At a session last night I was engage in a discussion with a guitarist regarding playing in a traditional manner. I was saying that for whatever reason, I continue to struggle with issues such as syncopation, phrasing, etc. She replied, “If people love what you do, or hate what you do, you probably can rest assured that you have your own style.” I took some comfort in that statement as I firmly believe that you should be playing what you feel. I have no desire to be a Matt Molloy, Catherine McEvoy, or Eddie Cahill, though I absolutely admire them as players and brilliant examples of the music. I suppose what I would like to hear is your thoughts about ‘finding your own voice.’
My teachers have both said that I have my own sound, which I take as a compliment (one of them hastened to add “And that’s a good thing” after he said it). They’re talking tone, not overall approach, an area in which I haven’t achieved half of what I’d like.
I took off work early to get my daughter from the bus, so took my flute to the bus stop. Another parent happened to be there today (this happens seldom, which is why I bring a flute with me), and she was just gushing about my playing. Honestly, I figure if I can touch someone, anyone, that’s a good thing.
It’s not often I stray into the flute world here but the question was a good one.
If a few thousand people share a few hundred tunes, which is probably the average repetoire, then each single person will be playing each of those tunes in their own way. Same notes as the next guy - or gal - but a different sound to it.
Being a fiddle player myself I have sat and listened to many, many fiddlers playing the same tune. Apart from the usual difference in notes here and there, there is always a discernable difference in the sound of the tune.
Body weight, embrouche, lung power etc. etc. will make for different sounds on similar instruments.
Being comfortable with what you are playing probably means you have found your own “voice” and if you are together with a few fellow travelllers
it is just as good as being in a Choir…and that’s another set of voices.
Folks will likely start huckin’ maters* at me for saying so, but folk music is a living tradition. Those who are obsessed with it remaining static should stick to classical music. Beethovens 5th is the same every time you here it. Fig For a Kiss should be slightly different every time it’s played…Just my two cents.
Play what you want, how you want. There are dozens of regional styles in Ireland so it’s fairly obvious that the Irish could care less about what their neighbors think of their playing styles.
Doc
* Definition (for those that don’t speak Red Neck): Throwing tomatoes
But I will take issue with Beethoven’s Fifth being the same every time you hear it. Honestly, how many versions have you heard? There are many pieces in the standard classical repertoire of which I love some interpretations and hate others. Sonatas, concertos, symphonies, it doesn’t make a bit of difference – they’re VERY different interpreted by different people. Or the same people at different times. The two different von Karajan versions of the Beethoven symphonies are an extreme example. Two different Rostropovich versions of the Dvorak cello concerto are a more obvious example.
But I agree with the general sentiment of your post – it’s folk music, play it as you feel it. If you want to make it authentic, find out how, but if your goal is to play it however you want, play it your way.
I tend to disagree. It’s a poor indicator of an identifiable or unique style, let alone a good style unless the feedback is from someone who has at least a good, if not excellent understanding of the genre.
Sure- it’s great to have your own style. If you’re a Tansey or Molloy or Bradley, and your tuning is spot on and your rhythm and phrasing are strong enough to have other people follow you. But if you’re not a compelling player, and your playing is so idiosyncratic that your style is outside the accepted parameters of ITM then you’ll be playing by yourself.
If you are happy enough to play by yourself then there’s no problem. But if you’d like to play in sessions then you should learn the tunes unembellished and unornamented, just a simple, straight forward approach (no variations), and learn to adapt to the people with whom you’d like to play.
Rhythm is the important thing. Melody is draped over the rhythm. If it aint’ got that swing… Most posters of clips here have played too fast and attempted to squeeze in too many ornaments, thus losing the lift that underlies the tune.
The first thing that Catherine McEvoy says in her class is: Don’t play so fast. Nice and steady is the right way.
I don’t think about my own style. I focus on getting the tune down and playing correctly – in rhythm mostly. Lately, I’ve been focused on my intonation. I think, now, I get to focus on my rhythm.
