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Tom Hanway - Posted - 04/25/2012: 17:04:32
, one of her first oil paintings, "Listen to the Flow":
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 03/02/2013 05:44:08
Tom Hanway - Posted - 04/25/2012: 17:47:57
Larry: This is new stuff. It's not bluegrass-roll style, and it's not melodic clawhammer, though anybody could learn from it who plays tunes and can get around the neck of a 5-string.
It's more like "Celtic fingerstyle" - not Scruggs (rolls), not single-string (TITI), not melodic, not traditional bluegrass, not OT, and not limited to Irish tunes either. It's a new approach to contemporary Celtic tunes as you would hear them over in Ireland or Scotland or wherever Celtic tunes are played.
Yes, it's available in every format, as a hard-copy book/CD set, which I personally like (to use in music stands), or as an eBook/digital download. It can be found in all fine music stores who carry Mel Bay products, or ordered through them, or at the link above. Thank you for asking!
Doub: Thank you, brotherman! 
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 04/25/2012 17:55:07
Tom Hanway - Posted - 04/26/2012: 18:00:38
quote:
Originally posted by Ragaisis
Excellent, Tom! I have your other stuff, and this will be added to the list. I'm loving playing this material.
Chris
Thanks Chris, you're gonna love these tunes. They're ones that you would hear at Galway sessions (a lot of them), and you can put them together in lots of different ways, and make them your own.
quote:
Originally posted by scooter46
Tom is this written ... for bluegrass style or can it be played clawhammer style, is it available in book form or just ebook? Larry
Larry, your questions are answered in my initial post, but I want to mention that this is a collection of traditional jigs and reels. Bluegrass really has no jigs, and bluegrass banjoists don't attempt to play them either. You know this, I'm sure. There's no 'Foggy Mountain Jig' by Scruggs.
Likewise, jigs are not tunes that one would expect to hear at a typical old-time session, though Ken Perlman has made jigs safe for melodic clawhammer style. Years ago I learned tunes – not in his style – but from his impressive collections. We have a lot of common ground in our love of traditional tunes and Celtic traditions. I wear fingerpicks and I have evolved my own fretting-hand and picking-hand techniques in what I call Celtic fingerstyle banjo – to include all Celtic tradition, not just the old Irish tunes.
This modern collection delves into Celtic tunes from Ireland, Scotland, Shetland, Wales, Yorkshire, Canada and the US. Once inside Easy Irish and Celtic Session Tunes for 5-String Banjo, there is a Contents link that takes you to the Tune Titles. Please notice how they are not bluegrass or old-time tunes. Only one tune out of the 68 tunes is heard in old-time and bluegrass (and country, for that matter). It's an old American tune that’s gone back across the ocean, 'Eighth of January'.
One could say that it's good enough to be Irish!
I felt, and put in a triplet in the B part, which can be played as a "stuttered triplet," which I explain in the book, a technique borrowed from the tenor banjo. It works well with other tunes at sessions, and I like singing it ('Battle of New Orleans'). I've played and sung it in Ireland and Scotland and I've discovered that flute players and fiddlers have no trouble with it. It's an easy tune to pick up at a session, and most players have heard some version of it. I used to play it with Vassar, so I think maybe included it for him (plus a photo of us jamming).
‘St. Anne’s Reel’ (in my first Mel Bay collection), the Canadian and New England standard, has also found its way into Irish and Scottish traditional music, and there was great controversy one year when a trad player, a fiddler, won the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil (Festival of Music) playing a Canadian tune. Quite a few American tunes have found their way into Celtic sessions, e.g., ‘Jerusalem Ridge’ (Monroe), ‘June Apple’, ‘Blackberry Blossom’ (Eileen Ivers and John Whelan version), and more.
I composed ‘Miracle on the Hudson,’ commemorating the successful ditching of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. It was such a heart-warming story that I was moved to compose a tune in lively 9/8 time. It’s a slippery slip jig in Hanway’s Celtic Modal Tuning, a little libation to the living tradition. Two tunes in the book use this experimental tuning – the other is 'Drowsy Maggie', but all the rest is in standard G-tuning.
I don't use old-time tunings because they are unwieldy at Irish and Scottish sessions; they would disrupt the session – all that switching around and re-tuning to play in different keys and modes. Nope.
I offer two transcriptions for 'The High Reel' (A Mixolydian), both with and without a capo. So, I don't frown on capo use for tunes in A Major or A Mixolydian, but I would avoid using a capo for A Dorian tunes.
Last, I list the modes for tunes that are not in obvious Major keys. I hope this information helps you and others.
