I’m really trying to stay disciplined and learn new tunes (mostly) from ear. I’ve noticed I struggle to learn tunes from “session” or “band” recordings that feature multiple instruments. Sure I can slow the tune down using software, but sometimes the tricky parts get mashed together when there is an assortment of instruments.
I’m curious if anyone has recommendations for “simple” free recordings that might be a bit easier to pick apart featuring a single instrument at a time (preferably flute). Note, I don’t have any other trad musicians local to me to record from.
The best recordings to learn from are the ones that appeal to you, the ones that grab you, the ones that speak to you, if you like Just listen, listen and then listen some more. Let them play in the background when you are doing something else etc Let it soak into your subconscious. Then, after a while, sit down with the tune(s) you want to learn. More often than not the tunes to learn present themselves when you are ready for them. It may take a while at first but ir gets easier either time. Thete aren’t really any shortcuts.
I’m more opinionated than Mr. Gumby (imagine that)
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Ha! Dream on. :
Seriously, you can’t beat the Canny/O’Loughlin/Hayes/Lafferty one(you can hardly get more a more classic recording) but I am not sure it will appeal to everyone so I left the choice open.
As for the other one, Caoimhín told me last week he took his wife and children to visit the scene if the crime (i.e. the cover photograph). But that’s a different story.
Anyhow, the Crotty/Cullinan(×2) CD is one I was thinking of, where easy absorption is concerned. But then again, that may not work for everyone. It’s really a matter of what takes your fancy and what style speaks to you.
I strongly believe everyone should make their own way in, avoid lists of tunes to learn (the dreaded thesession.org 's most popular tune list etc) or recordings to listen to. If the interest is there, you get there, one way or another.
Thanks for the recommendations, I will check those out.
@MrGumby, I’m convinced that you are correct that you must absorb the tune (i.e. “become the tune” ) in order to truly play it. I think your last comment about more easily absorbing tunes is what I’m interested in.
I’ve found that between my learning style (and noob level) that absorbing tunes played at regular speed with multi-instruments is challenging and discouraging. It’s good to be challenged in order to work out your “ear muscle”, but it feel like I’m trying to chin-ups before I can even do push-ups. I’m hoping listening to single-instrument more simple recordings will be my push-ups.
Well go to what got you interested in learning this stuff, look for similar music and take it from there. If you fancy a tube you hear, learn it. Seek out other versions/players and take it from there. It’s not rocket surgery but it takes effort and patience to get going.
Meanwhile have a stab at this one. The rest of the tracks from thst recording are up there as well.
Here’s Brad Hurley’s site, seek out the music of the players mentioned there. Not the worst start.
I just love the Kevin Burke live album. It’s mostly solo, so you can hear every nuance in his playing. Of course it’s not free, but there are some shows of his on youtube. For example:
Other options of solo flute playing in a teaching mode include the series from Shannon Heaton and Hatao on YouTube. They can be slowed using the YouTube settings or using LoopTube (copy the YouTube link into LoopTube where you can slow the tempo and/or make loops of various parts of the tune to focus on.)
There are a lot of good resources available for new players wanting to learn tunes. Some are free, where you might choose to make a donation if you like what you get, and some have a nominal fee to support the content production. I’ll list a few that I’ve found helpful. None of this is to contradict what has been said above, but it becomes easier to learn new tunes the more tunes you have already learned. Some of the resources below really help bootstrap that process and make it fun.
Michael Clarkson has a huge collection of flute tunes played beautifully and recorded at various speeds. Its fun to go down his list and listen to lots of them to see which ones really grab you, then make a smaller list of your own to learn. He plays in a bouncy rhythmical style that I think you will enjoy. This is a really wonderful resource, and I’m blown away by the amount of work he has put in to sharing a resource like this. Free, but well worth trying to support if you can find a way to do so.
This is a paid one, but I really like what OAIM (Online Academy of Irish Music) offers to people wanting to get started. They have 11 courses for flute, and 15 course for whistle, each course covering at least a dozen or more tunes. You get slow, medium and fast recordings of tunes played solo or ensemble and phrase by phrase teaching from excellent players, such as Kevin Crawford. They even provide sheet music and ABC etc of the basic melody, but the teaching is by ear. You can do a free trial to see if you like what you get, and it gives you access to all their course on all instruments, which is a massive resource of very nicely produced content. I like their approach to fees which is very open-ended and all-encompassing and seems quite inexpensive for the level of content production.
First thing I did was to buy the Amazing Slow-downer. It’s a bit more expensive than many apps, but as a beginner I found it worth every penny. It slows down recordings to the pace you want, without altering the pitch. The desktop version doesn’t interact with Apple/Spotify, so you have to use tracks you’ve downloaded from YouTube, but there’s a phone/tablet version that can play commercial recordings.
Next I listened to people playing single instruments on YouTube and worked out which I found easiest to absorb. I like flute recordings (Hatao is great, as previously mentioned), but I also find stripped-down banjo versions give a very clear account of a tune for a beginner. Enda Scahill has quite a lot of recordings on his channel.
I’ve also learned tunes from amateur musicians who’d happened to upload a nice rendition of something I was learning. Also Joe and Adele Green’s Dulahan Ireland channel (mostly fiddle/guitar or fiddle/banjo), and Charles Monod’s Music from Doolin channel (concertina).
This couple used to live round where I do. 68 CDs, $5 USD each. I still play with students of theirs. Tunes played fast, then slow. Just fiddle/box/guitar. I guess they relocated to the Netherlands a while ago.
I always recommend people to learn from the Comhaltas book/CDs, but those are big ensembles. The music is pretty much all classics/chestnuts, though.
I’ve been using the music player Foobar2000 for almost 20 years now, it has modules to modify pitch or tempo. Takes some tweaking to make work. You can just adjust the speed of YT videos, though.
Unless I have missed it Hatao doesn’t seem to have ‘announced’ his tune practising app here. Have a look at https://learn-irish-82f09.web.app It runs in the browser. 600 tunes played clearly at a steady pace.
But that’s a different story.
) in order to truly play it. I think your last comment about more easily absorbing tunes is what I’m interested in.