Surviving being a beginner

Irish Flute
1

I imagine it would take me a year or more to be able to play well enough for people to say, yep, that’s music. But in the mean time, during those years, I would be playing all alone. How do you survive that? How do you play alone for several years and avoid going terribly astray due to lack of adequate feedback from other musicians?

It would be nice to play in a session some day, but from what I’ve read, they sound rather vicious and catty, so I’m not sure I’d ever have the courage. Are there other avenues for a flutist to learn how to play music with other people? Should I see if I can join the beginning guitar class at Adult Education and play American folk music just so I can have a chance to play with other people?

2

You need to understand that while sessions definitely can be that way, they are by no means all that way. Besides “slow sessions” which are explicitly for beginners, there are many sessions which are quite friendly and welcoming.

Another option we have used with great success is to simply find a group of like-minded people of roughly similar talent levels and set up a regular weekly get together at somebody’s house.

Also, my experience is that most camps / “colleges” / schools for Irish music will have regular nightly sessions where beginners would be welcome. For instance, this summer my wife and I are going to the Goderich Celtic College in Ontario, which for four days has four class periods during the day, nightly teacher concerts, and then organized beginner, intermediate, and song sessions as well as multiple spontaneous free-for-all sessions. It’s a fantastic chance to learn from great teachers and play with lots of different people. I’m sure there must be something similar out on the West Coast.

3
  • find a (slow) session with other beginners/learners
  • form a band with other beginners/learners

You will grow with them. :slight_smile:

4

ancient itm proverb:

the journey of thousand tunes starts with one note

5

First I’d like to say, all the very best luck with it! It is never too late to start to play an instrument, and whatever level you achieve, whether you play solo alone at home or in company in sessions or to perform, you will get so much pleasure, joy and satisfaction from it - certainly enough to outweigh the frustration and hard work we all experience at times as we develop ( a never-ending process!).

How long does it take? Well, there are many variables and no rules! For a start, it all depends on how readily it comes to you - some people just sail away (I have a 14 year old pupil doing just that!), others have to grind at it for weeks even to get an acceptable toot out of that damn tube! If you learn real tunes from the start (chosen to help with technique at the appropriate level, of course), once you can actually play through two or three at a steady pace without “falling off”, get out there and play them! Doubtless you will sometimes embarass yourself, but face that out. Playing with others at every opportunity is one of the best ways to develop and improve, and if you can’t join in, listen (and watch)!

As for sessions, it all depends what your local ones are like. Yes, some can be a bit catty, or stuffy, or exclusivist about what music is deemed acceptable, but not all are. It seems bizarre to me, having an “approved” list of tunes or whatever, although if a session is clearly ITM only, I wouldn’t insist on playing loads of English tunes or whatever, or vice versa - you’re in the wrong place, and a session after all relies on having a substantial degree of commonality or it becomes more of a “buggins turn” play-around thing…ugggghhh! I go fairly frequently to Welsh TM sessions where the whole point is to foster the Welsh tradition, so we mostly eschew ITM or other foreign material, even though many of us play that as well. My main local session is predominantly ITM, but we also happily mix in Welsh, Breton, English, Anglo-French etc etc. There’s one regular who gets a bit humpy about that because he only wants to play ITM, but the rest of us just enjoy it. When I go occasionally to Irish sessions in Manchester, I only play Irish…

If you have a choice, pick the right session for you. If the general standard is obviously stratospheric, discretion is best - try to join in (discretely!) with anything you recognise, but don’t try to lead a set off. Not all sessions are at that level - it all depends on who the local regulars are and who turns up on the night. Most traditional musicians are very friendly and welcoming, in my experience, and supportive of people starting off and participating - unless you are blatantly insensitive and insist on repeatedly banging away incompetently. Also most sessions have participants at varying levels of competence and breadth of repertory, so will play a mix of “standards” and more eclectic tunes at varying speeds etc. On the other hand, if the local standard is dire (it does happen!), playing with a bunch of people who are incompetent and don’t realise how bad they are will NOT do you any good! You’ll soon realise if you’re in such company - you’ll be getting better and they, despite having been at it for years, will still be playing the same handful of old standards out of time/tune…

In the end, its like any other human interaction - you have to judge the company and the mood and act accordingly with regard to your own abilities and tastes.

Give it a go, learn and enjoy!

