I don't know about the rest of you, but this videoing myself, has been a real eye opener! One of the best learning tools available! It makes me really have to pay attention to my playing. I can study the videos (all the ones that I end up deleting!) to see where it is I'm messing up. Can see and hear when I don't hit a particular note cleanly. Really SEE my left hand and right hand technique. Work on how I LOOK when I am playing. I'm clearly enjoying it! How 'bout the rest of ya'll?
It made me realize the difference between small and big mistakes. All the mistakes I notice while playing are miraculously gone when I watch the video, but only if I stayed in time. It answers that philosopher's question "if I made a mistake and nobody notice, was it a mistake?" - "No, it was a lick". But get out of time, and everything derails. Time is control. Bertram
The thing that I've noticed that just amazes me, is that I could have sworn my movement was in my wrist, and I am moving my wrist, but my movement is actually more from my elbow, however minutely! So, that's what I'm working on today, having my movement be almost entirely in my wrist!
what amazes me is that i can run through a piece flawlessly (well, you know ...) but when i push that record button, it all falls apart - happens every time. video fright aside, what i've learned from mine is how poorly i pick - inaccurately and with poor projection.
Recording/videoing is a GREAT practice tool. (Almost as great as practicing with a metronome.) Things sound differently when you're playing than when you're listening. Or maybe it's the change of perspective and attention you can give to your performance when you're not playing.
Bertram, you talked about timing, and Mike, you touched on a subject that I've been thinking about recently. Listening! I play in a band with 3 other people. Donna plays guitar, Scott plays (mostly) cittern & 5 string banjo, Jeanne plays mandolin and every kind of whistle / flute / fife / picolo imaginable, and I play mandolin, OM, tenor banjo & sometimes cittern. We get together twice a week to practice, for several hours each time. Once you get past sounding decent alone, you've then got be able to sound good IN TIME, with 3 other people. The version you play HAS to sound good with the 'version' that the others are playing. Tempo always matters.... STICKING with a tempo, once you've started it. Anyway, we sit in a circle (around a table covered with our tuners, picks, yummy snacks and libations!), I sit between Jeanne & Scott, across from Donna. Donna plays the rhythm on the guitar. I like to close my eyes when playing, and really LISTEN to the sound we make together. You really need to be listening to the 'total package' when you are playing with others, not just listening to yourself, or in a daze, or whatever. If you are paying attention, you can hear when you are speeding up or slowing down, and getting out of sync. And, if you aren't in time with each other, it all comes out sounding muddy!
Bill, You have nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to your playing. I have seen all your YouTube video's!
I noticed the wrist thing too. I could have sworn my wrist moved a lot more than it actually does. Also, I have discovered how to angle the camera so my head is cut off....
Eddie, beware though! A few weeks ago we had a gig at a science fiction convention. We were playing sitting down on a slightly elevated stage, and had friends in the first row, who took still photos of us. Much to my dismay, many shots were VERY unbecoming... right up my skirt! Now, I know you favor shorts to skirts, but, a straight on shot of one's knees can be just as shocking as one's funny hair or face making!
Playing in a band is such a delight ... or it can be. It can also be a non-delight. But listening and giving each other space is, obviously, crucial. The music is in the silences as much as the playing. On the subject of recording, an objective listening session of yourself playing with others can be as eye opening as these solo videos. Personally speaking, it reminds me not to over play. Some probably lay back too much, others not enough. I tend to lurch into the "too much playing" category. But there's nothing like shutting your eyes, settling into a grove and the electricity that comes from playing off one another.
I find this "cam fright/mic fright" issue interesting. Why should we be nervous in the presence of a machine? We might as well be afraid of our electronic tuners. But there it is, that feeling you get when you're about to do something forbidden like licking apricot jam from your own navel. I assume that we are normally relaxed players in front of people because we know that any mistake will quickly be forgotten. A video does not have this quality, instead it mercilessly forever remembers each and every awkward second of our pathetic tightrope dance across the abyss of shame, to be played and ridiculed by cruel onlookers over and over. There is a mental picture we like to have about ourselves, which is falsified by the cam's cold eye - "so this is how other people really see me?" The only cure seems to be to accept and get used to that real picture by frequently recording ourselves. I even found that, if I like to play but don't have my instrument at the moment (as when travelling), I can play a recording of myself and enjoy a second-hand experience of me playing. Bertram
Bertram, if you can lick apricot jam from your own navel, please video it! Here's a pic of my son... he could probably do it!
That looks painful.
My son does the same thing... I try to avoid sitting next to him watching TV. Bertram, the jam thing, I'm going to have to go to therapy to get rid of the mental picture that has engraved itself into my permanent memory...
