Backing for different melody instruments question

[dmcginnis]

Hi all - I am curious to know whether you modify the way you back tunes when played on different melody instruments. For example, do you play differently when a flute is playing the lead compared to a fiddle? Do you do things differently if backing a soloist compared to an ensemble with multiple fiddles for example?

I am trying to work out how best to back tunes using GDAD bouzouki and find that variety can be fun as long as it is not distracting from the melody lines. Listening to Alec Finn with DeDannan, for example, provides a much different backing than what I hear from Michael Holmes of Dervish. Different styles, even with a similar instrument mix for the full ensemble. In many groups, it seems the backing is more or less a driving rhythm most of the time...but when backing a solo singer, or a solo instrument, backers move to the more melodic gentle style of backing.

What do you do?

Thanks,
Dave

[foldedpath]

For something like Irish trad, I think you've hit on the main thing that would change the way I approach backing with your second question, and that's whether it's just a duo or a larger band.

In a duo with a lead instrument and backer, you're both much more exposed. The backing has to be especially sensitive in a supporting role, without forcing a rhythm or melodic structure that isn't implied in the melody line.

For me, the big difference compared to the "rhythm section" support in typical Americana music is that a good backer in Irish trad follows the rhythm of the melody player, instead of providing a steady rhythm baseline for the melody player to sync up to. You can hear this in classic melody + backer duos like Liz Carroll and John Doyle, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Kevin Burke and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, or Aly Bain & Ale Möller (there's a good CBOM example for you).

In a larger band, there is likely to be more than one melody instrument, all playing in unison, and so the backing can be a little more forward in support of the rhythm. The backing might also have to be more along the lines of Americana music; a steady beat for multiple melody players to use as a reference. Depends on the band, though. There are also more opportunities to mix and match participating instruments through the arrangement (i.e. not all instruments playing all the time).

As for backing specific instruments like traditional fiddle, flute, box, etc., it's all just "the music" and I don't change how I play when backing with Drop-D guitar or my OM. The one exception is Scottish smallpipes and the like, where I tend to simplify and do fewer chord changes, just focusing on the main tonal center for the most part. Pipe music carries itself, and backing is fairly superfluous anyway.

[Mandophile]

These are good questions. Here's my standard rule. Try not to play in the same octave. I play flute...and I've noticed when playing with mandolins that we are too similar. So make sure the mandolin plays an octave below or as harmony. As for singers: tenors don't want a mandolin to double his vocal line in the same octave. Too much competition for the melody. I would say that holds true for a soprano (not so much for a mezzo).