Thats a really interesting observation. It has never occurred to me that learning easy tunes can make one a better player than learning difficult tunes. How is this true, besides making the rhythm nuances more easy to grasp? Why is learning difficult tunes not as beneficial as learning easy tunes for a learning musician?
I interpret Chris Langan’s comment to mean that people try to run before they can walk. I don’t think easy tunes means nursery rhymes: I think it means all the great old bog-standard jigs, reels and hornpipes that are very simple compared with the virtuoso compositions or settings of Sean Maguire, Liz Carroll, etc. etc. but which of course are way way beyond Baa Baa Black Sheep.
Some younger players seem to learn only from recent records and so miss out on all this basic Irish repertoire. A couple I know came down for the weekend session at the Catskills Irish Arts Week this summer, and although they can play lots of fancy modern compositions, and very well as it happens (not always the case), they knew virtually none of the tunes being played at the sessions. “What ARE all these tunes they’re playing,” one complained to me, and the answer was: standard stuff, being played by the session leaders (Paddy O’Brien, Tommy Peoples and Mary Bergin) so that the maximum number of people could join in. When I say standard stuff I don’t mean the Kesh jig and the Boys of Bluehill, but standard stuff nevertheless.
As a result, these two couldn’t enjoy what I felt was as a fantastic opportunity to play in a session with great players, with superb lift, steady tempo - great great music. One of them seemed to spend the entire weekend running from pub to pub looking for a session with the kinds of tunes he played and didn’t find one. The other sat at the bar and drank.
So I think the standard fare gives you a common repertoire that you can sit down and play with players far above your ability level, and absorb so much by listening, reevaluating what you do in the light of what they do, and so on. And thus really share and enjoy the music, as well as develop a far broader understanding than you’ll ever get from records.
Why would Chris Langan think that simpler tunes are more beneficial to a learning musician? Probably because you can concentrate on making a nice job of the tune rather than grappling with its technical difficulties. And of course, he’s talking from a piper’s perspective. I’d think to be a piper you’d have to be able to make a great job of a wee tune like Fraher’s jig, rather than learn some fancy Davy Spillane repertoire.
I know I’d have more respect for, and would much rather listen to, someone who can play a simple tune with a nice steady rhythm and an understanding of the phrasing of the tune, with no ornamentation to speak of, than I would have for someone who attempts a complicated tune that he or she cannot master or make a nice job of.
I wouldn’t say that learners should not listen to supergroups, but I would say that it is a pity if these supergroups are their primary or sole source of exposure to traditional music. They’ll only have a very partial picture of what traditional music is down at the grassroots level, which is where they can get the most out of it.
Eldarion, I regret using the expression “minor league players” - the sporting/competitive analogy is totally inappopriate. Of course I meant very good players, but the kind of good players that you won’t find on best-selling CDs. The kind of players that labels like Topic put out so many gems on in the 1960s and 70s.
Or the kind of old man Peter talks about, sitting in a small pub somewhere in Ireland with a whistle or a fiddle. Unspectacular players, but who make music that can thrill you. Of course you won’t find many of these in Singapore, but one day you’ll make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land I’m sure.
Tyghress, what’s the connection with expensive whistles? Mainly I was making a tongue-in-cheek reference to the debate in another recent thread. Although I think there is a parallel in there somewhere with people buying expensive whistles thinking that this is going to make them a better player…
Edited for typos.
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-02-27 11:20 ]
)at the age of 16, I just couldn’t bear to start with some silly little tune that was boring and just too little MUSIC. Instead I played much harder pieces with moderate success. Then it turned out that violin just wasn’t MY instrument after all, but I would certainly not even have started to play if I would have been “forced” to play easy music that I didn’t like. I think the best way is to play the music you want to play and pick up the technique as you go along.
