posted also on Whistle This but thought I might as well post it here too.
I was wondering if anyone had any advice about learning airs. Nico and I were swapping a few notes and agreeing about the importance of learning by ear from good sean nos sung versions or appropriate solo instruments. Anyway, I learned a couple this week but, being pretty new at this, have no good way of evaluating them. Does anyone have any advice (a) on aspects of playing, and (b) on ways of learning and listening
Here’s my (rough) examples
Róisín Dubh learned from the singing of Caitlín Maude (and a rough transcription I found on thesession)
Caoineadh an Spailpínlearned from the playing of Brid O’Donoghue’s (and my own transcription of that).
Learning from her is certainly a commendable approach.
I would try to copy as closely as you can in the beginning, particularly breaths (as a good indication of phrasing). Ultimately it’s the phrasing your after, and that is why you should also listening to the song in Irish. Ideally of course you want to learn Irish and to sing the song. I wouldn’t let that stop me, though. Recording and listening back is great too, so you are doing the right things already.
From listening to your clip, I’d suggest that your ornaments need a bit of work: they are erratic and too prominent in the playing as a result.
The text is a bunch of interview/bio write ups of musicians the authors thought notable. One is box player Tony MacMahon, and in it he describes Seamus Ennis’s lesson in playing slow airs:
In 1963 Tony [MacMahon] shared Seamus Ennis’s apartment in Bleecker Street in New York for a few weeks, learning from the master, being coached in the art of air-playing. ‘He made me repeat the words over and over until I had them off by heart. “Now we’ll start on the music,” he said. He took me through “Bean Dubh a Ghleanna,” and kept me at it. He would say, “put the shiver there, boy, put the shiver there”.’
Not that this’ll do ya a damn lot of good, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
perhaps a useful observation from the introduction to Tomas O Canainn’s book, where he suggests of learning to play airs…
‘I would regard ornamentation as a way of easing movement between the main notes of a melody - a kind of musical lubrication which makes the progression logical and inevitable. The listner must not have his or her attention drawn specfically to the ornamentation by the performance, as that, in itself, would be a sure sign of excessive decoration.’
I’m not sure whether his transcriptions then necessarily help with achieving it, but a useful sentiment (actually his suggestions on basic phrasing are also helpful in a simple way).
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