Recently while browsing the forums I saw an interesting signature tagged onto a fellow forum member’s postings:
“Why race along flinging frozen skeletons to and fro when you could be sipping and savoring necter at the banquet table?”
-Grey Larsen, in The Essential Guide.
What do you suppose this means? Personally I like sipping nectar from frozen skeletons..
[Edited to fix the quote box and to state why I edited]
Perhaps an explanation of what Grey was up to when he went to Oberlin? I can only speak for Oberlin these days, but back in the seventies? Who knows…
Hehe, I think it means why listen to Grey Larson when there are so many better players out there to listen to 
When I read that quote,I thought that it might have something to do with the modern approach of playing tunes at sub-light speed-why not play like some of the ‘Old Geezers’,taking things at a more sedate pace and savour the beauty of the tune?
I’ve never heard mr Larson play,so I don’t know what his personal playing style is like.
That quote makes a little more sense in the context of the paragraph in which it was written:
We all want to be able to play fast, but it is more important to play well and beautifully. What is the point of playing poorly at a fast pace? Having reached this point in the book you know extremely well that Irish music is vastly more than a simple succession of notes. What you see in tune books are simply frozen skeletons of snapshops of settings of tunes, some a bit more fleshed out than others. Why race along flinging frozen skeletons to and fro when you could be sipping and savoring nectar at the banquet table?
What exactly is the point of slagging off a fellow devotee/forumite? There’s enough crap music floating around that we don;t need to turn on “our own.”
Yes, I do find that kind of strange especially since one of the key points that Grey Larsen mentions in his book “The Essential Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle” is listening as much as possible to the recordings/perfomances of the older players to absorb it and really understand the tradition. Seems like I’ve heard that from someone before.
Bob
Jack sometimes goes on Pepsi binges and lets his inhibitions go.
Man, you guys get upset easy… it was a fecking joke.
Anyhow Grey is right, IMO.
Speaking personally, I’d much rather sip nectar at the
banquet table than flip frozen skeletons
to and fro.
HEAR HEAR Jim.
Lots of the young musicians I know, like the young drivers I know, enjoy speeding just to impress people. My daughter will start a tune on her fiddle way to fast to ever maintain the tempo, because she thinks it sounds more accomplished (I’m assuming; I haven’t asked) and because it’s one mark of progress that’s fairly easy to measure.
Lately I’m really enjoying slower, more intimate ambles with tunes. I wouldn’t call it nectar-sipping exactly- I’m gasping for air still. While I stand in awe of those who can rip off reels at lightning speed, I truly appreciate other styles. Less adrenalin, more maturity.
Jennie
Yeah, I can’t stand it when young punks play fast either.
Ha!
Sorry, after meeting Jack, and from the chat, I sometimes think of HIM as a young punk… after all it takes one to know one!
Oh well, as far as I know, he doesn’t usually play too fast…
Well Jack, I wasn’t upset, but I did take your post as one of those jokes that had serious overtones to it. Sorry if it wasn’t meant that way. A lot was going for work while I was doing this. I’m sure this is just an example of misunderstanding built into this type of communication.
Bob
I think any musician who found his/her name in that “joke” would pick up on the hostility behind it. I mean come on. :roll:
Saying “hehe” and putting a little winkie face behind a remark doesn’t make it a joke.
If it’s a rude remark, then it’s a rude remark with “hehe” in front of it and a little winkie face behind it.
Hehe, I can’t imagine why you are so taken aback to find that no one found it very fecking funny
I think this is a beautiful quote, and I do take it to heart.
Mary
Does " quote " mean "quotation " in English ?
It is a splendid example of why we should check our contexts before opening our big typewriters, and putting our big feet in !
The dismissal of Mr Larson seemed serious and real enough to me, but what do I know ?
( even if vulgarly apologised for ).
withdrawn…
I do not know what Mr McCallister is on be it seems even stronger than Murphey’s stout, God help him.