jamming

[andrewjohnsson40]

I've been thinkng:
Why is it easier for me to go and sing songs with people I never met but more difficult on acordion?
How do we learn to play the accordion with strangers?
With the voice I think it easier to fake something because you can sing close to the pith but doing that on an accordion doesn't seem that easy.

 

[TomBR]

I'd guess like a lot of people, if you can think it you can sing it.
Getting the music that's in your head to come straight out of an instrument in the same way is generally a lot harder!

 

[donn]

Of course, most of us start earlier learning to sing.

 

[george garside]

much less of a problem to those of us who play mainly by ear as we operate the box in a similar way to a singer operates the gob!

In .folk /trad session playing the norm is for a tune to be played through 3 times i.e. 2 x A + 2 x B thrice. Very often those who don't know a particular tune are able to join in on 3rd time through.

Playing by ear/from memory is a skill that can also be be developed by readers ( I have over the years taught many good readers to play by ear) . As one very competent boxplayer/reader said to me ''you buggers hand craft every note , can you teach me to do that''

george

 

[JerryPH]

It's all based on length of time doing something. How long have you been singing? Probably since you could speak. How long have you played accordion? A lot shorter time, I will guess with some confidence.

Then, there is also a specific kind of talent needed, the ear that George talks about and where he lives. Playing alone or with a group was easier for me, as long as I was the lead... yet it took me several months to get in to the habit of playing with a band, where I was not always the "lead". Accompaniment is just another aspect of musicality that needs to be learned and practiced, like anything else.

That for me was as challenging as learning any advanced exercise... but again, with time, it became second nature and it got to the point that as long as I knew the song and the key it was played in, I improvised around things and had fun... after all, I found it technically easier than playing the melody because I did not have to be "exact", so it took less effort, but only after I got used to it... again, all it took was time.

Put the same amount of time/effort in to one thing as another and the relative amount of skill levels will be very close to the same.

 

[george garside]

''folk/trad session'' playing can be great fun for all abilities and all uk folk festivals have them, some lead by a prominent player and others 'just happening' on an informal basis.
They are usually open to all instruments and can include all types of box, fiddle, bodhran (drum) whistles, brass, mouthie, hurdy gurdie , etc etc.
they an be as few as 3 or 4 people and the biggest I have lead had 157 participants at a major folk festival. Everybody enjoyed playing together and the atmosphere was great , although a recording of it would have probably sounded a bit iffy!

The thing is that anybody living out of reach of a regular session can start one off, in a local pub, in somebodies house, in a village hall, or whatever. The key to success ( measured by enjoyment) is that it should include any instrument and that it should be primarily worked on a 'by ear' basis with readers being very welcome provided they don't get pedantic about the version of a tune they have the dots for is the one and only ''correct'' version.

In the main those who can join in - if only for a few bars of a tune - do so but a few solo or duet(ish) renditions are also welcomed.

Regular sessions soon develop into a group of friends enjoying both the musical and social side of things

george {} :ch

 

[jozz]

Interesting question.

We have a monthly jam-session at the local music stage, with lights, beefed PA system and someone puts up a complete band kit, drums, amps, instruments everything plus competent musicians present most of the time. So basically all the ingredients to make this jam happen are there.

Now I dare say 90% of the time, this will end in a jam where 2-3 people go back and forth in some common chord scheme THEY KNOW whilst the rest of the attendants turn to the bar. We've come to the conclusion this is not as easy as it seems. Occasionally there will be this one person who is capable of playing literally everything but they are so rare, and don't add much to the intentions of the jam itself. Namely, getting people together and creating something out of nothing.

So yeah, I guess jamming is just hard. We think more to the lines of preparing jams beforehand (like seperating the evening into blocks of genres or even songs), so everybody gets a chance to be somewhat creative.

 

[george garside]

in folk/trad sessions it can also happen that somebody tries to hog things and drones on for ever. That usually signals time to go to the bar or go for a pee . However a major difference between a 'jam session ' and a 'folk/trad session' is that the folk/trad session is always acoustic with no amplification or electronic tarting up of tunes whatsoever. This tends to make a much more level playing (and friendly0 field.

george

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hank,

I'm not really sure how to interpret your original question, but the inference I have drawn from it is that you fear public failure.

As others have already mentioned, the vast majority of Folk Clubs are welcoming and supportive. Nobody minds if you play a bum note or lose your place in the tune you are playing. (and I should know)

All I can usefully suggest is that you join a small, intimate Folk Club, or form one of your own. If you play a bum note, make a joke of it. Just say: "Whoops, I'll start again" and everything will be fine.

Our Folk Club has some brilliant musicians, but I don't know of anyone who hasn't made a pig's-ear of a tune at one time or another.

I promise you this: The sky won't fall down if you play a bum note (or two).

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[hais1273]

Finding the right place to play is very helpful. The folky sessions on our bit of the South Coast seem to be quite tolerant of beginners/novices and as has been said earlier in this thread, everybody has got it wrong at some point. Getting it wrong is part of the learning process and as long the error is laughed off and taken in the right spirit, it's just that, an error. However, at a local French/Breton group "errors" are picked up and pounced upon and the person committing the transgression is often given a public "lecture". Funnily enough that group struggles to retain new people. On a personal level, I find learning a melody by "ear" virtually impossible. Like many others, I can memorise a tune from the dots but that's different from learning by "ear" isn't it?

If I know what key the melody is in, I can busk along using right hand chords and this seems to be acceptable. I'd suggest learning the chords and inversions in any given key is probably time well spent.

 

[george garside]

getting the hang of playing 'by ear' which is shorthand for storing a tune in the memory by listening and then playing it from memory is something that most people can learn. Indeed I have taught many good readers to play by ear.

There is a very long thread on here somewhere on playing by ear which is probably worth digging up.

However there are 4 essential ingredients.
1. put away the sheet music
2 a tune needs to be memorised to the stage where it can be hummed or whistled
3. plenty of scale practice in the popular session keys ?DGA
4. unlike learning a tune from the dots where you start at the beginning and plod through it start off by playing randon 'chunks' of a tune i.e. the bits that are going round in your head. Then eventualy join up the random 'chunks' rather like doing a jigsaw puzzle. This also provides the ability to join in some of the time

The process works something on the lines of 'think' the tune and the right messages are sent down the arm to the fingers without conscious thought ( hence scale practice) in much the same way as the gob is automatically operated to sing a song.

hope this helps
george

george

 

[Geronimo]

However a major difference between a jam session and a folk/trad session is that the folk/trad session is always acoustic with no amplification or electronic tarting up of tunes whatsoever. This tends to make a much more level playing (and friendly) field.

Enter the bagpipes.

 

[donn]

... exit the bagpipes.

 

[JerryPH]

lol