So... anybody interested in getting together for a beginner-friendly Celtic folk session in or around Worcester?[views:4284][posts:43]________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:16pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] The thing that the title says. I'm looking to learn and/or play some tunes with some quality dudes and ladies. I'm a raw beginner at the trad folk thing, so I'll be able to bring at best two or three tunes to the table, but it'll be a start. If you know any, so much the better. This would be open to any skill level - if you're hot shit and know a million tunes, then come teach'em; if you don't know dick, come learn a few. Also, if you're interested, post some tunes you know or would like to know here, so we can put together a set. No commitment, here - this isn't a band, just some folks that know some songs. Instruments: We probably have enough guitars, but if you know some tunes you'd like to teach we can always switch off. I'll probably be plunking out flatpicked melodies on guitar, or on the whistle if they're easy enough. We might have keys if I can rope my girl into it, another guitarist for sure, and probably at least one percussionist (bodhran, snare, etc.). Fiddlers, pipers, accordion/concertina players or banjo pickers would be sweet, but we'll get by without'em if necessary. Here's some of the tunes I'm thinking about starting with: Sleep Soond I'da Moarnin' The Nine Points of Roguery Drowsy Maggie Brian Boru's March Drunken Sailor We'll probably meet at somebody's house in Worcester, bring your instrument(s) and whatever you feel like drinking or smoking. Lemme know if anybody's interested. :duffbeer: |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:18pm - arilliusbm ""] dude, you know I'd totally do it. but you live too far away. I've asked if anyone knew any folk instruments on this board before.. Hoser was the only one that responded. ask him! |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:20pm - arilliusbm ""] i would have to change my shorts if I joined or started a band like neun welten. |
| ______________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:25pm - Yeti ""] i wish i knew instruments, but if you need any backup vocals i have a deep range. |
| __________________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:27pm - anonymous percussionist ""] is interested. |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:27pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] Yeti said:i wish i knew instruments, but if you need any backup vocals i have a deep range. LOL - actually, I wasn't planning on messing around with vocal tunes much, just the dance stuff (reels, jigs, etc.). Maybe later, but for now I just wanna concentrate on the instrumentals. You're more than welcome to come play the beer, though. You can never have enough of those. Or go buy a tin whistle for 20 bucks; not only can you pick up a dead easy instrument, but you can annoy the fuck out of your roommates. |
| ______________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:29pm - Yeti ""] i definitely want to see this, i'll gladly be your beer player. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 3:29pm - arilliusbm ""] DYA, I know it's a long shot, but I eventually have plans to somewhat learn bagpipes, as well as fiddle at some point. but those cost money and stuff. i'd love to help but would only be able to provide bad guitarwork and sloppy keys for this project |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 4:09pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] Jim, just make sure and get yourself some uilleann pipes instead of the full-on Scottish warpipes - the Scots pipes are way too loud for a sit-down session. Plus with the uilleann pipes you don't have to blow'em. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 4:10pm - arilliusbm ""] You just set yourself up for a really awesome joke but I'm not smart enough to execute it |
| __________________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 4:19pm - anonymous percussionist ""] you don't blow on em, uilleann on em. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 4:20pm - arilliusbm ""] Scottish Warpipes @ a sitdown session FTW |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 4:29pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] anonymous%20percussionist said:is interested. Sooo... any chance you own your own bodhran? Or are you a snare guy? |
| _____________________________ [Jul 21,2009 5:03pm - pam ""] Jon would probably be into this but worcester is fucking far. |
| __________________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 5:23pm - anonymous percussionist ""] squish has a bodhran i think, but i'd rather play all kinds of snare |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 5:27pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] Hey, it's a long way to the top if you wanna jig and reel. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 5:27pm - aril on the commuter rail ""] so wait, you're starting out as a cover band? fuck that man, do originals! |
| __________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 9:40pm - DYA NLI ""] The operative word here is "folk" - the entire idea is to learn traditionals that you can walk into a session anywhere and play. You don't do original tunes at a trad session. Besides, I wouldn't even attempt to write an original until I was a little better versed in the traditional stuff. (That way doth poseurdom lie.) |
| __________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 9:40pm - DYA NLI ""] Also, not a band. LOL |
| ________________________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 11:14pm - IllinoisEnemaBradness ""] if I ever do anything again, i'd like to play traditional Irish/Scot/English stuff. I'd like to learn Mandolin. i like lamp good luck Steve |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 21,2009 11:37pm - sinistas ""] Too bad I only play guitar these days. Drat. |
| __________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 1:48am - DYA NLI ""] Know any tunes, sinistas? Not everybody has to play all the time in a trad session; you just don't usually have more than one guitar going at the same time. (Two if one is doing melody.) Plus I can double on tin whistle a bit if it's slow enough. |
| ____________________________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 8:13am - aril on the commuter rail ""] my father is kind of a folk musician, but i doubt he would have the time to travel there and partake in your misanthropic adventures with folk music |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 9:30am - arilliusbm ""] SteveYouAlittle, have you searched Craigslist yet? I may be stating the obvious, but I don't think there's too many people on a metal board that play folk instruments. I'm all about this if you get going with it.. but I mean how many people are you looking for? You might have to find some multi-instrumentalists. there was just a folk festival out in Western MA over the weekend, did you hit that up? |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 11:45am - DYA NLI ""] I figured I'd troll the metal waters before I widened the scope. The idea here is to play beginner's/learning sessions until there's enough of a repertoire to go play for beers at pub sessions. |