I don't mind viewing a recording of myself playing near as much as listening to a recording of myself singing - OUCH! It doesn't sound anything like me!!! (at least the me I can hear when I sing)
i dunno', i feel a challenge coming on ...
somehow I can already hear Bill playing and singing that song!
ya think he'll have dreadlocks?
If I could find a way to attach a long spoon to my tongue and catapult the jam into my mouth - would that count as licking? Never mind, by the time I'm done practising this room would need a new carpet and I'd need a shower. Kat, that "singing surprise" is more than just a psycho thing. Sound from your own voice reaches your ears via two ways, the air and your body. Others (and the mic) hear it only by air. You can experience a similar difference by playing your mando with the back pressed against one ear versus the normal position. On the other hand, it is a psycho thing again because the voice is supposed to express personality, thus others perceive a different personality than we used to think we had. The shock goes away in time - I am at piece with my recorded voice by now. Bertram
Okay, Bertram, if you won't video yourself licking jam from your naval, how about playing the mandolin with the back up against your ear? By the way, I'm always surprised when I hear myself just talking, how my voice sounds!
I'm still nervous in front of the cam... can't seem to ignore it...
I find that what helps me, I'm using a web cam, which (of course) is attached to my computer. I will watch my fingers on the computer screen (occasionally looking up at how serious my face is), and that helps. As far as my face, I just have been trying to look pleasant as a general rule (haha!), even when concentrating!
Ok, Barb, just to show it is possible, I took my old Aria 2-point from its nail on the wall and played "Inisheer" into my ear. I am not saying this is the ultimate relaxed playing position, but it gives your right ear one hell of a time. Bertram
"I'm still nervous in front of the cam... can't seem to ignore it..." Me too, I think it is kind of funny. I guess it is just that it is a new experience but I am getting used to it.
Bertram, I am impressed!!!! Not only did we get to hear your voice, with your lovely accent, witness a very impressive playing ability, but, I'm sure this time, you DID smile at the end! Way to go! I'll have to try that, but don't hold your breath for a video!
Thanks for the warm rain Barb. I am always a bit puzzled about this accent thing, nobody seems to be able to exactly tell me what accent it is - English think I am either Canadian or Irish, Irish think I am American, Scots think I am Irish - but nobody recognizes his own accent or my German first language. I've just been in too many countries (still have relatives in Ontario and Pennsylvania, too). What would they guess in Iowa? One good thing about this exercise, besides the acoustic impact, is the inability to watch your hands - if there ever is a moment when you have to play blind, this is it. Bertram
I hear you on the accent thing... seems I have quite a mixture myself... until I have a few pints, then I'm bog-Irish.... There was a legal case in Limerick a few years ago where a German student had been arrested for a minor crime - drunk and disorderly. Probably his only crime was that the Garda couldn't understand him - he spoke no English. The judge said he couldn't get a fair hearing unless he had an interpreter. The audience was asked if anyone spoke German. A likely lad said he did. The judge asked your man to ask the defendant his name... Up steps the lad and shouts at the defendant: "VOT IS YOUR NAME?"... He was held in contempt of court...
The self-video recording is very instructive and I need to do more of it. I recorded myself a few years ago, before starting to jam weekly with three others and I'm curious to hear & see how my playing has or hasn't changed in that time. Playing in time (or better said, not speeding up the tempo!) is so hard with a group if all you are used to is playing by yourself, unless you are disciplined enough to use a metronome. However, unless everyone practices alone with metronome it only takes one person to drive the tempo faster. My jam partners and I struggle with this still after nearly 3 years. http://web.mac.com/dhorovitz/iWeb/mu...&%20watch.html
"vot is your name?"
"unless everyone practices alone with metronome it only takes one person to drive the tempo faster" Yes, David, that's the common panic of being left behind... a frequent phenomenon in Irish sessions, too. Ends in a death spiral. But your recordings suggest your timing is very stable already. Loud toe-tapping with it might help to broadcast the message "speed limit 120 bpm". Bertram
Thanks for the compliment, Bertram. Being my own worst critic, I know that I am often guilty of speeding up the tempo. You may notice in the first and second tunes on my video that I'm playing with metronome. The third is without metronome, and to my ear, I can hear myself speeding up the tempo. It's funny you mention the "common panic of being left behind." That's exactly how I feel even though I know it's only in my head. Our bass player begins stomping his foot whenever the tempo begins to quicken. Alas, he often speeds up when taking a solo! I can only hope that with even more time playing with others or, at least, with a metronome, at some point my internal sense of time and that of the collective will become one. Oooohhhhmmmm . . .
