Where does everyone find their tunes? Sheet music in books (if so what books are recommended)?, CDs?, sheet music from other pipers?, or just by listening to other pipers play?
The only site for tunes that I’m really aware of is thesession.org
If there are any good books with written music I would like to know about them.
My personal favorite tune book is Pat Mitchell’s: The Dance Music of Willie Clancy. Its Loaded with great tunes and talks a little about embellishment for pipes, fiddle,whistle and accordion. It also gives a brief biography on Willie Clancy. 149 tunes.
I have given most of my tune links to Pat D’Arcy. He has put them up on the UilleannObsession web site. If you haven’t done so yet, bookmark this site as a major resource: http://www.uilleannobsession.com/
I have tons of books, but they are of limited use, as they only give very basic versions of tunes, or only partial views of the variations and ornaments of great players. As Bill noted, I am listening mostly, and learning from that. Don’t limit yourself to any one piper, or only to pipes. Include flute, whistle and fiddles as well. Lots of great tunes, and lots of great versions. So little time left.
Most of the transcriptions on that site are terrible; out of the several dozen that I’ve looked at, only one (The Honeysuckle Hornpipe) was one I would share with my students as is, without a lot of editing and modification. I get the feeling most people who post tunes there are beginners who haven’t developed their ear yet.
As others have said here, it’s a good idea to try to develop your ability to learn tunes by ear. If you have trouble learning from recordings because the melody is going by too fast, get one of the slow-down programs (e.g. The Amazing SlowDowner) that allows you to slow down the recording without affecting the pitch, once you’ve gotten the recording onto your computer. It’s almost like having a teacher who can play the tune for you slowly, note by note, until you get it. Once you develop the ability to learn tunes by ear, you’ll be able to pick them up more quickly in sessions or from recordings. It’s more work at the beginning, but well worth it.
I would have to agree with most of you especially Joseph on this one, Pat Mitchell Book of Willie Clancy’s tunes are good. Another popular spot ( if you don’t mind the initial investment) is in MadforTrad.com.
I picked up a great Cd ROM tutorial by Sean Potts, and have taken ScoilTrad for a few years now, for us isolated piper’s helps a lot.
Just been down to my second year at the Piper’s Gathering and other such events are very helpful. Do try to get out there if you can.
I’m not sure that The Session is by beginners so much as that a). it is for many different instruments, b). the versions are intentionally simplistic with the onus on you to figure out your own variations and ornamentation, and c). that writing complicated versions of tunes in ABC notation is a bitch.
I like a good CD and this great software called “Amazing Slow Downer” that lets you low down the CD. I like to learn from flute and fiddle CD as well as UP CDs.
Also there is that great book called "A Collection of Pipe-Friendly Tunes " by John Walsh.
There are others, some of what was discussed here:
Actually many of the transcriptions on The Session include ornamentation or variations, which is one reason why I don’t like them. If I’m learning a tune, I want a simple transcription, as free of ornamentation as possible. The focus should be on learning the melody. But my real gripe with most of the transcriptions I’ve seen on The Session is that they are poor approximations of the tunes we know and love. And I don’t think it’s because the tunes are hard to transcribe in ABC; I think it’s because the tune was poorly heard/learned by the person who transcribed it. I know there’s no “right” version of a tune, but most of these don’t even come close to what you’re likely to hear in a session of experienced players.
Thanks everyone. I’ll have a look at those suggestions when my pipes arrived. I have put an order in with Ian MacKenzie of Simack for a practice set so now I just have to wait..and wait..and wait. (I wish I had them now )
Teflon
I like JC’s ABC Tunefinder http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/abc/FindTune.html It has many formats, GIF, ABC, TXT, as well as MIDIs of tunes.
But mostly I learn by ear. I get a tune in my head and listen over and over and over until I wake up humming it and then have a go at it. Slow down software is great as well.
On an RTE Interview with Jackie Daly I heard that someone was fond of asking, “Do you read music or do ye have The Gift?”
Rick
Patrick,
So the whistle is definitely recommended to learn tunes? I bought a new Syn D whistle on the weekend which I am extremely impressed with so I’ll start putting it to good use.
Teflon
Regarding learning tunes from CD’s – Jeremy Kammerer from Seattle has a 4 CD set of standard session tunes where he plays the tune twice - first at a moderate speed and then at a slow speed. It is a nice way to learn tunes. His instrument for this is the fiddle or accordion (wet), so it is fun when you get up to speed. You can be the other person in a pipe/fiddle duet or pipe/accordion duet.
I have found this 4 CD set to be quite helpful. If you are interested, PM me and I’ll give you his e-mail address.
As most of you know by now, learning from hearing is way better (in the long run) than learning from reading.
Also, thesession.org has the interesting problem that once you’ve posted sheetmusic for a particular tune, it ain’t getting updated, ever. No matter if there’s something wrong with it, it’s an obscure version, or just a crappy transcripition, it can’t get fixed. OTOH, there is a good community round the site of regular session musicians, and it is a good place to pick up tunes: I’ve got tunes from there I would never have found anywhere else.
Wolvy wrote:“As most of you know by now, learning from hearing is way better (in the long run) than learning from reading.”
I am thinking that using both reading and listening is a great way to learns tunes. While it is rare that a tune written in standard format matches how that tune is played in the real world, it is an excellent starting place for the beginner. I feel that learning to read music is quite a valuble thing to do when you want to be a musician…not necessary, but valuable. After having learned the tune by reading, go back and add
embellishments, or change the notes that are different from those in the recording.