6

I can’t believe that nobody suggested lessons. I am sure there plenty of good players near you who would be happy to teach you. I googled “Irish music Santa Barbara” and got lots of hits. Good luck. Work on keeping a tight embouchure and you’ll be fine.
The music comes from the mouth, not the fingers. Develop a good tone and good rhythm and don’t worry about speed.

7

Lessons would be an excellent idea. If there is an Irish Cultural Center near you, that would be a good place to find a teacher, as well as other beginners who might want to get together to play.

From my understanding, the session I regularly go to began that way, and it is a fun and welcoming environment.

Another thing which is a little different that you might try is if you can get to a “Music for People” session. This group does not play in any particular style, so if you are looking to play Celtic music exclusively, it would not be the group for you. What they do is develop improvisation skills for anyone who wants to play with other people. One of the things they do are to help people to develop improvisation skills within their own level of ability, so you would be able to play with other people while still a beginner, and then to continue on while you improve your technical skills. So it’s a good way to play with others, no matter where your ability level is, and the skills come in handy when you are outside of the group as well.

It looks like there are two groups in California, but both in the Bay area, though.

http://www.musicforpeople.org

8

I would say don’t bother going to the “slow/beginner” session. Find the highest level session you can, and go religiously as a listener, to soak up the music and to get to know the players. Eventually, you can bring the flute and join in for a few tunes and as long as you don’t try to run the session (which happens all too often) they will probably be happy to oblige you, especially if they have gotten to know you and that have noticed that you play but were smart enough not to impose your playing on them before you were ready.

IMO, you are likely to learn more quickly this way. I personally think guidance is more important than acceptance; you will probably be accepted at any slow/beginner session, but they rarely have critical mass of experienced players to learn from. The vast majority of slow session goers I know have never even been to regular sessions, and don’t seem to feel like they will ever be able to… They tend to have an irrational fear of the better players. Don’t let that happen to you. Just make friends with them and realize that they are just regular people who have worked hard to be able to play at their level and would rather not have to sacrifice the quality of the music.

9

I think it would be insanely frustrating for a beginner to sit in our local weekly session. Way too many tunes, changing every week, played too fast, and one of the two session leaders not particularly welcoming.

Obviously if you find a slow session where nobody aspires to ever be any better, that’s not a good environment. But playing with other people is an important part of learning to play. There is amazing power in finding a group of like-minded learners to play and learn with. The sort of thing where everyone goes off and tries to learn new things between sessions and brings them back to share with everyone else.

Not to say you can’t go to the high-powered session, too…

10

“Always play with someone who’s better than you are. That way you can only get better.” - Jack Coen (via Brad Hurley)

I think the time one could spend at a beginners session struggling along with other beginners with the usual rhythm/intonation issues would be better spend listening to a high level session and acquiring a feel for the music. It would also be better spent playing along with recordings, even slowed-down ones.

A session is not a competition. Go to one where you like the music and enjoy it. Find out some of the tunes that they play and start working on them. Get to know the people and perhaps they won’t be so unwelcoming. Don’t psyche yourself out of it.

11

People will differ on this but no harm I think IMHO to pick up a whistle as well and play your tunes on it. Whistle is generally more ‘precise’, easier to seal holes, more amenable. So when you do go along to play at a session or with like minded people and are nervous, it’s likely that your flute technique will falter somewhat. Whistle is of course quite acceptable in most sessions so you ‘fall back’ on that, join in a few tunes, get your confidence up and pick up the flute for next tune you know.
People will advise 'if you wanna play flute, just play flute..etc" but the point is that if you wanna play and share tunes with other people, then it’s music you need - the instrument is relatively unimportant.

12

This isn’t an either / or proposition. There’s no reason sbhikes can’t both find a high level session where she can listen and learn, and a more easy-going session where she can play and learn. Back in my sessioning heyday (with three years of playing under my belt) I usually went to four sessions a week – the unfriendly high-level one in town, an intermediate session an hour away, another learning session an hour the other direction, and the gathering of friends at my house. I learned from all of them.

