Session Obsession

Okay, I have to admit, I haven't been playing much lately. Maybe it's because the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here and there is so much to do outside instead of practicing. So needless to say I have yet to research any tunes or players as I said I would in my last blog entry. I'm sure you were waiting on the edge of your seat, so I'm sorry to disappoint you.

What I do want to write about today is the obsession with sessions that I have. Each Wednesday night a little coffeehouse bar in Burlington, Vermont called Radio Bean, hosts an Irish session at 9pm. The last time I went I got there a bit early to catch the tail end of the Jazz session that plays before us and I was struck completely by the similarities and differences between the two jam sessions and here's what I wrote on a tiny piece of paper at the bar:

I sit here waiting for the Irish session to begin and I am listening to the Jazz session that plays before us. Tonight there is a bass player, guitar player, drummer, trumpet player and two cellists. It's amazing to watch and listen to it as they play only what inspires them at a given moment. Although we have specific tunes we play, it is not so different in that we play the tunes that inspire us and hope that the rest of group hops in and plays with us.

I guess sessions are the same no matter what genre they are in. In essence they are just a forum to express yourself through your music.

So if you're in the Burlington area on a Wednesday night head on over to Radio Bean for the Jazz jam followed by the Iris session. You won't be disappointed.

The history of traditional Irish tunes

It's amazing the things you learn at a session. The other night I was at the weekly Irish session at Radio Bean in Burlington and in between tunes some of the musicians were talking about where they learned a particular tune or that it sounded like a particular musician wrote it and I realized just how little I know about the music I play. So I'm on a quest to learn all I can about the great musicians and composers of Irish music.

I'm starting with one of my favorite CD's, Live at Mona's, because there are a lot of great tunes and musicians on this album. It is a session that was recorded at a bar in New York City called Mona's. What I love most about this CD, aside from the fact that it has amazing tunes on it, is that if you listen closely you can hear people playing pool in the background, a cell phone ringing and at the end of the album you can hear the bar tender calling "last call." It really gives a sense of what a good session sounds like and with headphones on, you feel like you're actually there.

I've been on a quest for weeks now to learn every tune on this CD. It's not an easy task by any means but I've already gotten 4 under my belt and am working on another one this morning. Though I am learning the melody of the tunes, I should be learning the history the tunes I play and the players who I am learning them from. Some of these tunes are hundreds of years old and have been passed down from country to country and from generation to generation...It's all so fascinating and I'm sure when I find out all I can about this music, playing the tunes will be that much more enjoyable.

I'll keep you posted as to what I find...

Summer tuning your instrument

My fiddle is a French instrument called Renoux built in 1936. She's got the most beautiful voice but is very picky when it comes to the weather. Living in Vermont can make keeping her in tune quite a challenge.

In the summertime, my pegs stick. Because I don't have a tailpiece with fine tuners this can make it very difficult to fine tune each string as the wood swells in the humidity making it almost impossible to turn the pegs. So what I usually do is take off each string one by one and goop the peg so it slides more easily inside the peg box. The goop is called peg lubricating compound and looks almost like a crayon. The trick is to take your string off and just put a little dab around the peg and restring it. Then do the next. Be sure not to put too much of the goop on. If you do the peg will become too greasy and won't hold the string in place. Just a little dab is all you need.

You can find the peg goop in any violin shop and possibly any music shop (though I haven't actually looked in other music shops). It's pretty cheap and can make a world of difference.

Well, there is your tip of the day. My pegs were sticking and I had to goop them up so I figured I'd pass the word along.

Happy gooping!

Listening to Crowfoot

A couple of years ago, I was introduced to the band Crowfoot at the New World Festival in Randolph, Vermont. I fell instantly in love with the band's music and bought their debut album Nadajai which has been played so much in my car's CD player that I'm surprised the CD still has grooves.

The band is made up of three exceptional players that create a huge sound. They are influenced by the traditional music of England, Ireland, Quebec and the Appalachian Mountains. Their music is fast and furious and is perfect for contra dancing and even better for cruising in my MINI with Soul Donkey playing at full blast.