To me, I relate playing to making pots. When I was learning to make pottery, I focused on the basics, emulating what I saw experienced potters making. As I worked on the basics, I began to develop my own way of attaching handles, shaping a mug, making a spout on a pitcher, and eventually, my pots developed into my pots. We have nearly 100 potters in my community, and I can see a pot somewhere and before I pick it up to look for the maker’s signature, I usually know who made it, just by its personality. That’s because I’ve been making thousands of pots for 25 years.
Pottery is my major occupation. Music is my minor occupation. I don’t think I’ll ever reach the levels of maturity with music that I’ve reached with pottery, unless I gave up pottery for music, and then it might take another 20 years…
I know some musicians, whose main occupation is not music, but who have devoted more time to music than their occupation. I suppose, as a potter, my whole life revolves around pottery, and although, I spend much of my spare time playing music, I haven’t given it what it needs to reach the level of maturity I’ve reached in making pottery.
I think finding one’s voice isn’t something you do, it’s something that naturally occurs over time as you mature as a musician. It’s something that unfolds. You don’t try to force it into existence.
I certainly concede the point to Chas and Kenny about Beethoven.
I agree there are many interpretations and moods that can be expressed in the same piece. But the notes never change that was my point.
Not trying to dodge any well-deserved 'maters here, just clarifying my rather murky point.
I also agree with Cocus that if you ain’t got rhythm and tuning you’re missing the boat. Of course rhythm can vary as a part of style so long as it’s a “good” rhythm.
There’s “style” and then there is just crappy playing. Best not to confuse the two.
Easier said than done, though. I remember when I’d been playing Irish music for about 10 years I thought I had developed my own style, but when I listen to tapes I made of myself back then it’s clearly just crappy playing. I think most crappy players don’t realize they’re crappy players, either they can’t hear it or they don’t understand the music enough to know. I think it’s best approached with humility and patience: as you listen and play you will gradually develop a style based on your likes and dislikes. It will happen all by itself. Style in music is an expression of your personality, just as it is in clothing or decor.
People often reject styles they used to play, just as people’s personalities change over time. Oisin MacDiarmada made a big name for himself with the very distinctive offbeat rhythmic style of fiddle playing he used to favor, but the way he plays now is more straightforward. Similarly when you listen to recordings of Martin Hayes as a teenager, then the same tunes played on his early Green Linnet releases, and then the way he plays them today you hear big differences. Same goes for Tommy Peoples. He’s not the same man he was 30 years ago, and his music reflects that. Did any of these people consciously set out to change their style? I doubt it; it’s more likely that their tastes changed or they heard something in someone else’s playing that set off a light bulb in their head and made them go down a different path.
memory like a sieve, he has, some things just stick to the edges…
(probably some weird idea from the spouse, tryin’ to figure out what to do with the, ah, extra material generated from her horse habit…luckily the project never got off the ground)
To play in any music genre, one needs to build and learn from the traditions and players of the past. One has to be anchored in the musical form in order to be part of that genre. It’s true in ITM, jazz, classical, forms that have large sessions and a common language. If one doesn’t speak the language, if one cannot communicate, then one is not fully part of the culture. It’s not just playing all the dots at a steady tempo, but how one plays the dots, e.g. the jazz groove is totally different from the ITM groove–same notes, totally different feel; maybe not a totally different language, but definitely a different dialect and different cultures.
I think I have begun to develop my own style. It’s a cross between crappy playing and trying to inject my own variations into the tunes. It’s the best I can do for now.
People out on the trail seem to enjoy it, crappy as it is. Maybe it’s because they seldom hear any music at all.
Anyway, to answer the question more directly, I think you develop your own style when you are capable of doing it. I’m not quite at that point but am getting there. I mean, I can consciously choose to play a tune a certain way more and more. Less and less am I constricted only by what I learned to do the first time around. But I’m still constrained by my limited skill and limited understanding of music in general.
I don’t worry about it too much. Maybe I will always stink but it gives me and even other people enjoyment so I’m pretty satisfied for now.
. How bout it, doc? Wanna be quoted?
