I’m practicing Green Mountain and Silver Spear right now for a recital because my teacher pushed the timing up from “just try to get the notes” to 160 bpm in two lessons- and I did it. (A month ago I was starting to think I’d never play, but after that challenge, I’m suddenly a flute player! Weird!) This made me realize that playing “here and there” with basic stuff isn’t gonna cut it for me because I’m not challenged enough. (I’ve always learned better playing with people in situations where I’m not quite ready to be in).
Since I’ve gone farther with a hard challenge in 1 month than I came in almost a year, I wanted to get some more challenge by playing with some accompaniment, but can’t drop in on a session speed yet. I know about BBC Sessions, but I was wondering about the availability of some more approachable intermediate accompaniment CDs or sites. Something faster than “this is how you make flute sounds” but slower than “This is Michael McGoldrick’s session piece.” I can’t hold with a 220 bpm pace, but 160, though a bit daunting, is something I actually manage to pull off.
Reels are generally played “in 2” and counted in cut time (2/2), even if they’re sometimes notated as 4/4. So I’d guess you really mean 80 and 110 bpm, not 160 and 220?
And it’s not just a technical nicety. If you’re counting 4 main pulses to a bar, you’re bound to get the wrong feel and timing.
I guess I’ve seen a few “Music Minus One” type accompaniments, including one that’s rhythm only. But it really runs counter to the notion that this is a melodic tradition and, if anything, the melody pulse from your flute should drive any accompaniment, not vice-versa. I’ve heard too many newbie players whose phrasing and pulse is wrong because they’ve practiced playing to some sort of misbegotten “chunk chunk” square accompaniment instead of approaching the melodies on their own terms.
IMO, you’re better off taking, for example, a McGoldrick or Na Connerys or Foinn Seisiún track and shifting it to where you want in a slow downer. Then at least you know you have an accompaniment that fits the melody, and a melodic phrasing to model your own against.
I use the cds from Dan Compton Irish Session class. He has 29 now working on 30. They usually consist of 8 to 10 sets, 1 to 3 tunes for each set. The first time through played at or near session speed on the fiddle accompanied by the guitar and sometimes Box. Then each tune is played slower, fiddle only so you can learn the tune. His web site is http://www.glencottagemusic.com/ He’ll email you what’s on the CDs. I have taken 21 of his classes and enjoy them, and plan on continuing. The quality of his CDs is good and Dan is a good musician. Many of the tutorials only play through once, while Dan will play through the first time through twice to three time, and then twice on the slower version.
I’ve posted this before, but I truly think that anyone looking to learn by ear and play along with the tunes, this is a great series of CDs.
Yes, I do indeed mean 80 and 110, that my ignorance about how to count in the genre, and something more I’ve learned. Also, that’s an excellent point about melodic drive. I hadn’t thought about that nuance, but with my experiences in other instruments, it makes sense as something I should build now, rather than later. Thanks.
Oh, and incidentally, I mean 60, not 80. I’m not that fast yet. I just set my metronome to 80 to try to count it correctly and it took a while to realize that it wasn’t the counting style that was throwing me off, but just the speed
Well cheers, John, it sounds like you’re on a good path and learning quickly. Keep it up!
As a guitarist myself at times, I always enjoy playing tunes to a nice accompaniment. But melody is the star, and a good backup player will follow dynamically the lift and feel of the fluter. Playing to canned accompaniment reverses these roles, forcing you to follow instead of lead. It can be fun, as long as you keep in mind that it’s also somewhat unnatural.
As for tempos … There’s nothing wrong with 60 if that’s where you’re comfortable and steady for now. Speed comes naturally with more chops and confidence. As a target, 80 is around the low end of “session tempo” for reels, up to around 120 or so. But a slow reel deliberately geared down to 60 can be quite nice, too, with room to explore different phrasing and nuances.
maybe you could download audacity or some audio editing software (there are quite a few which are free online) they let you slow down audio tracks without affecting the pitch, so you can get just the speed you want and play along with your favourite tracks, and gradually increase the speed to normal when you get better, what about that? (your songs must be in digital format of course) you won’t know exactly what tempo you’re playing though, and the audio would sound a little strange when you slow it down too much.. that’s what i usually do, anyhow