And yeah, at that point I’m pretty sure I learned the most when we got together at my house. I was by no means the best player there, so there were better players to learn from, and everyone was friendly and welcoming and there to learn and have a good time. We pushed ourselves, but in a “ohmigod this is all so cool” way, not a competitive way. The times were great, and even though most of the gang has since moved away, we still push each other to learn more. (And now excuse me, I’ve got to start contacting a new gang of people to see if they’d like to get together and play this week…)

13

I agree that the best way forward (apart from lessons), is definitely to get together with other people…even if it’s just with a few friends. It just gets you used to playing together with others (and gets you used to listening to what they’re playing at the same time..not just concentrating on what you are doing yourself), so your timing and confidence will improve…it doesn’t matter if you miss a few notes out…no one will mind!
I started out on silver flute quite a while ago, and have relatively recently found Irish flute again. I know it can be scary and a bit intimidating at first when you start off playing with people or in sessions (I had a “wobbly lip” problem, whenever I played in front of anyone for ages!), but everyone was a beginner once, and most people love to see a new face at sessions and will give you plenty of encouragement. Stick at it. It gives you such a buzz playing with others! …it’s the best medicine in the world!
C.

14

I would like to attend a session just to listen. I don’t think I would ever have the courage to go up to these strangers and say “can I play?” without being able to actually play well, and I would feel really silly sitting there holding an instrument like some wall-flower at the Homecoming dance hoping the quarterback of the football team will ask me to dance.

So maybe I will just listen for a while and during a break ask if they know of any beginning groups.

Keeping up with my whistle is a good idea too. It is rather easy to play, but I fear the loudness would make it too easy to hear me fumbling above the din of the fiddles.

I have heard some fiddlers keep their fiddles on top of the stereo speakers so they’ll learn the tunes. Maybe if I hide a flute in my bag and bring it to a session the same thing will happen.

15

Mmm, I like that idea! Think I’ll try it..there’s so many tunes out there to learn!
C.

16

Sessions , in my experience vary widely. I go to one that is fast and advanced. At my level, I play on about a third to half of the tunes. Others have different skill levels and if there is newer player there, we will ask them if they know a tune and let them start it at their pace. It’s no big deal to play a tune or two a session at “Slow Session” speed - as long as it doesn’t drag the entire session down.
Learn a few tunes WELL (start with one, of course). Start slowly and get it right and gradually build up speed. Go to sessions and check it out.

Oh, and practice, practice, practice!

17

Going to listen is probably a good plan in many respects, but take your instruments just in case! there’s nothing worse than going somewhere without your gear and then discovering you could have joined in if only you’d had something with you! Leave 'em in the car by all means, but NOT at home!

I don’t think I would ever have the courage to go up to these strangers and say “can I play?” without being able to actually play well, and I would feel really silly sitting there holding an instrument like some wall-flower at the Homecoming dance hoping the quarterback of the football team will ask me to dance.

In my experience, one wouldn’t usually do that anyway. You might ask a group of sessioners already playing if they mind you joining them (from a seating point of view), but you just get your instrument out and either they’ll play something you can busk along to sooner or later, or they’ll actually ask you to play, or at least whether you want to. That’s your chance to air that first set you’ve learned and practised, at whatever speed you are comfortable with - or not if you don’t feel up to it. By all means explain yourself before playing. No-one will mind, unless its the kind of sesh you really won’t want to go to again!
Another strategy is to arrive early (after a checking-out visit) and already be in the session area playing quietly on your own or with someone you know - see how the main body of folk react/join in as they arrive, then fade out or keep going as best you can.

BTW, I second earlier comments about getting some lessons, doing impro, playing with people at your own level AND with people who are more advanced, etc. etc. But most of all, just play, and the sooner/more you play “out”, the easier it will be in the long run with the nerves, being accepted, making progress. If you go to a high grade sesh just to listen, all you will do is intimidate yourself (and probably not enjoy even the listening as a result, though you might have done so in pre-trying-it-yourself times!), and there really shouldn’t be any need for that.

Like I said before, trad music is essentially a communal activity (with a private element too, of course) and one to be mutually enjoyed. If that isn’t happening, either you’ve fallen into a bad scene or you’re too busy crucifying yourself or both! It is a good thing to have a realistic self-knowledge of how good you are NOT and how far you have to go, but the necessary corollary is to praise yourself (and accept the praise of others)and stand up for how good you ARE and to be prepared (in both senses) to perform to the best level you can at any given time. If you don’t do the latter and give it a go, at best you will stunt your progress and at worst you will only ever play alone at home - which clearly is not your wish! Don’t be scared (beyond normal and inevitable levels), do that groundwork and give it a whirl, and if the first experience is not as good as you’d like, that should be an incentive, not a put-off.

Good luck!