I am respectfully requesting any comment, suggestion, etc…the field is wide open.
I am Primarily a Low whistler and have focused on quick marches, medium slow aires and what I call turtle aires. Now I am starting to get into reels and jigs, but a problem is arising.
My fingers won’t do what I am instructing them to do. Being happy in 4/4 time they refuse to go any faster. I have a metronome to help my mind get in synch, but my damn fingers just refuse to participate. I have set my Low whistling aside and picked up a soprano D, but still no success.
If any of you have had this same problem and have any suggestions that seemed to work for you, please pass them along.
I’ve been playing for two years and was beginning to wonder if 45 is too old to teach the fingers to play fast. But I have been assured that it’ll come and I’ve seen progress.
Think about this: How long does it take the average kid to learn to play the clarinet or sax or piano at anywhere near the speed of a jig or a reel? Are they playing at 180-200 in two years? Probably not.
I’ve been told that speed comes from absolute learning of the piece. Take one tune and play it over and over and over at slow speeds until you are perfect, then speed up little by little, making sure you always play it right before playing it faster.
I fought myself to death with this and one day it just all came together when I did the following… I threw away keeping up and focused on what was happening in the tune itself.
I can only play by ear and have no concept of readin sheet music beyond “let’s see.. every good boy does… ok that’s a D!” so I don’t know if this works for anyonw else but here’s what works for me, and it rocketed my playing level up from ‘geh’ to ‘not bad eh?’
I either get someone to play the tune slow for me, or slow it down on the computer (insert favorite software here) and all I do is figure out how the tune is being played. Literally play along with it.
Now your fingers HAVE to go along with it quite simply because you’re playing it… at half speed or such. Then, as was stated earlier, just speed yourself up a little at a time and the timing and liilt of the tune just naturally comes along.
I would suggest something like Leitrim Fancy to get your fingers a workin’ around without too much “finger haste” at first, but it can also be sped up and sound great as well.
i still recall my thoughts when i first tackled high speed jigs and reels,
you have to be kidding its impossible to play that fast …i thought…
but patience perseverence and concentrating on phrasing, breathing technique, and determined repetition to develop muscle memory,
i have seen many ppl on this board reccommend learning the tune properly first, and i have to agree, but then again dont be afraid once you have the basics of the tune down pat to let fly with all your might, you will make mistakes, the only aim is to force your fingers to fly, correct your stuff ups slowly and let fly again,
i firmly believe the only way to increase speed is to push the limits of what you feel comfortable with,
that is not to say sacrifice the tune or technique but sometimes if you want to play fast one must practice fast,
the same applies to touch typing, if ya wanna type at 60 words per minute, ya just gotta type a word in a flurry of movement, not altogether unlike a phrase of a tune, everyone is gunna stuff up , but with perseverence, all will fall into place,
i have almost worn out the backspace button on my keyboard over the years, and yep i still make some monumental stuffups on jigs and reels at inconvenient moments, (but dont we all?)
its a matter of practice and minimising mistakes without ruining the magic of the tune,
its what makes whistling and itm such a rewarding challenge,
now stop reading my crappy posts and get practicing
Regards
David
I had the same problem when trying to play jigs uptempo. Here’s what I did:
I take each new tune SLOWLY–if necessary, right down to 60 bpm, especially if the fingering is tricky (say, from octave G down to low D, and up to C natural, for instance). I play it over and over, making sure that I hit each note cleanly, and I emphasize keeping the beat, if necessary deliberately ‘overemphasizing’ the lead note to do so: DAH-dah-dah Dah-dah-dah, etc. I listen to an experienced musician playing the tune, too, so that I can hear what the overall structure sounds like (don’t worry about ornamentation at this point).
Once I have the fingering down–so that I no longer have to think about it (I believe Grey Larsen refers to this as ‘muscle memory’, or something to that effect)–I begin to increase the tempo. If I find myself missing a note, I practice that particular bar, or two or three bars, until I have it right. Over time you’ll play at tempo, cleanly and accurately.
One other thing: I like to play a series of tunes of the same type: slipjigs, double jigs, reels, whatever. The idea is that I’ll be playing a sequence of tunes with the same sort of internal structure, for an extended period of time, and doing this helps me to learn ALL the tunes of that sort more easily.
So:
Play slowly and accurately. Go back and work on troublesome areas. Accentuate the beat, or tap your foot, or use a metronome. If you have a recording, listen to the tune carefully.
Gradually increase the tempo.
Perhaps play a set or two of the same tune category, if you feel this helps.
I have kind of the opposite problem. My fingers want to increase the tempo long before I really have the tune well enough to play it at speed. I constantly have to tell myself “slow down…it’s not a race!”
A little shocked to read that a person would want to play faster …
So faster than what? And then who or what are you listening to?
Most Irish musicians I have heard that are widely respected don’t play ‘fast’. All the speed freaks tend to be kids who burn out in a couple of years and are never heard of again.
Listen to Ennis on the Pipes, listen to Russell on the TW. Its not the speed which makes them popular.
If you don’t slow down you’ll travel the road, maybe rip it up, and miss the journey.
Playing at a fast speed can be compared to learning to ride a bicycle!
You get on ,you fall off.You get on again ,you fall off again.
At this point you begin to wonder if there is something wrong with your balance or your technique.Then you get on again and fall off again.
Soon you get on and manage to stay on for a few yards,then you fall off again.
After a while you get on and wobble around for a bit and dont actually fall off-just grind to a halt.
Eventually you get on,stay on and are spinning around the countryside with the wind in your hair and enjoying every minute of it.
At this point ,you are not thinking about balance and speed and all that ,you are just DOING it.
The moral of the story is good things come to those who wait,(and practice).
I know it can be very frustating but try and remember that Mary Bergin,Joanie Madden et alia all experienced the very same problems at some point in their lives.
The trick is to keep getting on again!
This was one of the most helpful threads I’ve read, and I’m glad Keith thought to ask it, and gladder still (hmmm, my grammar teacher rolls in her grave) that so many have added thoughts on their techniques.
