Usually, it takes me a while to really learn a tune, with both the basic melody and rhythm down by heart. This is especially true when I’m learning it from sheet music rather than by ear - though I like having the sheet music as a reference, it seems to click a lot faster when I can hear it (poor aural imagination, I guess).
So yesterday, I was really surprised when I decided to pick up the Ballydesmond Polka (Ballydesmond Polka #1 from Walton’s 110) - yes, it’s a really simple piece, but I expected it to take more than two play-throughs from the sheet music before I could close the book.
Weird. Nice tune, sounds more complex than it really is, and sounded familiar - but I couldn’t find it listed on any of the CDs I’d been listening to over the weekend (about 10, all Irish except for a couple of Steeleye Span discs).
So - anyone else encountered a tune that just forces itself into your head?
Both of these will NOT get out of my head!!! I am constantly playing them trying to get better at them. I’ve got both of them down pretty darn good, but I always play them at every jam session I go to.
You’ll probably find this happening more and more with time. The latest one for me was Bantry Lasses, but that’s a fairly simple -though satisfying- reel.
Yes, they do - even a few instrumental-only pieces. But I guess I have them filed as “English Folk-Rock” in my head. Rather like Martin Carthy playing solo - he does a lot of Irish pieces, but I don’t think of him as an Irish trad musician.
Of course, with Martin Carthy the real problem is to get him to play something cheerful - on his own, he seems to gravitate to murder & incest ballads
The slip jig “The Butterfly” was that way for me. Granted, I’d heard it in the past, so perhaps it was already stuck somewhere deep in my head, but it was played through once in slow session (at tempo) by another flute player last Thursday, I looked it up online at The Session on Friday (to clarify one passage), and it’s been stuck in my head and I’ve been playing it since.
I’m not sure what it is about The Butterfly, but the tune sounds “ancient” to me…I wonder if there is any basis to that?
Wasn’t quite as fast to pick up as the Ballydesmond Polka (after all, it’s twice as many measures) but you’re right - it is a really easy one to get into your head. The only easier “real” jig I’ve learned (I don’t count “The Quaker’s Wife” from the Clarke tutorial - too short) was “The Sheigh O’ Rye” from A Dossan of Heather, and that has a much simpler melody.
Nice tune. Sounds particularly nice played a bit slowly - the effect is “lazy” rather than “I can’t play this any faster” - but sounds pretty nice at speed, too.
My pleasure, Dcrom. Hey, do you ever go to The King’s Head in Campbell on Thursday nights for the Irish music? They have some excellent whistlers there.
No, but it sounds like I should. Not that I’m good enough to play in a session, yet, but I’d love to listen in.
What time do people start to turn up? And is it every Thursday, or every other, or ??? I couldn’t find a listing in the Mercury-News, and Yahoo doesn’t show a web site to check.
BTW - do you know if there are ever sessions at the Britannia Arms of Almaden?
No, Brittania Arms is strictly a night club/restaurant. As to the King’s Head, their phone number is in the white pages. They can give you directions better than I can. It’s every Thursday, and the music starts around 8:30 or so. It’s been a while since I was there, so I might be off on the time. You need to get there early to get a table. It’s a family place, btw. And don’t worry about being good enough to play…playing is by invite only. They don’t let folks like you and me play. There’s a guy who plays a blackwood whistle, probably an Abell, although I’ve never asked. Anyway, he’s a very good whistler (and piper) and also very approachable when you want to ask what that last tune was. Nice guy.
I’ve been trying to learn tunes over the last 4-5 years, some stick, others don’t.
I’ll sometimes find a tune playing in my head, I’ll lip-whistle along, and all seems dandy, but I don’t remember a name so I have no hook to hang it on. Minutes later the tune’s gone completely, only to re-emerge months later in a similar fashion.
When I’m at a session, I often hear a tune played that I recognise, again to the point of being able to lip-whistle, lilt or hum along (I get a lot of strange looks), but still can’t play or remember once they stop.
I recently put together a CD of tunes for DazedinLA, with two different versions of Dr Gilbert. Listening to it a few days later, I was sure it was the Kylebrack Ramblers, but it wasn’t.
I’m hoping for an “eureka moment” when suddenly every tune I’ve ever tackled suddenly slots into place properly, and I can play 200 different tunes and not just a dozen. Until then I think I’ll keep hearing those tunes in my head at random.
The really wierd thing is when are holding an instrument when one of these tunes comes into your head so you play it, and then realise you actually learnt it on a totally different instrument. This has only happened a handful of times, but it does give me a chuckle.
Carol, I love that slide! That’s one of those tunes that can make you cheerful just to play it.
The last tune that was just “there” for me is the Crib of Perches. Played it through about twice, haven’t needed to see the “dots” since then. And it’s one of those reels that gets more fun every time you play it.
I am constantly playing them trying to get better at them. I’ve got both of them down pretty darn good, but I always play them at every jam session I go to. 
