mandocrucian
Aug-20-2009, 12:56pm
Listen a lot to a variety of great players on a variety of instruments. .
Compare and contrast various players playing the same tune. 5 different players are bound to give you at least 5 new ways to play any given tune. Get to know why a player like James Kelly sounds different from Tommy Peoples or Frankie Gavin or Denis Murphy or Sean Keane.
A couple of weeks back I burned some material compilation discs - audio versions of material in a self-compiled fakebook of UK/Irish type tunes - to listen to in the car and refresh my memory, or to do the crock-pot-simmer-method to let them seep into the memory (in the case of the stuff I hadn't learned years ago on mando. But, there are multiple recorded renditions of many of the same tunes by different players. "The Kid On The Mountain", for example.....versions by some favorite players such as Dave Swarbrick (fiddle), Tony MacMahon (button accordion), Alastair Anderson (English concertina), but the standout, imo, is the one from Tommy Peoples (fiddle) w/Paul Brady on guitar from The High Part Of The Road.
Usually, there is one (or two) version(s) that really nails it, for me and those are the ones which become the primary models for phrasing, ornamentation, tempo etc. . The original instrument is pretty irrelevant to me, as is the destination instrument. I'll have the same sound running through my head regardless of what instrument is in my hand, mando, flute, viola, tenor banjo, etc.
So here are some fairly widely recorded/played tunes and the versions that I find I prefer most: (YMMV)
"Kid On The Mountain" - Tommy Peoples (fiddle)
"Bantry Bay Hornpipe" - Martin Byrnes (fiddle)
"Farewell To Ireland" - - Martin Byrnes (fiddle)
"Hector The Hero" - Johnny Cunningham (fiddle, on Celtic Fiddle Festival)
"Princess Royal" - John Kirkpatrick (button accordion, on Morris On)
"Banish Misfortune" - Richard Thompson (guitar)
"Morgan Magen" - Dave Swarbrick (fiddle)
"Lord Inchiquin" - Dave Swarbrick (fiddle)
"Hewlett" - Liam O'Flynn (& Planxty) (pipes)
(I really like Swarb's treatment of O'Carolan tunes, including "SiBheag SiMhore" which I prefer even over the excellent Planxty version )
and, even a tune where the mandolin version is "the standout"....:grin:
"Arthur Darley's Jig" - Mick Moloney (mandolin)
NH
Among some of the disc compilation sources: Dave Swarbrick (fiddle), The Bothy Band, Chieftains, Planxty, The High Level Ranters, Alastair Anderson (English concertina), Tony MacMahon (accordion), Richard Thompson (guitar), The Boys Of The Lough, Martin Carthy (guitar), John Kirkpatrick (accordion), Tony MacMahon (accordion), Martin Byrnes (fiddle), John Doonan (piccolo)
Compare and contrast various players playing the same tune. 5 different players are bound to give you at least 5 new ways to play any given tune. Get to know why a player like James Kelly sounds different from Tommy Peoples or Frankie Gavin or Denis Murphy or Sean Keane.
A couple of weeks back I burned some material compilation discs - audio versions of material in a self-compiled fakebook of UK/Irish type tunes - to listen to in the car and refresh my memory, or to do the crock-pot-simmer-method to let them seep into the memory (in the case of the stuff I hadn't learned years ago on mando. But, there are multiple recorded renditions of many of the same tunes by different players. "The Kid On The Mountain", for example.....versions by some favorite players such as Dave Swarbrick (fiddle), Tony MacMahon (button accordion), Alastair Anderson (English concertina), but the standout, imo, is the one from Tommy Peoples (fiddle) w/Paul Brady on guitar from The High Part Of The Road.
Usually, there is one (or two) version(s) that really nails it, for me and those are the ones which become the primary models for phrasing, ornamentation, tempo etc. . The original instrument is pretty irrelevant to me, as is the destination instrument. I'll have the same sound running through my head regardless of what instrument is in my hand, mando, flute, viola, tenor banjo, etc.
So here are some fairly widely recorded/played tunes and the versions that I find I prefer most: (YMMV)
"Kid On The Mountain" - Tommy Peoples (fiddle)
"Bantry Bay Hornpipe" - Martin Byrnes (fiddle)
"Farewell To Ireland" - - Martin Byrnes (fiddle)
"Hector The Hero" - Johnny Cunningham (fiddle, on Celtic Fiddle Festival)
"Princess Royal" - John Kirkpatrick (button accordion, on Morris On)
"Banish Misfortune" - Richard Thompson (guitar)
"Morgan Magen" - Dave Swarbrick (fiddle)
"Lord Inchiquin" - Dave Swarbrick (fiddle)
"Hewlett" - Liam O'Flynn (& Planxty) (pipes)
(I really like Swarb's treatment of O'Carolan tunes, including "SiBheag SiMhore" which I prefer even over the excellent Planxty version )
and, even a tune where the mandolin version is "the standout"....:grin:
"Arthur Darley's Jig" - Mick Moloney (mandolin)
NH
Among some of the disc compilation sources: Dave Swarbrick (fiddle), The Bothy Band, Chieftains, Planxty, The High Level Ranters, Alastair Anderson (English concertina), Tony MacMahon (accordion), Richard Thompson (guitar), The Boys Of The Lough, Martin Carthy (guitar), John Kirkpatrick (accordion), Tony MacMahon (accordion), Martin Byrnes (fiddle), John Doonan (piccolo)