My absolute favorite tune set on this album is the aforementioned, Soul Donkey. It starts off with the fiddle as the guitar starts building in the background and then in comes the drum complete with a drum solo that is subtle yet powerful and finishes of with this danceable, happy tune that rocks.

Another great tune set on this album is Hair on Fire. This one starts off with the fiddle droning chords in the background while the flute plays the tune, then they switch and the flute plays some choppy chords while the fiddle plays the tune. It's catchy and good.

Their sound is colorful, creative and inspiring so if you haven't heard them yet check out their website for when they are playing again.

Enjoy!

Leahy

So if you didn't already know this Natalie MacMaster is married to Donnell Leahy. How fun are their family gatherings? Anyway, if you like Natalie's playing you'll like Leahy. They are playing at the Flynn on St. Patrick's Day and they totally rock. The band is made up of eight brothers and sisters and one outsider. All of which are very talented multi-instrumentalists. They sing, they dance and they can fiddle like there's no tomorrow. So, if you have nothing to do on St. Paddy's Day check out Leahy at the Flynn.

On Practicing

I'm reading Stephen King's book, On Writing, right now. I'm reading it in hopes that it will inspire me to write more. It has. But it also has inspired me to practice playing more as well. In the book King says to make a goal for yourself. He suggests writing locking yourself in your office and writing 1,000 words a day, six days a week. And do not open the door until you're finished.

I've been thinking about this when it comes to practicing my fiddle. Let's face it. No one wants to practice. We all just want to play like Natalie MacMaster (or write like Stephen King) or whoever your musical hero is. But nothing good comes easy. So I'm taking King's advice both with my writing and with my practicing.

I once had a teacher that said if you practice just 15 minutes a day you will see an improvement on your playing. I'm still to this day not sure if she was kidding or not. Anyone who plays the fiddle know it takes more than 15 minutes just to open your case, rosin your bow and tune your strings. I think what she was trying to do was make me commit to doing it. Once the case is open, the bow is rosined and the fiddle is tuned, it's impossible not to want to play it. And let's face it, who can play for just 15 minutes? For me, 15 minutes turns into 1/2 hour which then turns into an hour and so on depending on how much time I have during day.

My point is: Just as King and my teacher suggested, make a commitment and follow through.

Happy practicing!

Creating a band name

I'm not sure why but creating a band name couldn't be more difficult. Trying to come up with something that describes your music, your personality and is easy to remember can seem close to impossible.

A band called Trinity was the first real band I was ever in and the band already had it's name, so that was easy. I left Trinity to start my own band and the band went through a variety of different names. The first was called Salamanca. You see we were a Celtic groove band complete with fiddles, congas, guitar and banjo. There is a famous fiddle tune called The Salamanca so we thought it was perfect. However, the name sounded too much like Latin music so it seemed a bit misleading since we played traditional Irish music. And unless you are a regular session goer, you wouldn't know the history of the tune The Salamanca.

The next name for the same band was called Down to the Wire. I thought it was a great name because it seemed like we were always "down to the wire" when it came to practicing for gigs. But the band eventually broke up. (Keeping a band together is another blog entry for another day).

I'm in two bands now. One is a spin off of Down to the Wire in that it's my guitar player and me and we are playing some of the same tunes though we have strayed from Celtic groove music to more folky, Americana type music with some Irish fiddle tunes thrown in. I'm not sure just how you would classify our music, which is why it is so hard to come up with a band name. I welcome any suggestions.

The other band I'm in plays traditional Irish music. We call ourselves Muddy Boots. We began with the same problem in that we couldn't come up with a name. So Andrew, our guitar player, decided that we should cut up some paper and write down as many nouns and adjectives that we can think of. We threw the nouns in one hat, the adjectives in another and then spent the better part of an hour pulling them out of the hat and putting them together to come up with Muddy Boots. Though it doesn't say much about traditional Irish music, most Vermonters can at least relate to having muddy boots.