Folk Dancing in Ealing
dophin pub hanwell
NOTE: change of venue since this was written, fortnightly from Sun, July 19th 2009, 4-6pm, at Drayton Court Hotel, 2 the Avenue, West Ealing, W13.
ORIGINAL POST: Man went into a pub (well, actually a man and a woman) – on their way home from another pub on Easter Saturday. Just in case. Thinking, ‘You never know when you might find “the one” – the place with the wooden floor, slightly secluded bar, a receptive landlord’. And there it was. Beautiful, traditional pub, on a ’village’ green, with a ’school’ stove, atmospheric old panelling, not messed about, and kind landlords, Nigel and Sally.
They’re new landlords – only been ‘in’ for two weeks - at The Dolphin, 13 Lower Boston Road, Hanwell, W7 3TX (207 or E8 buses; Hanwell overground; Northfields, Piccadilly tube; Ealing Broadway, Central line or District line tubes, or overground).
Inside the Dolphin
Can we bring our friends and make unplugged traditional folk music, on Sundays about 4pm, we said? Yes, they said.
It hasn’t started yet. Our ‘starting a session advisor’, who has been involved in several session start-ups in Bristol (thanks, Graham), says you have to get a critical mass of people to agree to turn up for several weeks and then it becomes self-perpetuating. So we’re recruiting at the moment.
Watch this space – or comment to this space.
Filed under: Not tunes
Interesting comments on the ‘About Ealing Sessions’ tab. But for those who may have no ‘open session’ experience, I would just add another comment – possibly controversial (but I’m at a safe distance!). Definitely no music stands, and no reading of music!
Having ‘the dots’ (or ABC’s, MP3 sound files etc.) available on the ‘blog’ is a great way to promote a common repertoire, and enable tune learning, but using scores in a session just stifles the impromptu informality of a good session.
In my local session, there are perhaps around half with classical /orchestral backgrounds – who initially believe they can’t manage to ‘play by ear’. But like any other skill – after possibly a few weeks of struggling – it becomes natural. In the half dozen sessions a week we are lucky to have in the Bristol area, with attendances from around 10 – 15, but some up to 20 or more – there are NON with music /stands !
I agree! A session is a social thing and music stands put up a physical barrier to interacting with people – and also mean people have their heads in a book instead of visably interacting with their fellow musicians.
If you don’t know what to pay start with D – and go up or down from there when it sounds wrong!!
One of my friends used to run a session where if you brought along a new tune, it was acceptable to give out the dots after you’d played it to anyone who wanted to go away and learn it by heart during the week – the deal was that you promised to play it again the following week – and they promised to leave the dots at home!
Stands Stiffle Sessions! Join the campaign!
Laurel
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[...] jpg of Laurel’s dots (but would you/could you/should you bring them to the session? See comments): [...]
Graham has asked for my input on the problems classical musicians face when required to learn music by ear – I’m one of Graham’s session colleagues in Bristol.
My background is that I’ve been playing the cello in orchestras (currently Bristol Chamber Orchestra) since my early teens. In my early 60s I decided to take up the fiddle in order to play Irish music, my wife being into Irish set dancing. I’ve now been playing for 8 years.
In my innocence I turned up at my first session with fiddle and a book of tunes and was quietly (and quite politely) advised of the error of my ways and what to do about it. Because I was still learning to get to grips with the violin I therefore spent most of the next few months at sessions just sitting and listening, something which I now realise was the best possible way to absorb the tunes and, even more importantly, the style.
Meanwhile, I went to Irish music workshops on Saturdays at the Hibernia institute in Bristol where we were taught tunes entirely by ear – not a shred of music paper in sight! The basis of the teaching was, as it still is, to teach 2 bars at a time – 2 bars of a “question” followed by 2 bars of an “answer”. The structure of the music is such that this works well. Most tutors, realising that pupils, especially the beginners, are fallible, would provide a rough copy of the tune in ABC format on request as an aide memoire, and would always play the tune through slowly at the end so that everyone could record it. A tape or digital recorder is your best friend at workshops and sessions – but it’s good manners to ask first at a session.
Learning music by ear is a very natural and human thing to do. Just think of all the music you have in your head that you can hum, whistle or sing, or just mentally “play through” – all those childhood songs, Christmas carols, quite possible many hymns, pop music of all kinds, an enormous amount of classical tunes you’ve been playing and listening to over the years – and all without any apparent effort, just exposure and repetition.
