I’m one who lives in an apartment, and quite afraid to reach the high C# on my dixon low d…
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As Nike says…JUST DO IT!!!
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I’ve got this cheapo bag that’s labelled:
NIKI - MUST DO IT!
Only a suggestion, but why don’t you post a tune that you can play to Clips and Snips, I’m sure other player’s would be plesed to pick it up, download it, add backing or whatever and return the post for you pick up again. Then your getting practice playing with someone! with a tune that you can play and enjoy.
Something to think about anyway!
Cheers Niv
Hey Dale, you should make a cross between C&F merchendise and those tshirts that say “Plays Well With Others” 
Perhaps this comes from mostly playing the highland pipes, but here goes. When playing unison with other Pipers, it is common practice to watch the other pipers fingers. Lock in, dont even think, and listen to the whole sound. IF you are in unison, you wont even hear your own instrument. Another thing about watching fingers, if you loose your place, or dont know the Tune that well you can pick up que’s and get back in the game.
Gee, Chuck…do you wanna try again? I’ll be heading your way the end of the month.
Gm
I almost hate to admit it, but watching a player’s fingers REALLY confuses me. For example, I took a pair of really powerful binoculars to a CTL concert, figuring I might learn something by watching Joanie’s hands.
Nope. I just got confused. I’m beginning to wonderif the multi-tasking portion of my mind failed about the time I retired and no longer had to do three things at once.
GM
Don’t know if I’m willing to try playing again, but if you’re not on to tight a schedule, let me know when you’re coming through.
On 2002-09-11 23:20, Chuck_Clark wrote:
I took a pair of really powerful binoculars to a CTL concert, figuring I might learn something by watching Joanie’s hands.Nope. I just got confused.
It’s those gosh-darned reverse rolls and multi-fingered cuts! (See my post in “Pops” thread.)
I watch hands too…but I try and take note of key positions or patterns. For example, most tunes will have one or two notes that are repeated and in strong positions. Like F -A-D in Gander in the Pratie Hole.
On 2002-09-11 23:20, Chuck_Clark wrote:
I almost hate to admit it, but watching a player’s fingers REALLY confuses me…
If you are playing with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, or bouzouki, watch that player’s fingers. Even if you don’t know the “chord shapes” you can usually spot when the chord changes. This doesn’t help you with individual notes, but can get you back on the “right page” after you’ve lost your way in a song. I.e. after getting lost and dropping out you can come in at the next chord change because that often signals a new musical phrase.
Oh, and my initial, smart-aleck response to the original question, "just DO it." It's going to be painful at first, but you'll be amazed at how quickly you get off that plateue and start climbing again.
John
On 2002-09-11 11:26, LeeMarsh wrote:
I warn you this connection to others, the music, and the life in tune is addictive. Once tasted, it is an appetite that can swell and lead to all sorts bizzare behaviors…
Yeah, I’m proof of that! In my case it leads to forming session groups deep in Potato country, driving four hours (each way) without blinking an eye for two sessions, and spur-of-the-moment trips to Twin Falls!
Sigh…What day is this? I need a session. Anyone want to get together at Doc Jones’ this weekend? 
On 2002-09-11 23:20, Chuck_Clark wrote:
I almost hate to admit it, but watching a player’s fingers REALLY confuses me…
I’ve been playing with other people for a long time now, & I still can’t watch other flute/whistle players’ fingers: I start wondering exactly what THEY’re doing, and forget to concentrate on my own hands! Usually it’s ok, but if I’m trying to figure a tune out, it just doesn’s work!
I should also admit now that I have SERIOUS problems playing on my own with bodhran players. The only time I’ve ever done this was for a concert, and for performance exams at college (Mel Mercier is one of the lecturers, so he examines, but he also taps on the tables, the floor…). I find myself wondering what they’re going to do next, and listening out for the especially cool bits, which leaves me feeling a little out-of-control! It’s always been ok, but I do know exactly what you mean!
You can do it, Chuck - stick at it!
There are several rules to playing with others, though, especially when starting:
Rule 1 - Thou shalt think of the tune, the whole tune and nothing but the tune. Every other itinerant thought must be ruthlessly spurned. Even if someone asks ‘What are you drinking?’, they must be ignored (well … maybe there are extenuating circumstances …). The tune is the only important thing. It is ephemeral, and won’t come back again, help it along now.
When you’re learning to play with others, the slightest other idea in you brain will divert you, so repel all mental boarders.
Rule 2 - Don’t watch anyone’s fingers (until you are advanced). Its your ears that are important, your eyes can be shut. Look at other people’s faces, maybe, but not their fingers, you’ll get confused.
Rule 3 - Be able to start at different parts of the tune. Everyone has a stutter, hiccup or other interruption in their playing. And whistlers have the disadvantage of needing to breathe now and again! Being able to miss a bit of a tune with your fingers, but not in your head is a skill which can be developed over time with practise. Try playing each alternate bar of a tune, missing the others - maybe slowly with a metronome?
So if you have difficulty in joining straight back in, I’d suggest learning to be solid in your confidence to restart at (a) the beginning (b) the 5th bar (lots of tunes have very similar first and fifth bars) (c) the beginning of the B part (d) fifth bar of B part, etc. And when you know these parts well, practise them again, and again, and again… Then be confident of playing with distractions (TV?) in the background.
