Jim, (and hi to everyone in hg list land)
I realized I could have summarized my advice in my last email by advising you
to first work on some simple hg tunes that are meant to be played on hg. That's
a much easier starting point than attempting tunes that would be better on a
fiddle, and might even be impossible on a hg. That wouldn't have helped you
with this particular performance, though.
Advice about drones vs. chords is one thing, but my main advice to you is to
find some other hg players to learn from. I guess that's what this list is for,
but real live people are even better than email.
If there aren't hg players around, it might sound strange, but you could take
drum lessons (particularly if your hg has a buzzing bridge.) I started off as a
drummer, and the rhythms I learned, and the sense of rhythm I developed, are
very valuable to me as a hg player now.
I had a very similar experience to yours last summer, in which I was working
with extremely talented, professional musicians and a composer who
unfortunately composed stuff for me that was physically impossible to play on a
hg. (She wanted things like lots of rhythmic buzzing bridge, but she didn't
want to hear the drone string the bridge is on. That sort of thing.)
Fortunately, I had the experience to know what was possible and what wasn't, so
we eventually came to a musical agreement, but it took a lot of explaining. It
would have been awful if I'd been in the same situation with less experience,
since I wouldn't have been able to tell explain things to the composer.
Enjoy your hg, and get good at it fast, since it sounds like you're in demand.
Melissa
james kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Wow,
Thank you very much for the response. that was exactly what I was looking
for. The hurdy gurdy is my first instrument and I am just begining to learn
what music, keys at whatnot are all about. I live on Orcas Island,WA where
just about anything can happen. Including a bare bones beginner being pared
with a couple of musicians that play 100 concerts a year world wide. The
violin my gurdy played with was built in late 1600's Italy. I had no idea what
I was doing and just listened to them.
I must say though, It was a huge learning experience to go on stage and know
there would be no backing up. Rehearsal were no problem, but during
performances I could not hear well and had to watch her play. It was my first
experience playing along with someone else. I don't even know how to count. I
had the advantage of watching her bow, much like a baton. I also learned how to
cotton my strings so I could get a clear note on the entire range, I practiced
so much I ended up changing the cotton every day.
Thanks for pointing out the difference in drone instruments and other stuff.I
had no idea on that .
The father of the woman I played with was concert master for seattle for the
last 25 years and recognized how new I was to the instrument. He loves the
Hurdy Gurdy and encouraged me to continue.
Thank you again on your comments,
Jim
Melissa Kacalanos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hm. Some tunes just aren't meant to be played on hg. Many tunes, I suspect
like this one you mention, just wouldn't work with a constant drone on any
note, whatever the note is. In your example, your trompette and petit bourdon
are playing a constant open E chord. Then whenever your open chanter sounds
(which it almost inevitably will, between some notes) you're playing an E minor
chord. I suspect that if this worked at all, it did so by making the whole tune
seem like it was in E minor, so people couldn't hear the D major-ness of the
first part.
Actually, how do we know it really switched from D major to E minor? That
might just be the interpretation of these musicians, who are trained to think
in terms of key changes and chord progressions all the time instead of drones.
Maybe if one of us drone-based people heard it, we would just say, "Nice tune
in E minor, and I like how the dissonance at the beginning resolves in the
middle."
Or, if they wanted to keep the D to E shift, in a situation like this, I
might have turned my drones off for the beginning, and then turned on a drone
in E at the change. This makes for a nice dynamic change as well as a key
change. This only works if the changes don't come too fast or frequently,
though.
But in general, I don't like to waste my efforts trying to get my hg to play
tunes with certain key changes or chord progressions, which would work much
better on a piano or violin or something. What hgs are good at is playing tunes
that work well with drones. This includes, besides the vast world of early and
traditional hg music, tunes from drone-loving traditions from around the world.
That includes bagpipe tunes from Sweden to Morocco to Bulgaria, much Indian
music (which often uses a tambura to provide a drone), and much Arabic and
Turkish music (which often use plucked string instruments with both drone and
melody strings). That's a lot of music. Let's not get greedy and try to play
music that sounds better on piano or violin.
Melissa
james kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hello,
A couple weeks ago I was playing a street musician in a local adaptation of A
Christmas Carol on Orcas Island, wa. I am both a begining hurdy gurdy player
and musician. The individual I was paired with is a (very patient) professional
violinist.
One of the songs was a jig and started out in e minor and switched to d
major. I had no idea what to set my drones to, and consulted her & her
husband who is a professional pianist. Neither are familiar with the hurdy
gurdy but both are top notch musicians and finally they decided that I should
tune my minstrel gurdy as follows. the petit bourdon should be B, the chanter
G, and the trompette E'. This was not their first choice, but were taking into
consideration the tension allowances of the strings I had.
It ended up sounding kinda cool.
Has anyone else out there tried this sort of arrangement?
Jim Kruse
Anthony Shostak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi, folks.
I'm sure this has come up before, but I'm wondering what your collective
wisdom is regarding G/C or D/G for playing Irish and related tunes? It
seems straightforward enough to play out of G/C, using the upper rows of
keys and capos for the drones, but with much of the repertoire fitting
well on pipes and flutes that don't go lower than D, perhaps D/G would
wind up being a bit easier and fit within the range of the instrument
without too much octave shifting. Or is it really just a matter of
making a choice and sticking with it?
Best,
Anthony
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