| _____________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 11:50am - arilliusbm ""] cover Crazy Man Michael by Fairport Convention or you are a pussy |
| _______________________________ [Jul 22,2009 12:24pm - BSV ""] I would LOVE to do this. Should I buy an acoustic guitar?? |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 3:23pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] That, or you could pick up something new. There's sort of a hierarchy, here. With ITM, the melody line is king (and the melody line is what holds the rhythm as well, as opposed to percussion in other styles). A trad Irish session has the bulk of the players playing the melody, in unison, with individual flourishes on the articulation but little in the way of harmony playing, and most of all in the same rhythm. Then you've got chorded accompaniment (guitar, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, etc.), and as a rule of thumb you don't want more than one of these going at a time, two if the players know what they're doing and can play nice together. These need to concentrate on accenting the rhythm the melody players are laying down and staying in key, but there's actually a lot of room to improvise on chord changes and flourishes within the key. Last you've got percussion, and again you want to be careful about having more than one percussion player going at the same time. What's more, the cardinal sin for ITM percussionists is to play every beat of the melody line - it's all about accent. The core three instruments in the Celtic trad stuff are the fiddle (by far the most important), the whistle, and the pipes. I've got a couple of potential fiddlers in mind but nothing concrete, there. I'm a bit intimidated by the idea of picking up the fiddle myself, but I'd love to own one to bang on. Pipes are obviously a huge investment and are notoriously difficult to pick up, so I won't kill myself if I can't find a decent uilleann player. Conversely, the whistle is about the easiest ITM instrument to learn (they're diatonic as oposed to chromatic, so you don't really need to learn the scales), and by far the cheapest (20 bucks or so with an instruction book). I'm messing around learning whistle but I'm not to the point where I could teach with it. (Of course, the "most traditional" Irish instrument of all is the harp, but a) good luck finding a practicing harper, and b) it's not usually found in the dance stuff anymore.) Then you've got the more recent additions, such as the mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and button accordion, with banjo, dulcimer and piano accordian being somewhat on the fringe but still accepted. Bodhran, bones and spoons have been pub session mainstays for most of the 20th century, while snare, highland pipes, horns and bass are usually reserved for outdoor ceilidhs (i.e., with step-dancers). As I understand it, the trick to really nailing the traditional Celtic stuff is to learn it on something you don't already have too much experience with - less to unlearn. I'm starting with melody guitar (which I'm just almost competent on) for teaching purposes - since I'm organizing the session, I'm kinda responsible for making sure there are some tunes to teach, which means me picking them up in a timely fashion - but ideally I'd like to pick up a banjo and/or a decent mandolin to have something more to bring to the table, and to get my hands on something new. Hoping to build myself a dulcimer at some point, too. Just keep in mind that there's always a million guitars, and never enough fiddlers. LOL All the same, as long as you don't have more than one or (at most) two accompaniment players (i.e., rhythm guitar, chorded banjo, etc.) playing at the same time, any number of melody players can get along - although it's usually a good idea not to have more than two of the same instrument going at the same time. If you're playing guitar at a pub session, plan to sit out a lot more than if you're bringing something a little rarer. Anybody that's interested should google around a bit for some of the articles on session (or seisiun) ettiquette, keeping in mind that I'm not gonna be to concerned about being all prim and proper at a learning session. We'll be taking things REAL slow at first, until people are more comfortable with the phrases and the technique. |
| ____________________________________ [Jul 22,2009 3:26pm - arilliusbm ""] Steve, do you listen to Bothy Band at all? |
| ___________________________________ [Jul 24,2009 11:39am - DYA NLI ""] Can't say as I have. What do they do? |
| ________________________________________ [Jul 25,2009 2:39pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] BUMP FOR ALL THE BOUZOUKI PLAYAS |
| ________________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:15pm - curious party ""] is curious |
| ___________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:34pm - Boozegood ""] I fucking hate not being home sometimes. SECRET TULLY INSTRUMENTS THAT ARE RELEVENT: Mandolin, Irish Bouzouki, some Fiddle, and DADGAD acoustic. This + Warhammer RPG = CRAP NIGHT IN IRAQ, I'LLL TELL YA WHAT! |
| ___________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:44pm - Boozegood ""] INb4 I didn't read the date at all or read any of the thread. |
| ____________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:44pm - arilliusbm ""] Blow up a mosque about it. |
| ___________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:50pm - Boozegood ""] More like operate in a defensive posture about it. |
| ____________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 4:54pm - Alx_Casket ""] operation taut starfish |
| __________________________________________ [Aug 10,2011 5:06pm - BlessedOffalNLI ""] im down if DYA is willing to pick me up and drop me off to and from somerville every time we practice |
| ________________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:06pm - AndrewBastard ""] IMMATURE |
| ________________________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:20pm - IllinoisEnemaBradness ""] SOLD OUT CANCELLED |
| _________________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:28pm - DestroyYouAlot ""] curious%20party said:is curious is still a possibility, was just talking to Mr. Gaucher about this the other night. |
| _____________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:48pm - arilliusbm ""] Only Herugrim is real. |
| _____________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:50pm - Alx_Casket ""] Herdy-gerdygrim |
| __________________________________ [Aug 11,2011 12:56pm - Doomkid ""] I have not played my bodhran in months, would love to do something like this to motivate practicing again! |