I love to listen out for the ways in which the “masters” of traditional Irish music incorporate variation into the tunes (but as I have no desire to ignite a controversial sub-thread I will not attempt to define “masters” any further! ). In the right hands, variation can sound wonderfully natural, and you start to feel that you really must embrace this dimension of the music fully in order to progress. I’m obviously addressing this mostly to the beta-type guys and gals like me, not the world-class “alphas!” So I thought I’d angle for suggestions for tunes which are fertile ground for developing this skill. Depending on your instrument, I would have thought that an ideal tune in this regard would be not too technically difficult, so that you’re not struggling just to get all the notes, let alone get imaginative! A couple of tunes that I’ve found really useful are Maid Behind the Bar and Trip to Durrow. I wondered if anyone could suggest others, preferably from personal experience, that they feel are especially useful.
BTW, talking of Trip to Durrow, we always play it as a two-part tune, in disagreement with Noel Hill’s three-part approach, god-like figure though he may be in every other way! It’s a heavenly tune, and it helped me to pass my GCSE (high school) music exam at the age of 46!
A lot of it is listening to those master musicians play too, identify and listen to their variations. Try to play those variations, see how they fit, then listen for other variations, etc. I would say a big part of it is listening here, and you should acquire the skill of learning by ear for this to work as well. You will find that unless you have been exposed to the music since young (or for a good while), good idiomatic variating isn’t something that will come to most beginners on instinct.
It is also a given that when variating a tune you should have gone pass “getting the notes right” already. Use any tune which you feel comfortable with, and have recordings of good players playing (if you have access to good live musicians even better!)
Personally, I have no use for hornpipes. The plodding beat does nothing for me at all. However, they are prime territory for variations, possibly due to the amount of space they provide. Listen to what pipers do with something like The Plains of Boyle, for example. They can’t leave it alone, its so rich.
One place to start in hornpipes is to practise your ornaments, e.g. triplets, rolls, etc. You might find that the more you insert these here and there in a tune, the more you will have to work out a way to get back to the tune from the ornament, and suddenly → SHAZAM ← you have a variation!
Obviously, you can go way overboard with this stuff, and that brings up a caveat about variations: they are more appropriate for playing solo than playing in a group. You can’t have everybody tearing off in different directions doing different variations at the same time. For group playing, try to limit variations to what blends in well, or is almost unnoticable, so that you compliment what is going on instead of fighting it.
Listen to anything played by Mary Bergin or Vinnie Kilduff on tinwhistle. Both have tons of variations on any tune they play. .
Things to try (I like jigs, so I will use that):
For a 3 note run, for example, DEF, substitute FED, in other words, try inverting runs like that and see if it sounds good.
For a D crann, ocassionally play DAD instead or try the runs mentioned above.
For a roll on a certain note, try a roll a third (two notes above) or a 5th (four notes above) above the note.
Combine and vary above until it sounds good with others or a recording.
That’s the major things I try. It takes a lot of “noodling around” with a tune to make it “the same tune but using different notes” that fits with what others are playing.
I thinkvariation is part and parcel of playing irish music, it isn’t right when it’s not there.
It’s important to identify the different types of variation: variation in the rhythm, in ornamentation, in melody, etc.
In that sense I think it is most important to incorporate it from the start, otherwise you’ll too stuck too the tune (or the paper, remember the ear vs eye discussion which we are not going to re vamp again).
When learning a tune it is important to learn and identify which are the important ones, the bones as it were that carry th melody and which are the other ones that are the fill in and connecting ones.
You’ll find having the knowledge of the structure of the tune in that way, you’ll be able to ‘play’ with it, find different ways through the melody, take different routes from one important note to the next. And there you have it:variation.
Really any tune you know well will do, Johnny Doran and Willie Clancy both ad extremely extensive ways of dissecting Rakish Paddy, the fiddle playing of Michael Coleman is full of ‘stuff’.
Personally I can play the Collier’s reel pretty much inside out and after all these years still find new corners in it, Salamanca, Reel of Mullinavat, Swallows Tail, they are all tunes that can be played in a variety of different ways but really anything you know well will open up for you.
A few examples looking at variation can be found at:
The “bouncy” beat (how in the world can it be considered plodding???) gives you time for all sorts of triplets to be stuck in surprising places and if you get some athletic dancers, they want it so they can get some “air time”.
Hornpipes sound so much “happier” than reels do.
I play sometimes with old-time musicians and they are blown away with my version of what I call “Fisherman’s Lilt” to distinguish it from “Fisher’s Hornpipe” that they play like a reel.
You make my point for me. Whether one likes hornpipes or not, they are an excellent place to practise variations and ornamentation, since they provide so much space.
