Some of you may have already seen the attached article from the Comhaltas Site regarding the very common myth that ‘Faster is Better’ when it comes to playing Irish Trad.
I have noticed this in the sessions that I play in here in Ottawa. Not only do many players tend to play the tunes too fast, but they actually increase the speed as the tune continues ~ which I find most annoying.
Anyhow I found this article interesting and would welcome comments by others who have experienced this phenomena…
Gerry,
The going faster and faster is like rolling downhill until you crash & burn! I think this is from musicians not having any experience of playing for dancers. Dancers usually like to keep a steady beat.
Thanks for posting the article (what CCE chapter are you with?)
The way we have been trying to solve this problem here is to spread out the better/steady players around the circle and have them all play lound and really stomp their feet to the beat if it starts accelerating.(You have to have a hard floor for this to work, also a loud instrument)
This is working here, people are more aware that they have a tendency to speed up and try not to. However until people practice lots with a metronome, or with dancers, I think it will continue to be a problem. As people get excited, they don’t realize they are going faster!
Yeah, in Montreal we’ve got different speeds for differen reasons. Some very good players will play fast because they learn tunes from CDs. For me, that’s not a good excuse, as CD tunes are meant for a different “target”, and not really have it’s place in sessions, at least not at the original speed. There’s a few players who’ll prefer to play slow because they can’t really play fast, even though we all know they would like to be able to. Some very good players, like Stephen Jones, will sometime play fast, but will keep a good phrasing, so you won’t feel that it’s fast. Finally, there’s people like me, who one day will eventually be able to play fast, but for now is just caught in the excitement of the moment, end up playing fast and end up corrupting the phrasing.
Personnaly, I’m even more mad about a jig being played too fast compared to a reel being played too fast. I don’t know. From my point of view, there’s something special about jigs that will only come out at a moderate speed, and can be easily ruined by speed. I guess it’s the same with reels, but I don’t play reels very well, so it’s hard for me to notice.
Good thread… While I dig playiing fast for the fun factor I usually only do so when perhaps only a couple of people in the session know the tune in question and we just want to “have a go at it” - and the others don’t mind chilling for a set… I think this fits in with the whole etiquette deal… You just kinda have to read the vibe… I’ve been in situations where the Peter principle definitely applies… I’ve seen even lovely players of tunes play too fast and it just makes me sad… We all have to fight against that inner voice that says that if we’re the best, fastest, whatever, that true life & joy will result… When we believe that lie it robs us of our joy (we’ll never be the fastest, or the best…) in playing tunes and it shows… We can also go off the “ATVs Kill the environment” (referencing the article) deep end and make OUR view of how tunes should be played our idol - that also robs us of joy… I dunno, maybe I just speak for myself. I fight against this daily… For me… I just read the vibe, go with it and savor it… Speed is fun though isn’t it? Remember the first time you drove over 100mph? Let’s not forget the spirit of our youth! Of course…not at the expense of others… You know… Kinda like the “Reasonable Person Principle”! Now, if only I was a reasonable person!
I’ve always thought that playing some tunes fast is like finding a fine old whiskey and then throwing it down your neck just to see how fast you can drink it.
The session I play in most frequently is very much a mixed ability affair and tunes or sets are normally set rolling by one person starting something and everybody else joining in (it’s in the back room of a pub so ‘performance’ to an audience doesn’t really apply). We have one golden rule: We play at the speed of whoever started the tune. I’ve been in sessions where someone has started to play a tune at a regular tempo only to have it hijacked by one or two speed demons. I can think of no more selfish and boorish behaviour at a session than this.
So remember, if you’re out my way, savour the tunes and I might just buy you that whiskey.
I agree that some Jigs sound better a tad slower. Part of the fun of the music is finding the treasures at various speeds. I’m a learner, so I can’t go that fast. But I have to admit that, as a general rule, faster Irish music should be played fast, and the slower stuff should be played very slow. The only in-between stuff that I know of is from O’Carolan.
In my personal playing, I try to make the piece sound good, without focusing on speed per se. However, if there are dancers involved and you don’t play fast enough, they’ll fall over. I’ve done the dancing thing, and it gets really wierd when they don’t go fast enough.
Where I live there is a donut shop that has a wonderful wonderful thing called a butter roll. It’s like a huge donut on steroids.
I have found that I play about twice as fast as normal when I’ve eaten these. >
Yikers! You can play after eating something that makes your mouth water? I started to salivate just reading your post. Phlew-shroop-shpurtl-gaaaaaacckkkk! I can’t play the whistle any more tonight…thanks a whole bunch.
I agree with the “it’s most annoying when people speed up and start rushing a tune” opinion. Nothing irritates me more than not keeping time (well, being off pitch does get mighty irritating…).
Granted, I think that once in a while, when things are “really cookin,'” it might be ok to accelerate a smidgen, but note that I say a smidgen. lol. It also depends on the musicians, whether or not you’re playing for dancers, ect. Otherwise, I prefer to keep it at a steady pace.
On 2002-12-02 18:16, jbarter wrote:
(…)
We have one golden rule: We play at the speed of whoever started the tune. I’ve been in sessions where someone has started to play a tune at a regular tempo only to have it hijacked by one or two speed demons. I can think of no more selfish and boorish behaviour at a session than this.
(…)
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Playing at the speed of the person who started is an excellent principle.
There is one type of behaviour which is indeed more boorish than the hijacking which you mention, and that’s when the sshl* who does it is a bodhran player that doesn’t even have to play the notes himself.
An PluiméirCeolmhar
[ This Message was edited by: Roger O’Keeffe on 2002-12-03 04:48 ]
I couldn’t agree more. We discussed this a few weeks ago. It’s either about prowess (“look at me, can’t I play fast”), or about FEEL - and the music has feel in which you can get lost, for the music’s sake (and the dancers and listeners), and take you (ie ego) out of the picture.
Last night I attended our Monday night session and since it was -20 degrees not too many showed up (took a while to warm up the low D ). There was one fiddle, one flute, one mandolin, one guitar and myself on whistle/harmonica. Everyone played at a nice steady pace and it was so refreshing compared to usual. You can really appreciate the music when it is played at a nice steady tempo. Unless you are a very high calibre player, a lot gets lost when the tunes are played at high speed…
