This new whistler received his first ITM CDs and just finished listening to 2 from Mary Bergin. (Feadoga Stain 1 & 2) I also got a Joanie Madden CD and one of the Chieftains. I’ll be ordering more soon, mostly from MTGURU’s list. I do not believe I have ever heard so many notes played in such a short period of time, in any musical genre. She wore me out just listening. I think I need to lay down now!
She seems to play all of her reels in the tempo of 108 to 124 beats (half note) per minute with a couple a little slower. Is this tempo pretty standard for reels? I think I need to practice some after my nap!
Hey! I felt the exact same 1 year ago. The speed didn’t relax me by any stretch! Then I started taking lessons last January ( and spent hundreds of hours listening) and also went to listen to a few sessions. Now I can listen to Mary and the notes are not so lost in what my ears use to hear as a frenetic frenzy. It’s so amazing how you will change with this music. I am actually able to hear the phrasing and tune essence now. I never thought at first I could understand or enjoy the music at that speed or even differentiate the tunes. Personally I like the tunes are a bit slower so I can really feel them and hear the nuances. But that’s just me, a newbie. Mary Bergin is the best! Enjoyed your post!
Yes, that’s a normal range, depending on the tune (or the dancers).
It’s like learning a new language. At first, it seems like everyone speaks so fast. But with experience, you take in entire words and phrases and not the individual sounds, and you focus on the meaning. And MB doesn’t play particularly fast compared to some.
Yeah those are pretty moderate tempos… I have sat in sessions where the tempo hit 140 BPM or better. I can’t play that fast on the whistle (not yet) but I have done it on concertina and button accordion. It takes some practice, but I think after a while, you will find that it is doable… and you will notice that the best players don’t even look rushed.. the notes just seem to come out while they seem to be playing at a relaxed pace.
In any case, give yourself time.. the more you practice, the more tunes you learn, the faster you will be able to play.
My favourite speed for reels is about 110, which I think is fast enough. But I’ve been in plenty of sessions where they’re a fair bit faster than that.
There’s a flute player that I really like to play with (I won’t embarass him by naming him, although I’m not sure if he’s a member here or not), and he plays reels at about 90 bpm. It’s just gorgeous. Great player.
Perhaps there’s something in the air – coincidentally, yesterday I spent some quality time with a metronome, examining how fast I can play comfortably, and comparing that with some of my favorite CDs.
My conclusion: Well, at least I can keep up with “Live at Mona’s” (sometimes…) Actually I do find it comforting to realize that some CDs I love (Live at Mona’s, Well Tempered Bow, Mick O’s Kitty Lie Over) have a lot of material that is more leisurely. Still very enjoyable to listen to.
But mainly, my recent metronome exercise left me more aware of how some recordings are pretty fast, yet still feel relaxed. Brian Conway’s “Bonny Kate” (currently on his myspace.com / brianconwayfiddle page) gets up to at least 120bmp but to me it feels relaxed. Is there an art to that? Are there subtleties of timing that help a tune sound relaxed? Or is it simply a case of “practice, practice, practice, and eventually the speed will come”?
I’m afraid I just don’t get this apparent need for speed. Who cares? I mean, a professional can do what they like for a recording - they presumably are aiming for a particular sound on any particular track, and speed would be part of that. But that’s got nothing to do with actual real-life sessions. (And, before anyone jumps in, for these purposes I’d also rule out any recorded session where the musiciains knew it was going to be recorded.)
When I first started playing my teacher insisted I take dance lessons. I learned very quickly that reels are danced at much faster tempos than is common in sessions. He said reels in particular are often played slower than dance tempo without losing musicality. Most dancers like reels at least at 140 bpm, often faster.
I don’t know for certain, because I’m not a dancer, but doesn’t that depend on where you are in the world, and on how you want to dance to them? I know that when I’ve played for dancers, if they’re American it’s breakneck speed, if they’re English it’s fast, and, often (but not always) if they’re Irish it’s about session speed for reels, often slower for jigs and much much slower for hornpipes (depending on the type of hornpipe being danced, but even the light ones tend to be slower than normal session speed).
I care because I want to be prepared. If your goal is to learn your instrument(s) well enough that you can join in a session with a bunch of strangers, then you need to know what to expect. If you’ve never practiced your reels above 112 bpm and you join in a session where they play a lot faster than that, you might be in for a rude awakening.
Speaking of bpm and dancers – yes I’ve often heard that “dancers want it played faster.” I assume that’s referring to set dances and/or ceilis? And I assume that step dancing is a different beast altogether. Take for example this video of the MacGabhann family, where there’s step dancing in the latter half. They’re playing around 110 bpm, and the feet are flying. Step dancers wouldn’t want the music at 130 bpm, would they?
Well, OK, but I have to say that the best sessions I’ve been in are not particularly fast. People get over-excited at festivals, but other than that, it’s normally quite steady.
In the Introduction to the Second Reprint of Ceol Rince na hEireann, Breandan Breathnach writes:
"It was pointed out to the editor that readers not famiiar with Irish dance music had been left in the dark about the tempo at which this music was usually played. The following shows the tempo for each class of this music:
Double Jigs: 127 (per dotted quarternote)
Single Jigs: 137 (ditto)
Slip Jigs: 144 (ditto)
Reels: 224 (per quarternote, the equivalent of 112 at the normal two pulses per bar)
Hornpipes: 180 (per quarternote)
To play the music at a quicker tempo detracts from the melody; to play it somewhat slower can do no harm. It was customary for many of the older musicians when playing for themselves to adopt a slower pace than that demanded by the dancers."
Nowadays it seems that when musicians are playing for themselves, at session, the tendency is to play jigs rather faster than is used for dancing.
I’ve noticed over the years that the tempo varies not only from individual to individual, but sometimes players of certain instruments seem to have certain tendencies.
For example, I have encountered, over the last 30 years, a huge number of hammer dulicmer players who play all Irish tunes at absurdly high tempos. Most I’ve heard tend to play reels at around 140 to 150 beats per minute as opposed to Ceol Rince na hEireann’s recommended 112.
