Having had to cook for a family for more years than I wish to own up to...one thing comes up here. We have always been paycheck to paycheck people and sometimes over the years the day before payday ...arrived and there was nothing obvious in the fridg for dinner. So, the cook had to improvise to feed everyone. Some of those offerings were a wonderful surprise, as new combinations had to be developed to get a feed that did not leave one with the feeling of making do or worse yet, doing without. This fits with the concept of developing a style that is created out of limitations in technique, understandings, etc. Making something out of a perceived nothing. There must be a general principal of creativity in all that somewhere.
Since mainly these days my efforts are put into learning, to get to a more complex level, I work mainly on new finger patterns, new chord understandings, and understanding a range of rhythms. What suffers here, when playing a tune solo and/or playing a lesson tune for the mandolin guru (deep and humble bow here), is the polish on a given tune, leaving one that awful feeling of "I s..k at this" . Whereas in an ensemble or group, the polish is not needed except for a brief solo break, a section of tremolos, etc.. So far that polish is missing from my playing and I wish its wasn't so. Its too easy to let the quality of solos be a source of discouragement. So, for balance, to retain the 'feel good' aspect, I find playing any kind of music in an ensemble balances that. two cents from Tassie. On Nov 6, 7:50 am, Trey Young <[email protected]> wrote: > This has been quite the interesting discussion. For myself, I'm definitely > not to the point of mastering anything. I have been playing at the mandolin > for about 4 years now, the first two years or so playing it as a funny little > guitar and only getting serious about it for the last year and a half to > two. I right now feel like I develop just noodling or jamming and haven't > felt like I need to sit down and really learn the nuances of any one style > yet, just b/c I still have so much to learn. Plus, my feelings about playing > music (for right now with a full time job and a long commute and a toddler > and an infant) is that it is a stress reliever and the one thing I do for > myself, so if I don't want to sit and run scales or play with a metronome > then I'm not going to do it. I am sure that one day I will feel the urge to > go into the more technical aspects of playing, but until then...and that's my > $0.02. > Trey > > ________________________________ > From: erik berry <[email protected]> > To: Taterbugmando <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 2:18:17 PM > Subject: Re: Norman's sage advice > > This has been a very thought provoking discussion and I'm enthralled > by everyone's takes on the subject. It's totally dancing around the > BIG QUESTION (why do you play?). Except we all see to know why... > Anyway, I wanted to chime in my 2-5 cents. > > "I have certainly smoothed it out, however, can't seem to come up with > improvised stuff on it" > > This happens to me too. I'm pretty good at playing some variations on > fiddle tunes and whatnot, but when I write my own "fiddle tune" I > can't. It's almost like I go through so many variations during the > composing process that when I feel I've got it, my brain and hands go, > "That's they way it is, buddy, now you want me to play around with it > some more?" > > I work through a classical book specifically because it's not my bag > and I just want the gist of it. I figure it's good for my hands to be > forced into different shapes. But I just don't have the desire to be a > good, or even fair, classical mandolinist. There's definitely a "good > enough" quality to that music for my purposes, that I can feel > improvement in my band or on my fiddle tunes. And as the years go by, > those classical pieces I work on do get a little better. I've even > played one or two in public, but finally debuting them in front of an > audience brought out all the struggles involved with live performance > (nerves, sound, people staring at you) that I'd already gone through > on a different kind of music, and I didn't with to work on again. I > love classical music but don't wish I could play it. I practice it and > think "good enough." I love bluegrass and do wish I could play it. I > sort of do, but, y'know, it could always be a little better. I play it > and think "not good enough--and I got a gig this weekend." > > But on the other hand, I don't want to spend so much time working on > Monroe or Compton that people say, "Boy, you sound just like some of > my bluegrass records." I just want people to think it sounds good. I > guess I do pursue the personal "as good as I can play it" route, since > I'm always sort of pushing myself to make it sound a little better. > Being in a gigging band helps a ton with this. > > Add me on the lazy list too, I should be practicing mandolin instead > of reading a mandolin player's chat group. But this is just more fun > right now. Plus I'd have to dig out my metronome... > > Adam has got me thinking about cooking, too, because I'm a decent > enough cook, decent enough that I don't generally use cookbooks > anymore and I'm starting to think that the lack of further "education" > in my cooking is starting to be reflected in my prepared meals. > Retreading the same ground in my seasonings, my cutting, my whole > approach and maybe my culinary output has become stale. I need a new > "fiddle tune book" for my kitchen, maybe. > > Anyways, that's enough. thanks for reading > > erik > > On Nov 5, 8:15 am, Mando Chef <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Bill wrote: > > > "I have to sit down and "compose" solos to stuff I write- I can't just > > take off and let > > it flow out of me. Maybe someday..." > > > I have "written" only one tune... I recorded it and put it on youtube > > the day I came up with it so it is very rough and rocky. I have > > certainly smoothed it out, however, can't seem to come up with > > improvised stuff on it, I don't have anyone to "jam" it with, I know > > that would help... There was a certain groove that I put on the tune > > that I can't seem to stray from. I play it note for note the way I > > did it. I can improvise on most of the generic bluegrass tunes... > > When there are more than three or four chords we may have some "WTF > > did the mando guy just play" looks, may come out, but, for all > > intensive purposes it will be recognizable. I can not seem to > > improvise on my own tune... How weird is that? > > > I wish I could do that with my recipes. I cook from my heart much > > better than I play mandolin from inside. I guess I am at different > > stages of enlightenment (to get back to the "sage" reference in the > > topic). The stuff I cook is going to be good, potentially really > > good, everytime and occasionally for me and many times for people who > > are at my mandolin "level" in the cooking world, may think my food is > > out of the ballpark more in the realm of Tater or Monroe level(I'll > > keep Thile out of the lot of Monrovians). I usually feel I just > > played the tune the way it was supposed to be played. To me those > > little variations that Dasspunk mentioned that Mike and others notice, > > I notice in my food so I can certainly relate to attention to detail, > > however it is more sub-conciously achieved, I would need a camera man > > to record my every move to tell someone the recipe. > > > I saw a show with Chef Jacques Pepin and Maesto Itzhak Perlman going > > back and forth sharing and relating the two careers. Finding > > similarity in learning the "words", "phrases" to be able to use > > "sentences" later and then stop worrying on the how is my technique > > (because you have practiced it so much it is 2nd nature) and just play/ > > cook express your creation from your soul. > > > Ok, I'll take a breath and head back to my hole. > > Adam --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