And tell us which tune(s) you’re concentrating on, we’ll send positive vibes over the airwaves.
I had the advantage of starting out in a whistle class of about a dozen, so we had no choice but learn to play together. But earlier this year I had a bad experience in a pub session at a festival. One lady played a nice fiddle tune, and I thought ‘she’s a good player’. So I started up another tune, she joined in - and ran away with it in a completely different tempo. Had to stop, start again - and exactly the same thing happened. I concluded that she knew the dots, but not the tune. She wasn’t using her ears. I’ve wakened up with nightmares about it since.
I’ve always enjoyed your contribution to this board, Chuck, I’m sure you’ll be joining in confidently with time and practise, and you’ll know what a buzz it is to share a tune with others. And then you’ll be into sets of tunes … and then …
On 2002-09-12 13:11, avanutria wrote:
On 2002-09-11 11:26, LeeMarsh wrote:
I warn you this connection to others, the music, and the life in tune is addictive. Once tasted, it is an appetite that can swell and lead to all sorts bizzare behaviors…Yeah, I’m proof of that! In my case it leads to forming session groups deep in Potato country, driving four hours (each way) without blinking an eye for two sessions, and spur-of-the-moment trips to Twin Falls!
Sigh…What day is this? I need a session. Anyone want to get together at Doc Jones’ this weekend? >
Hey Beth,
My mom just got back from a short trip to Idaho (I think it was either to Boise or Twin) visting high school friends. She was talking with them about my recent endeavors in Trad and they were lamenting that they did not know of any celtic music in Idaho. Have you set up any sessions that meet regularly and are they open enough for punters to show up too? I’m working up an email to her letting her know about the festival thats happening on the 21st (isnt Lunasa supposed to be playing) and it would be cool if I could clue her in on any sessions out there.
On the subject of playing with others, I agree that the Nike principle is paramount…just do it. I recently set up a slow session here in Bradenton, in part because I’ve noticed that most of the newbies out here never had band/orchestra in their youth like I did…having spent so much time as a child in band and orchestra taught me how to play with others, how to play my part of the tune but play it in style, volume and pitch so that it contributes to the the collective sound the group is making, how to stay on track when others screw up, how to pick up and get back on track when I screw up, how to sublty get others back on tempo, back on pitch, etc with eye contact, slight changes in paying style while still playing myself, all that stuff. Being so many years away from band I’ve naturally lost most of my actual abilities in these things, but the concepts remain fresh in my mind, and this is the stuff I’m trying to pass on to the others in the slow session. I just take the tunes real slow, and we play them through, sometimes with a metronome if their tempo is fluctuating wildly, and we keep at it, sometimes playing the same tune five or six times in a row. Oh, and I let them have music stands and read music while playing (some Trad purists get rabid against this) because it is a slow session and I want them to focus on the quality of the music and playing well in sync with the others, and I’ve noticed that forcing them to play by memory is too much for them to handle while staying focused on the important stuff. Later, when they get better, I’ll yank away the music stands.
I’m no expert at teaching music. All Im doing is creating a supportive, slow session, and the mere experience of newbies playing slowly with each other…(freed from the intimidating lighning fast advanced fiddlers and others who are always so eager to play a tune lightning fast and then move on to another one while they as newbies stand dazed like deer in headlights)…the simple act of playing slowly with other beginners is great.
Its been amazing to see now much progress the raw newbies have made in a few short months. Some who could barely play in May I clocked at 92 bpm last tuesday. I had to slow them down to stay on tempo!
On 2002-09-14 08:48, DazedinLA wrote:
Hey Beth,My mom just got back from a short trip to Idaho (I think it was either to Boise or Twin) visting high school friends. She was talking with them about my recent endeavors in Trad and they were lamenting that they did not know of any celtic music in Idaho. Have you set up any sessions that meet regularly and are they open enough for punters to show up too? I’m working up an email to her letting her know about the festival thats happening on the 21st (isnt Lunasa supposed to be playing) and it would be cool if I could clue her in on any sessions out there.
Yes, yes, there is! We have a session every last saturday of the month at my friend Paul’s house (Clarinetwhistler here on the board). It’s open to whoever, but we do ask that you let us know you are coming so we are sure to have room for everyone! The second one is this month, last month’s went pretty well. I am leaving Boise in November and I hope to have something regular established by then. Feel free to give interested folks my yahoo email.
Of the local people, I am currently the most experienced in sessions that we’ve found, but we welcome people of any level at all. Lat time we had people who had never played an instrument, people who had been playing for a year or two, and people who were really good. We allow sheet music, tab music, staring at other player’s fingers to see how they DO that, tune trading, etc etc. We just wanna play! 
As I understand it there may be regular things in the Twin Falls area as well, I know two musicians who live over that way and they are always doing OTHER stuff and can’t come to the Boise session!
And there is indeed a celtic fest on the 21st, the same day as a lunasa concert in Salt Lake and the Celtic Fest at Mack’s area in Grand Junction Colorado. I will be in Colorado that weekend.