Useful session survival tip - resuming a tune

Whistle
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I think something like this has been posted before, but I wanted to suggest it again for people who are working on playing with others.

Basic condensed idea - keep the tune running in your head, even when you can’t get it out on the whistle.

In my amateur sessions that I play in (usually for fun with friends, nothing too serious), there are times when either the tune I’m trying to play gets a bit too quick/complex, or I fumble a part, or one of the other musicians makes me laugh* and I can’t continue. If I’m not the only melody line, this isn’t too much of a problem, because someone else is probably continuing the tune and I can jump back in at the beginning of the next part.

But, if I am the only melody line, and I can get control of myself fairly quickly, it’s very useful to be able to keep the tune going in your head and know what notes are next. A way to practice this is to play a practice tune on the whistle while thinking about the melody in your head…and suddenly stop playing, but still think the tune. Practice jumping back in and staying on the right beat/note. It’s easiest to start out jumping in at the beginning of the B part, or the second half of the A - standard places like that.

Next, work on leaving a note or two out (room to breathe!) and continuing on from the next note.

If you are accompanied by only bodhrán, as long as you keep the beat you can pretty much restart from anywhere. But if you’ve got a guitar or something along with you, their chords are dependent on the melody line (as I understand it, not being a string player).

The tune must go on! Even if you flub the middle, if you can make it to the end, people won’t remember the flub so much. :smiley:


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  • At Tom’s session, in mid-tune, the bodhran player announced “Hey, I’m facing north!” sounding quite pleased about it. It’s really hard to keep a straight face sometimes, in my group.

[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2003-01-06 17:31 ]

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This is also a very usefull skill if you are ever doing a multi track recording in a studio. Just because you screwed up doesn’t mean everyone has to stop. Your track can usually be redone by itself. Saves a great deal of time and therefore money.

My band is starting work on our second CD and we are remembering why it’s been 5 years since we did the first one. Recording is fun. Recording is fun. Recording is fun…

Mark V.

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Good tip…thanks.

TomM

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  • At Tom’s session, in mid-tune, the bodhran player announced “Hey, I’m facing north!” sounding quite pleased about it. It’s really hard to keep a straight face sometimes, in my group.

LOL!! :laughing: You gotta love those percussionists! he he he!

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Well, I suppose I should mention that a) there had been some debate earlier about the direction the house faced, and b) the bodhranai had a compass as a substitute kilt brooch that day. :smiley: Funny nonetheless.

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I guess what Ava describes can also be “used” for other purposes. For example, if you want to reach a point where you wanna be able to play some variations on the fly, it’s important that the melody is still in the back of your mind, so that you don’t stumble on variations and get lost.

Also, it allows you to breath at any part of the tune and still recover gracefully, you’re not forced to know where you need to breath. It came to me naturally, I’m not sure if it can really be “learned”.

The last thing would be about concentration. I’m not sure if you can “learn” to concentrate, but concentration is key to “recovery”. It’s hard for me sometimes to concentrate, many times I start thinking about other things, like laundry, when I play at home, and then I stumble on my tune, and I get mad! :slight_smile: Maybe then it’s time to learn a new tune.

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On 2003-01-06 23:39, Azalin wrote:
I guess what Ava describes can also be “used” for other purposes…

10 minutes after the pizza and Diet Coke (or Guiness) break in the session - it covers the belch.