Holstein, I think in EC's case the lyrics are so many, so convoluted, so extenuated and complicated and he has so many songs in his rep, he would have to have something..to remember it all.
In our community string band we use stands, however, we are an open group, we have folks at several levels and many of the members rely on the dots exclusively. At a given gig, we can have as few as 9 or as many as 23 or more. Still, the band does not claim to be anything except what it is. We can create a great wall of sound on a good day, playing mainly American Old-Time stuff. We don't have any current recordings, but there may be a You-Tube or two out there... Just recently we have decided to add more songs instead of mainly tunes, and we will be looking at these issues, re cheat sheets, stands, or no security blankets...just out there. Robin, I might be able to find some things ..will take a look, might get laughed off the tater site though in the community string band case. I am in two performing groups, the second one is a bit more dignified...leaning to a more classical, celtic folk thing with LOTS of fiddles, almost like a Fiddle Orchestra and some of us do use stands but are trying to wean off them. This group also has very capable leadership. With this second group for recording and performances, they put a mic right up to my mandolin, right in front of the sound hole, and I get so intimidated about the possibility of a clanger..happening that I pull back and freeze, hands all sweaty, etc....but am slowly getting used to it. Its the only thing to do.....get over it. That is done by living through it and being as prepared as possible. We are going to do a video/demo recording next week. If I can stand to look at myself on it, I will send a link when its up. The tunes we play are in the main written by Tasmanians. Adam, that You-Tube link was touching...reminded me of something close to home here...that I am dealing with. It was brave..to agree to that sheet of paper, given all his experience, his life in music. It has to be a terrible thing to accept and then with courage and determination, to get on with things anyway. Thanks for posting it. On Jul 3, 5:24 pm, Robin Gravina <[email protected]> wrote: > It seems as if a lot of Tater folk have a band going - why don't we share > songs & videos and so on? I'd be interested to hear what everyone's doing - > seems like there are a lot of creative people here, and that people are > applying their mandolin to some different styles. > > How about it? > Robin > > On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 2:52 AM, Val Mindel <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The sheet flat on the stage for prompting purposes is a good tip for > > songs that have lyrics that are easy to screw up, but it seems like > > learning the words is a fairly early and necessary step along the way > > to getting on top of a song, getting it performance ready. I too have > > failing-memory issues at times, but going over problem words > > immediately before a gig seems to work, and I'm much happier not > > having to try to read something while on stage...particularly since > > the advent of trifocals, which do really disturbing things to lines of > > type, especially at critical moments. I do better with my aging > > memory. > > On Jul 2, 1:42 pm, Pat Murphree <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Our band chose the name "The Foggy Memory Boys" so we can get away with > > things like forgotten lyrics and other screw-ups. It also excuses the use of > > stands. > > > > Murph > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "The Holstein Kid" <[email protected]> > > > To: "Taterbugmando" <[email protected]> > > > Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2009 4:58:00 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific > > > Subject: To stand, or not?? > > > > Thought I might throw this out there. The new group I’m in is having a > > > little trouble remembering lyrics to our tunes at this stage, and > > > we’ve got a performance on Sat night. Because we’re only doing up to > > > six tunes, I suggested we shouldn’t have a music stand in sight. I > > > think it looks more professional not to have a stand and you should > > > know your music. Right or not so? > > > > Perhaps if we were doing several sets it might be a different story. I > > > noticed a photo of EC and Co. on his recent tour with music stands on > > > stage. It’s obviously acceptable to do this and I wonder if that was > > > for a full show which is what it looked like. > > > > Any opinion or rule of thumb you guys go by? > > > > HK --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
