-admired boxplaying pal of mine once said “You can’t play it fast if you can’t play it slow.” :slight_smile:

3

Amen to that.


Loren

4

After stumbling over a bunch of tunes in the past couple of hours and thinking I’m too old to ever learn to play fast, this is probably the best piece of advise for me that I could ever get …now having the patience to do it consistently is a whole different ball game for me

5

I was learning the Bucks for my fiddle lesson a few weeks ago. I practiced it slowly. A lot. And forced myself to keep practicing it slowly, using a metronome. I didn’t get the tune up to my usual speed, as I never practiced it fast. I played the best I’ve ever played for my teacher. He joined in on guitar after a bit and it got pretty quick, with no problems.

6

It’s really funny how that happens. I pretty much only play at slow or moderate speeds at home anymore – like Hugh I’m thinking about tone, breathing, ornament aptness, style, tuning, you name it – and now, after a couple of years of that, it seems like I don’t have nearly the trouble keeping up that I used to. I was sitting in the car the other day and whistling along with a few speedy things (like Na Connerys, etc.) that popped up on my iPod (must get rid of that Na Connerys stuff), and while I still don’t have the cool variations the tempo wasn’t an issue on the tunes I knew.

But even though it’s a lot easier, fast still isn’t always fun – we have a couple of fellows at our session who get wound up and start pushing each other along. I can keep up, but there’s no joy in it for me – it’s just flat and there’s no arc to it; the ends of phrases start suffering and it feels like the music’s being fired out of machine guns.

Anymore I’d rather go home, take a tune apart, think about settings, and marvel at its nuances. So many of these tunes are such wonders.

Also, I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon, but some of the players who are really cooking don’t sound like they’re playing fast at all. I remember listening to the Mulcahys and thinking “oh, isn’t that lovely and accessible.” Then I picked up my C whistle and … nope, not that day.

7

I really wonder how it is possible to play flute fast–just
watched the Sylvain Barou You tube thing where
he starts slow and then takes off. I can play
the slow thing and I can play somethings relatively
fast–but how do these people, the very good ones,
do it? How does one get there?

8

Believe it or not, please, speed begins much, much more slowly than you may have heretofore imagined.

Think about that.

I’ll be right here.

9

That is so true. You have to play it slow and perfect it with a slow rhythm, then slowly build it up faster and faster, until you master the tune with ornamentation and perfect rhythm.

10

One time I was talking to someone about what kind of metronome they should buy, and they said they need it for playing Chopin (we were talking about piano). I was like “wtf, you don’t play Chopin with a metronome” and they were like “right, but you should be able to” and I was like “whoa, you’re right :blush:”.

11

x4

Starting off slow seems like tedium and drudgery but I find this not the case. To me, going slow and gradually working up to speed is the shortcut. Going back and correcting bad habits is much more work. Making every single note count (accent, timing, tone) has a tremendous impact on the final output.

12

I just got a cheap korg metronome tuner picked it up and tried to play a tune at 60, thought to myself wow this is horrible, I can’t play evenly at all, this is absolutely no fun, then I realized this is probably the best tool I could possibly encounter. I am sure it will grow on me.

13

Egads…I guess I’ll go dust off the metronome… :swear:

14

As a newcomer to ITM and listening to lots of clips it can seem like speed is everything, unless you are playing an air.

It’s good to hear this thread discussing the virtues of ‘slowing down’ to go fast later.

15

I started going to sessions right after receiving my flute. There was no way I could keep up. At home I play slow as is comfortable to me. The speed is taking care of itself. I can pretty much keep up on the tunes I know at the session now.

But I do see myself having a tendency to learn new tunes playing too fast. I guess I’m just getting used to it, since so many phrases are getting into my fingers now. I have to make myself slow down.

16

Another concept that I think fits well here is the concept that “practice makes permanent” … not perfect! If you practice something over and over with inaccurate timing or poor technique, you are locking that in.

Jon

17

Metronome? Yeah, I have one, and every so often I pull it out, and put it to work, but there’s something that every musician should know, at least. That is, and I know that I am not the first to say this, that practice, practice, practice should NEVER make perfect!

18

I so know what you mean! At first it can seem like speed is everything, and everything’s speedy … and it shows up in a lot of our playing (been there, done that, worn out several of the Tshirts :blush:) at first, too. But the more you listen the more you’ll realize “blazing” is only one option for presenting a tune – especially if, like many people, your listening universe expands or your tastes change over time. I remember when I first started listening it was all Solas and Dervish (they were kind of the hotties of the moment, it seemed) with a healthy dose of Bothy Band, DeDanaan and Planxty thrown in, and those guys were all pretty talented at going a great clip.

Now, while I still enjoy listening to those guys – there are some moments on those CDs that to me are still about as good as it can get – my iPod has all kinds of other things on it, much of it is … well, what a newish listener might call slow. I certainly would’ve 10 years ago!

“Happy To Meet,” “Warming Up,” and “Speed 78” in particular spring to mind; absolutely gorgeous. As I write this I’m listening to some Kerry polkas from Mick Mulcahy’s “Cairde Cairdin” CD that some might describe as almost stately, but whatever … sure, another player might fly thru them and make them brilliant, but Mick’s just touring along ON POLKAS, for heaven’s sake, and guess what? His version is brilliant, too!

Anyway, if anyone ever doubts it’s possible to make a tune fantastic at any rate, start with Martin Hayes. He’s a fount of the stuff, and the guy’s speed credentials are firmly established as well. From there move on, looking for more gems like that. You’ll find them, and lots of them, I guarantee!

Sorry, didn’t mean to go on and on, but I think it’s interesting to look/listen back to 10+ years of collecting this music; I wonder how many other folks have gone through the same process?

Ah well, great music is great music and I love listening to it, even if my definition of “great” has broadened considerably over the years. :slight_smile: