Zouk practice!

[annathepiper]

As of this weekend I can say that I can reliably more or less play, without PDF assistance, five tunes: Banish Misfortune, Road to Lisdoonvarna, Swallow’s Tail Jig, Morrison’s Jig, and Si Bheag Si Mhor. I’ve spent some time on Shine specifically trying to play through Lisdoonvarna and Swallow’s Tail and Morrison’s, since Matt likes to link those up in a set at session.

But! I’ve also broken out my bouzouki for the first time in a while. For a variety of reasons!

For one thing, this gorgeous fellow over here is enough to make any amateur bouzouki player go YES I’d like to do that, please!

For another, and more importantly, I’ve wanted to actually learn proper fingerwork on the bouzouki and big mand for YEARS NOW, and Session is finally giving me motivation to do so. I look at the musicians who know what they’re actually doing at session, and note how they’re able to switch happily off between this instrument and that. I want to do that. I HAVE THE INSTRUMENTS. So I clearly need to practice these tunes on multiple ones. Because if I have the instruments, I should be PLAYING them.

My friend brightbeak said something to me on Facebook as well which really resonated with me: i.e., how it seems to her that I have found “the heartbeat that nurtures your soul”. Irish/Celtic trad, especially the branch of it in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, is exactly that. It’s exactly the same reaction I had when I first saw Great Big Sea way back when and something in me said THAT! I WANT TO PLAY THAT!

It nurtures my soul indeed to be reminded of this. \0/

And this, by way, is my bouzouki! Her name is Spring. Say hi, Spring!

Spring Says *TWANG*

So today, in addition to practicing the aforementioned five tunes on Shine, I got out Spring as well and staggered my way through Banish Misfortune. I’ve got a mandolin fakebook with a whole lot of tunes in it, and since Spring and my big mand Autumn are both tuned to GDAE, I can use the fakebook to slowly pluck out the tunes on them both. I’ve already used that fakebook once to try to learn Swallow’s Tail REEL on Spring–and now it’ll be wonderful to start finding more of the tunes we play in session, too. I’m not sure yet whether Spring or Autumn will wind up being my stringed instrument of choice in session, we’ll have to see–another person showed up last time with the same model mand that Autumn is (a Trinity College), so I think I’ll favor Spring for a while. Spring’s got more responsive strings anyway!

Mirrored from annathepiper.org.

Comments

[jedishampoo.livejournal.com]

Hi, Spring!

::keeps looking at the picture of that incredibly cute guy::

Go you on the playing! It sounds like a lovely way to have some fun and learn more. :)

[annathepiper]

Spring says *TWANG!*

And isn't he pretty? ;)

And thank you! I'm really looking forward to ramping up Spring enough to take to sessions with me, along with Shine!

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

Nice axe! The guy playing it is pretty yummy too. ;D

I don't have the knowledge to properly appreciate Spring, but she does look lovely. What's her voice like?

Regarding switching instruments, I feel ya. I mostly noodle on my D whistle, but I have them in C and B-flat as well, which makes switching instruments bizarre. When I'm in a good playing trance, I can match the tone with the written note, but I usually match the fingering to the written note, and changing whistle pitches changes the associated fingering -- major augh.

There are music camps in eastern Canada, y'know. Mostly in the fall, IIRC. I have a couple of friends who've been going forever, next time I chat with them I'll ask for more info. I did a google search for "fiddle camp canada" and found many interesting links -- IME, "fiddle camp" includes more than just fiddles. Heck, the local fiddle club was completely welcoming of me and my flute. Y'all should go! (Don't mind me, I'm just trying to live vicariously through you. ;D) I think Donal Leahy and Natalie MacMaster might do a camp thing, in which case you want to go; his fingers are faster than lightning, and she was the first (and only, so far) dancing fiddler I ever saw performe, and dayum they're good. They're also married and helping spawn the next generation of amazing musicians. :D

[annathepiper]

He IS pretty, ain't he? His instrument's rather lovely, too! :D

How to describe Spring's sound... hrmm. She's surprisingly banjo-like for a bouzouki, but this is a factor of who made her, i.e., the Olympia Dulcimer company. So she's kind of this weird combination of dulcimer and banjo and bouzouki in sound. If you go over here, you can hear some examples of various "walking dulcimers" by the same company.

By contrast, if you go look at this previous post where I was gushing over the other pretty bouzouki-playing Beaudry brother, that vid I had in that post has some nice bouzouki playing in it. Éric Beaudry's bouzouki is more like a bouzouki usually sounds.

And, of course, solarbird has zouk playing all over her album! \0/ But Dara makes her zouk ROAR, and Spring is a much gentler instrument than Kohaku.

Ooh, I feel your pain on the changing of whistles. I have a very serious problem with all of my various wooden flutes as well; I've been thinking of picking THOSE up again for session, too, particularly Jade, my E minor, since she'd be a good session instrument. But the fingerings are of course TOTALLY DIFFERENT when I change flutes, just like with your whistles!

It's weird. I played flute and piccolo all through middle school and a bit into high school, so those are my native instruments, and when I look at sheet music and see a note my brain doesn't even really see "play D, E, F sharp". It sees "put my fingers here, here, and here". I have to actually think a second or two to remember which notes are which on the staff. And I haven't played instruments with strings long enough to have that automatic reaction of "D means I pluck this string, or maybe this string up here if I'm up an octave"!

If I had time and money, I'd TOTALLY go do a music camp. I've heard rumors of a bouzouki workshop camp in fact, and I'd be ALL OVER THAT! Though really, if I had that kind of time and money, a music camp would have to duke it out with me going to a writing workshop.

Clearly, I need two of me!

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I clearly need to go check out those links. Most likely tonight, if I remember, since Himself objects to me paying more attention to the computer than him!

Yeah, you're matching the fingering to the note; I think that's where a lot of us start, unless we're raised in a musical tradition. Patrick Olwell's son was hanging out at the Ren Festival when I was performing there, and he was raised playing by ear. (Then again, when your dad is a big time flute maker, I suspect you have an unfair advantage!)

Ooh, if you figure out how to be in two places at once, lemme know your secret! I could use the help! :)

[annathepiper]

Actually, I'm almost more matching the fingering to the visual representation of the note! I have a hard time hearing a given note and knowing "that's an A" or "that's a B flat" or whatever. I'm lucky if I can pick up the key of any given song I'm listening to, without actually having an instrument in my hands to try to noodle around enough to figure it out.

And hee, clearly Hermione's time-turner frob needs to be more widely available. ;)

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I forgot to share earlier. You had listed a group of musicians that you particularly like and asked for similar recommendations (or something like that). Some of my favorites are:

The Poor Clares (they're from the New Orleans bayou, so do Irish Bayou music -- and one of the primary musicians is an outstanding zouk player)

Leahy (they're a family band; 7 siblings, assorted relatives and spouses)

Natalie MacMaster (she has a band, I can't recall the name)

Homespun Ceilidh Band (they're the folks who played at my wedding; they're a local DC band that I simply adore)

[annathepiper]

I was specifically looking for recommendations from Newfoundland, to go up against the mighty Quebecois invasion that's been going on in my playlists lately. ;) But that said, I'll totally take other recommendations, too!

Especially if there's a bouzouki involved, and Irish Bayou music sounds fun, so I'll totally check out the Poor Clares.

Leahy I'm already aware of, and I do have one of their albums. *checks her iTunes* In All Things. Are there other particular albums of theirs that you recommend?

I'm also aware of Natalie MacMaster and have two of her albums. :) She was in fact at the very same show where I first saw both Great Big Sea and La Bottine Souriante, way back in 2000, and I have a healthy respect for her mighty fiddle.

I saw you post about the Homespun Ceilidh Band, yeah! I'll see if I can find 'em!

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

I have a CD that my parents brought from Newfoundland, but I haven't listened to it yet. From the cover, I get the impression that it's not the kind of music you're seeking, but I don't know!

I particularly adores the Poor Clares "Dance With Your Daddy" and "Trinquez", a Christmas song in Cajun.

No special recommendations on Leahy or MacMaster albums, I typically listen to them on YouTube. :)

HCB is my idea of a terrific seisiun band, if only because I've played with most of them in other avenues. :) And because they tend to invite sufficiently-skilled friends up on stage when they perform in more relaxed venues. Fun!

[annathepiper]

Here's something about my musical preferences: while GBS and my Quebecois boys make me absolutely swoon with their level of energy, it's not ALWAYS about how hard they're bouncing or how loud they're singing, for me. More, it's about level of obvious passion with the music. You can get that with a quiet performance as well as a boisterous one, as I'm sure you're aware yourself if you've been playing sessions. :D

For example, one of the tracks on that live album by the Charbonniers is a quiet track where the singer's voice is just hauntingly beautiful and sweet. That kind of thing very much works for me, too. You can be singing a gentler song, and if you're actively engaged enough with the music, that's what I'm looking for, and that's what I'll respond to.

I've found some old-school Newfoundland folk recordings that, while they aren't the happy bouncy VERTICAL MOVEMENT style I love so much, it's nonetheless actually very awesome to listen to them, too. Because that's where Great Big Sea get their material from. It's tracing the music back to its roots.

And HCB letting people up on the stage to play with them sounds unbelievably awesome. :) :) I've found their second album on CD Baby, and I'll be picking that up probably in another paycheck or two!