By way of introduction, last night I was listening to Catherine and John McEvoy’s CD: The Kilmore Fancy. The tempo seemed to be particularly relaxed and laid back.
Yet at Sessions I have attended, players exhibit a huge range in tempos from the meaningless, super fast to the painfully slow. Some players equate good playing only with speed; other players never seem to attain that groove where the music sounds just right.
At a SESSION:
What is a good range in tempo for
a) reels b) jigs c) hornpipes d) polkas e) slides f) slip jigs g) marches
etc. ?
What are your general ideas/principles about tempo in Irish music?
If you can’t make it feel and sound relaxed and laid back at whatever tempo you’re playing, you’re playing too fast. Sit down with an instrument sometime and try to play along with some CD that sounds relaxed and laid back to your ear. You’ll probably find that they’re playing a lot faster than you thought they were. (Of course, this won’t work for Martin Hayes CDs, but I bet if you try playing along with the McEvoys’ CD it will.) Remember, no matter how fast you play it should never feel rushed. There are always those players who can play faster than others while staying relaxed, but in a session they should be listening to everyone and if they find that most others can’t keep up with them they really should slow down. But of course it’s the rare player who will actually do that.
OTOH, if you’re playing and you feel like it’s dragging then it’s okay to speed up. At any civilized session, though, it’s the one who starts the tune who sets the tempo, and it’s inconsiderate to speed up on someone else who has started slower than you’d like. They may be playing at their comfort speed, and that should be respected. But if you’re starting a tune, remember that if you start slow you can always speed up, but it’s almost impossible to slow down once you’ve got going fast. So try not to let the adrenaline take over.
There really aren’t any standard speed ranges where any of the tune types should be played. It’s all a matter of respect. Respect for the tune, and respect for the others you’re playing with.
The way I see it the issue has little to do with tempo, and everything to do with rhythm and phrasing (and the players who have not yet tackled those aspects well enough). It is not uncommon for players who have not developed a good rhythm in their playing tend to crank up the tempo to make up for it, resulting in the superfast stream of meaningless sound. On the other end of the spectrum you have the people who are usually beginnerish, trying to get a grasp of the music and this results in “painfully slow” music in a session.