This may have been done to death, in which case I would be grateful for appropriate links, since my search was inconclusive.
I am gently making the transition/expansion from essentially Old Time music on the Mt. Dulcimer to IrTrad on the simple flute (I played classical flute and recorders as a young woman, which could be regarded as a handicap in some ways, but an advantage in others – I can get a tone out of my flute, I can count and I can hear when I’m off and shut up!).
At any rate, I have been invited to sit in with a group of musicians who are starting a monthly session in a nearby watering hole. I have listened to them play and would love to try. However, the convension of sets baffles me. Are there standard combinations, or do the musicians make them up on the spot, or both?
If there are standard sets, I would like to learn the tunes that go with the tunes I already know or am working on, since that seems the most logical way to build repetoire and competance.
Here are a few of the tunes I can do, and suggestions would be most welcome.
Hewlett
Planxty Irwin
Road to Lisdoonvarna
After the Battle of Aughrim
Kesh Jig
John Ryan’s Polka
I still have a lot to learn in terms of style and repetoire, but I find the best way to learn (in addition to listening and practicing) is to get out there and play with other musicians, and for that a core of tunes is really helpful. Even a basic familiarity with a tune helps me understand what I am listening to.
Kate, I’ve been slowly putting together the tunes played at the local Houston sessions so I can learn them. I’ve posted what I’ve gathered so far here:
There are no such things as “standardized” groups of tunes, if that’s what you mean. Remember that you are playing dance music. The tunes are put together to make a decent length of a dance for ceidhli dancing, often three two-part tunes, each played three times, or modified to a very specific number of beats for set dancing, where each dance has a specific number of steps.
Usually tunes are chosen to compliment each other, e.g. one in D, one in G, and back to D, or perhaps starting off with a minor key, then to one in G, then to one in D. There are thousands of tunes to choose from. The choices become very localized to a group of musicians at any session. Some groupings become popular and are found at several sessions, but not all sessions. A session starts to become stagnant if the participants aren’t adding new tunes or new combinations all the time.
There are many tune books available, and as many settings for the same tunes. If your group is having trouble putting groupings together, I suggest the Blue and Yellow Music for the Sets books from NPU. They have lots of nice combinations of every different type of dance tune. There are, of course, many other books to choose from. I’m not saying one is any better than the others.
One of the things that you may notice as you increase your collection of ITM CDs is that many groups try and set themselves off not only by the way they play, but by the combinations of tunes they group together. So you see, the choice is really up to you and the people you play with. If you get it wrong, there’s always someone who will be quick to point it out.
Sets are composed both ways and it tends to vary depending on the ettiquet of your particular session. Some sessions will play regular combinations of sets in other sessions they will combine some standard combinations with sets that are made up on the fly. Personally I recommend starting with standard combinations until you get use to switching tunes.. then you can get a bit more free form. You will also start getting a better feel for what tunes sound good together.
Thanks to everyone who replies, all most helpful. And Eddie, thanks so much for the link to your tunebook…a wonderful resource!
Actually, in my case, the other musicians play together frequently in other locations. I’m just trying to get all the info I can, so that when I join in I don’t sound like a complete dunce or tromp over people’s sensibilities.
