Hello John
That's sounds great.
It's exactly the response I was hoping for when I submitted the article
on Rants to the NPS Journal. I'd titled the piece "Anyone For a Rant?"
but it was apparently unsuitable and altered without my consent or
knowledge to "A Bit Of a Rant" which rather missed the idea of an
invitation to try them.
Cheers and every good wish for some enjoyable music making,
Anthony
--- On Thu, 30/6/11, Gibbons, John <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Gibbons, John <[email protected]>
Subject: [NSP] Re:
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Date: Thursday, 30 June, 2011, 20:54
Anthony, Francis and all,
I've just tried playing Hesleyside and Roxburgh Castle at rant speed,
but with hornpipey dotting, and found it very educational, and
potentially very musical too. There is a rightness about playing them
that way which is very convincing. But they need more work.... Perhaps
all those years of playing them square need undoing first.
Something for the Calthorpe session on Wednesday, I think!
John
________________________________________
From: [1][email protected] [[2][email protected]] on
behalf of Anthony Robb [[3][email protected]]
Sent: 30 June 2011 20:09
To: Dartmouth NPS
Subject:
--- On Thu, 30/6/11, Francis Wood <[4][email protected]>
wrote:
Hello Anthony,
I don't think we disagree. At Stuart Hardy's musical altitude, I'm
sure
you're right.
That's a level I can only admire but never approach. On a more basic
level, playing the tune with a dotted rhythm will get you through in
a
far less exposed manner than playing straight, which would seem to
be
an ability to acquire before refining the playing to a more
regionally
idiomatic expertise.
Hello Francis
I'm still not sure I can agree completely.
I've taught lots now myself (more or less regularly since 1976 and
mostly beginners/youngsters) - probably in the region of 3500
pupil-hours and found that (hornpipes aside - which are slowish
anyway)
people get get away with jigs and reels played steady and straight
but
as soon as we try and dot/lilt them they fall away after a bar or
two.This is especially true of (even) slowish jigs. I used to take
the
approach you outline; get them playing evenly and steadily and then
put
the regional (some would say the all important) accent in afterwards
but getting people to feel a good lilt and use it consistently after
having spent months mastering the straight version has proved very
difficult indeed.
In recent years I've tried to get the lilt in from the off so that
even
if fingers aren't responding the brain would be taking something in
and
it seems to work better. Of course the old guys would never hear the
straight version in the first place and they have the steadiest pace
and control I've ever heard.
Scottish and Irish bands were popular in Northumberland but when the
old guys swiped their tunes they used their own accent to play them.
Sadly that distinctive accent is all too rare these days and it
would
be great to see more pipers from this area taking it on. The problem
is
how best to achieve it - which ever way we tackle it results are a
long
time coming.
As aye
Anthony
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