Let me just start by saying that I have a very limited experience with live sessions (that is; practically zero) but I was wondering about variations: Are variations primarily played for concert-like situations or recordings when there’s a solo instrument (and backup) – like on the WFO? I mean, listening to – for example – the virtual session at the BBC website variations are minimal or subtle at most (but that could also be due to the fact that it’s a learning site?)… At least in comparison to (some of the tracks on) WFO.
To continue on – when you go to a session, do you just play your “own” version of the tune being played, or do one have to adjust it – so it matches (precisely) what the rest are playing?
The thing is – if the idea of a session is for people to come together from all over, it can’t be expected that they all play the same version of the tune, but when you listen to sessions it seems to me, that most of the times people play it the same way? How are variations generally looked upon at sessions (I’ve read documents on session etiquette but not on this specific topic)?
in my experience (pretty limited) usually a session would have the “core” people, and they have their version.
if you are a visitor, your version may mash or just be too far off.
i have been to sessions, where a tune that i know very well (my way) would be played, and the way it would be played there would be so different that i would even forget the way i play it, or say, i’d be able to play part A but B would be too far off…maybe by the third time around, i’d have it all figured out, or sometimes, i know that if they only played it one more time around, i’ll have it…
If it’s a session you attend regularly, you get to know how most people want to play a tune. But one of the more important parts of flute playing with other musicians is listening to what they are playing so as to keep in tune as best you can. I tend to find that when your mind is attentive to that, that it’s much easier to pick up on following different phrasing or little variations. So, you play your own version .. you hear something else going on .. your mind says ‘ah!that’s a little different’ and your adjust next time around or the time after etc. Good idea to record your local session (after asking) and then play along at home.
Some variations fit right into the “standard” tune – general ornaments, rolls, triplets, arpeggios, etc. But there are wildly different versions of tunes that don’t mesh - as Eilam said, you’d pretty much have to sit out the tune until you pick up that particular session’s version. If you play a tune in a truly unique way, it’s best to play it solo, because others will try to follow you and - other than enjoying their embarrassment as they all drop out , or becoming embarrassed yourself when you forget what you were doing - you won’t get alot of group playing. This is true of tempo issues, too - if you can’t play a tune at speed, don’t play along or, if you play a tune fast and the session is a slow-and-steady type, slow it down.
You’re right; sessions are really meant as a way to share tunes, not out-do one another. Be nice if it always worked out that way…
variations done ad hoc, thrown in at the whim of the player
At sessions, no two people will be playing exactly the same version of the tune. It’s surprising sometimes just how different two versions can be, and still sound fine when played together. Usually as long as the notes everyone is playing at a given time are members of the same chord all is well. At a certain point in the tune some will be holding on a note and rolling it, while others may be playing an arpeggio, while still others are going back and forth between two notes.
This feature is why musicologists sometimes refer to ITM as “heterophonic” as opposed to “homophonic” (everyone playing exactly the same notes).
For example, let’s take the first bar of the 2nd part of Kid On The Mountain. Some might play /bgb af#a gd/ while others might be playing /bgg af#f# gd/, or doing long rolls on B and A /bbb aaa gd/, or doing short rolls on the same notes playing /bbg aaf# gd/. It’s all good.
Now, a huge part of the fun and excitement of ITM is the art of variation. Many times “variation” in ITM is not jazz-style playing anything that fits in the chord, but making subtle changes in the melody or how rolls are placed as in the example above. For variation, in the example above, I would throw in /bdd abb gdd/ as a pipey-sorta thing or /bdg adf# gd/ as an arpeggio-sorta thing. So, in one simple example I’ve given six ways of playing a single bar in a tune. Every bar of every tune is susceptible to the same thing and you’ll hear everything going on at once in a session.
Not only in the session: there was a particular portion of a reel on a Bothy Band recording I was having trouble figuring out. When I slowed the bit down to half-speed I realised that Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples, and Paddy Keenan (the three melody players) were playing B, A, and G all at the same time! And that was on a studio recording. Up to speed it sounded fine.
i would say that you play the version you know and try to pick up what every body else is doing if it doesnt sound right to your ear to play the both versions simultaneously.
the variations that you hear on the bbc virtual session are the variations that are what you would have more traditionally found in the hands of the average player. the commercial recordings you talk about are at the opposite side of the spectrum–people like willie clancie and the like did those sorts of things, because (as my grandma’s cousin says), “they have too much time on their hands.”
also, if you were to session with most of the players who like to do extensive variations, most of them tone it down, putting the overall sound ahead of their creative vision.
but not on this specific topic)?
, or becoming embarrassed yourself when you forget what you were doing - you won’t get alot of group playing. This is true of tempo issues, too - if you can’t play a tune at speed, don’t play along or, if you play a tune fast and the session is a slow-and-steady type, slow it down.