So there are two main comments to learning Irish music – exposure and fluency in your instrument of choice (i.e. being able to play without thinking of or being aware of the technique required). In the case of a beginner on the fiddle it takes a couple of years or so to acquire that fluency, so that’s a good opportunity to hear and listen to as much music as you can, to let it sink in. If you’re already an experienced classical musician then the fluency will already be there. Then what you have to do is to control it to fit in with Irish music.
Although the technical requirements for Irish fiddle playing are but a small subset of that required for classical orchestral playing (for example) there are some features of ornamentation, bowing, tone and even intonation that aren’t found in classical playing. For example, you can come across intonation in Irish fiddle playing that sounds “out of tune”, especially when played by the older Irish fiddlers. But it isn’t “out of tune” – the musician is using a form of scale that lies outside the prevalent Western meantone system as exemplified by the piano and most orchestral playing. Likewise, the “roll” which note-wise corresponds more or less to the classical turn is often done so fast that the individual notes can’t be heard and it has a deliberately percussive effect.
Don’t forget that Irish music is an aurally transmitted genre, and in essence is unnotatable. What you see printed in the tunes books and laid out in ABC notation is very much a skeleton of one performance of that tune and cannot give all the detail and rhythmic nuances which will differ from one playing to the other, even by the same player. (There’s a joke – with some truth in it – that if you play the same “wrong” note twice on different occasions then you’ve come up with a different version!).
What helps with learning a tune is to be aware of a basic structure that applies to a very large number of tunes. It is this:
the tune has two parts, each 8 bars and repeated;
bars 5 and 6 of the A-part are identical (or nearly so) to bars 1 and 2, and bars 7 and 8 may be similar to bars 3 and 4 but can be a little different because you’re coming up to a cadence at the repeat;
if the A-part is in a lower register then the B-part will usually be in a higher;
bars 1-6 of the B-part are effectively a development section and are quite different to the A-part;
bars 7-8 of the B-part are usually identical to bars 7 and 8 of the A-part.
I’d recommend beginners in Irish music to start off with polkas (in 2/4) and jigs (in 6/8) – they tend to be a little easier to learn than the reels.
Oh, fiddlers, keep in the first position, use that open E as much as possible – and kill that vibrato! The Irish music most played is a dance music form that has roots in the Baroque period when vibrato was very much an ornament like grace notes and turns, and used only occasionally (not pervasively like today). Vibrato accordingly has very little place in jigs, polkas, reels etc.
As with all fiddle music, classical or otherwise, slow and thoughtful practice is the royal road to getting up to speed.
I believe there are beginners’ workshops in London – trying googling “Pete Cooper” for starters.
Thanks Trevor, very helpful to have your first-hand experience. I also guess that other people have other ‘ways in’ – everyone learns differently. It would be good to hear of a variety of experiences. Would our session be quite so determined to disallow music-stands?
” Would our session be quite so determined to disallow music-stands?”
Yes, it really is necessary to throw away that crutch to become a fluent group player.
Phew Trevor – thanks for all that.
Although you are mostly talking about Irish playing – I know you also attend English and occasional French sessions here in Bristol , where exactly the same attitude / ethos applies, we just play with a different accent !
A further brief comment from another Bristol friend of Graham’s, a ‘late sixty something’ violinist with over 40 years experience in orchestras and string quartets. I started going to Irish sessions a couple of years ago, learning entirely by ear, and now now combine this quite happily with my classical playing.
Trevor has really said it all, but to me there is another real benefit from playing by ear which is that it gives you the joy of watching what is going on around you rather than being fixed on the dots. If you are next to a competent player it is not too difficult to watch his or her fingers which can be a real help.
Best of luck with your sessions!
Hi there,
My name is Freddy, I am 35, and I play the guitar. I will be in London next week, and I was wondering if I could join one of your sessions. I may say that I have a humble experience of 20 years of composing (www.freddymusicstudio.com) and playing a few musical instruments in a several styles BUT I adore Celtic Music.
Please let me know. Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
FreddyG
Freddy, we’ve moved from The Dolphin. Our next session is on Sunday July 19th at Drayton Court Hotel, 2 The Avenue, West Ealing, W13, 4-6pm (upstairs, follow your ears). Some of the workshop group might be gathering at the Drayton, next Mon eve, 7-9ish, too, if you want to take a chance (ask at the bar; might be dining room or upstairs). Folk Club is at the Drayton (basement) 8-11ish this Weds 8 July. You are welcome to any/all.
Fantastic, ive just moved to Ealing and planned to look up some sessions, and I came across my local pub! I cant make that Sunday but i hope it goes well, so continues there. I miss sessions as lived in Ireland for a year and loved it!