Its all personal preference, of course. I like slip jigs best, but I have to slow them right down in order to get my tiny brain functioning to find the spaces for ornaments and variations. Hornpipes seem to me to be so much slower and simpler, and therefore more amenable to variation.
Hornpipes sound so much “happier” than reels do.
If I want “happy” I go for polkas. (Schmenge anyone?)
I agree with Peter about variation being part and parcel of the music. The better your skill and ease, and the better you know a tune, the better it is for making variations. Even simple variations, including where you put rests, can be part of this.
Another thing, Steve, is to find something your instrument is good at… I dont know what the harmonica is capable of, so some ready forms of variation via ornamentation may not be available to you. But work to the strength of your instrument.
What Peter said about getting the feel of what identifies the melody, and what are the connections is the heart of variation. It’s a gorgeous thing, and it’s an ear skill. The more we listen to good players, the more we understand the possibilities of variation: the give and take between maintaining the strong identity of the tune, and where it blends away into “possibility.” It’s a life-long skill to pursue.
Like jigs? I think a well known one which has good room for basic variation is Humors of Glendart.
Thinking of hornpipes, “Off to California” is a barebones tune ripe for imaginative ornamentation/variation. Djm: why not play 'em “smoothed out,” a la Liam O’Flynn, e.g. Fisherman’s Lilt/Cronin’s? No plodding there, mate! I do know what you mean, and I certainly don’t want to play 'em all night, but hornpipes do add a welcome distraction from reels and jigs. One wouldn’t wish to be regarded as a “reel shark,” a pejorative term I’ve heard levelled, not without some justification, at some sessioneers.
Eric: I’m not really seeing variation as something ~necessarily~ achieved via ornamentation. As I am restricted (self-imposed) to the more-or-less standard tuning of the 10-hole diatonic harmonica, ornamentation is a bit limited, though there are possibilities, and not being able to do 'em all is far from being the end of the world. I do discuss this on my website, and I can provide more info for the asking if there are any harmonica enthusiasts who would care to email me offlist. Variation is a different ball-game in many (not all) respects: I see the two skills as first cousins rather than brothers and sisters. I love your notion of getting the strong identity of the tune, and where it blends away into possibilty. Evocatively put, mate!
I’m soaking this thread up like a sponge. Thanks to all so far for the worldly-wise advice…but I still need a few more of those barebone tune suggestions!
I’m not really seeing variation as something ~necessarily~ achieved via ornamentation.
Yes, I absolutely agree. When I typed that, I was thinking how a particular ornament on an instrument can be so compelling, that you will shape the melody so you can execute it at an effective moment, not to mention the melodic variation you might need to get back to the melody afterwards (the key of course being that it still sounds right). I’m thinking of things like stacatto triplets on the pipes, or luxurious off-the-knee vibrato notes, or cranns, etc. Each ornament has a feel and effect; you use them best when they serve an expressive purpose, but they also provide interest by varying textures during repetition.
The harmonica will have particular sounds you love about it. Instruments help shape the music they play… I guess that was my main point about variation with ornaments: the harmonica will have things you like to do on it, so find the strengths of it and work with those in addition to building on variations of melody and rhythm.
but I still need a few more of those barebone tune suggestions!
Every tune has opportunities for variation, though for players like you and I, we may be limited to “basic” ones in many. But, you should be able to work variation, as basic as it may be, into every tune you play.
If you would like a more guided approach, you could mine some of the tutors for other instruments which teach or give examples of variation. Since I’m a piper, I’ll tell you what I am familiar with, but I am sure there are probably fiddle or flute tutors which deal with the same thing. Of the tutors that I have, both “The new approach to uilleann piping” by Heather Clarke and the Na Piobairi Uilleann Video tutors (Vol 2 and 3) deal with variations. The Clarke tutor uses more note change variations while the NPU videos tend to use variations in ornamentation, so probably less useful since piping ornamentation is sort of idiosyncratic to the instrument (can you Cran on a harmonica?) Anyway, just a thought.
james
). In the right hands, variation can sound wonderfully natural, and you start to feel that you really must embrace this dimension of the music fully in order to progress. I’m obviously addressing this mostly to the beta-type guys and gals like me, not the world-class “alphas!” So I thought I’d angle for suggestions for tunes which are fertile ground for developing this skill. Depending on your instrument, I would have thought that an ideal tune in this regard would be not too technically difficult, so that you’re not struggling just to get all the notes, let alone get imaginative! A couple of tunes that I’ve found really useful are Maid Behind the Bar and Trip to Durrow. I wondered if anyone could suggest others, preferably from personal experience, that they feel are especially useful.
Hornpipes are my second favorite type of tune!
You make my point for me. Whether one likes hornpipes or not, they are an excellent place to practise variations and ornamentation, since they provide so much space.
(Schmenge anyone?)