Thank you for asking about the book/CD and eBook/tune downloads. It comes in every available format.
It’s contemporary Celtic fingerstyle banjo for the 21st century.
Best ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 04/26/2012 18:15:15
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/04/2012: 00:57:57
The feedback I'm getting from customers who have ordered the eBook is that they want to go back for the hard copy and CD, because they're printing the eBook, but then it's not bound. I had a hunch that would happen.
God bless music stands.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/10/2012: 19:01:25
quote:
Originally posted by deuceswilde
Herbert Ellis put out several books on Jigs, Breakdowns, Reels, &c around the turn of the century. Most have 2nd banjo accomp. Lots of good jigs.
Tom, you say that this is all new, I am curious as to how your work is different from many of the "jigs" published before notation for banjo was "lost" (rather ignored)?
Take a look at the Ellis stuff, esp. the "60 Jigs and Breakdowns." classicbanjo.com/tutor.php
It looks like your work is mostly in bass elevated intervals, is that correct?
Interesting question, and thank you for the classical banjo link, which I'm aware of. It's different stuff. (Btw, I never said notation for banjo was lost; perhaps you were inferring that, or were just asking out of curiousity.)
I don't ignore old tutors - in fact, quite the opposite, but I don't rely on old settings for contemporary tunes, especially as they are heard in sessions in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, Australia, the Celtic Diaspora, or anywhere where tunes are played. "Breakdowns" is not a term that trad players use, and they don't generally play them (though Gerry O'Connor recently recorded 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' on the tenor banjo, for the craic).
I do enjoy going back to old Scottish, Cape Breton, Shetland, Welsh and Irish sources for the fun of it, and for comparison with older tunes that are currently popular. I wouldn't choose antiquated settings over new ones, though sometimes beautiful old tidbits have been buried that might well deserve to be explored on the 5-string.
Tunes change over time, from region to region, and from player to player, and I devote a good part of a chapter to this phenomenon and discuss it in the cross-referenced Glossary to Complete Book of Irish & Celtic Tunes for 5-String Banjo (101 tunes). I won't quote from that here, obviously, but I know what you're on about.
Easy Irish and Celtic Session Tunes for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Jigs and Reels (68 tunes) is a contemporary tune collection for the 21st century, bare bones versions that can be heard at today's sessions, especially in the West of Ireland, in Clare, Galway, Sligo, Cork, Kerry, but also in Dublin, Leitrim, Longford, Cavan, and all over. That's not to say that the tunes are new, or old, or all lrish tunes - just a new collection of tunes (not a rehash of tunes from my first work).
This new collection is not concerned about regional variations or highfalutin' ornamental approaches. It's about learning bare bones melodies, and it's designed for beginners and intermediate players. My Complete Book explores lots of advanced variation techniques and regional (especially Sligo-style) ornamentation for many of the Irish tunes.
Whereas Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo covered all kinds of tunes and got into some highly complex ornamentation, this book is focused specifically on jigs and reels, getting each note of the tune. Ornamentation can always be added later at a player's discretion, and I recommend learning how to do that. First things first:
A common problem that many experimenting 5-string players face playing any type of Celtic stuff with dyed-in-the wool traditional players is that they don't learn early on how to distil bare bones melody, tending towards personal ornamentation and variation.
It's hard for constantly experimenting players to come back home to the basic melody. I've been there myself, so I made a constant effort at making all 68 of these tunes accessible and fun to play.
Folks probably need to try out Best-Loved Jigs and Reels for themselves before guessing at what these tunes are all about.
I had a difficult time narrowing down the tunes to just 68, and I recorded them all note for note to match the tab, also adding (optional) chords in the book and on the recording. That's a help, I hope, for many who long for chords!
It's a contemporary and decidedly new approach here, even for me, and I've been at this business for a long, long time.
All will be revealed.
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/10/2012 19:12:02
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/10/2012: 20:59:46
Mirek. You d'vil, lol. Btw, the tune versions in my books did not come from The Session - the last place I would go for tunes, though I like to see what's posted there, and I like the discussions. The Session is not the place to go looking for tunes from latest work, or even my first work.
It's best not to get tunes from generic settings, but to listen to them played live and get them under one's fingers in stages, one tune at a time.
Nice to hear from you. I enjoyed playing tunes with you in Longford. That was gas!
Prague is out, says Denise, lol.
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/10/2012 21:12:35
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/11/2012: 03:48:37
Mirek, lol, please don't divert this thread to off-topic debates: I didn't post this thread to debate about musical literacy, or what the publisher and I agreed to in our contract, or what is and what is not my duty as an author and teacher, or what I delivered as final product. Don't mess with others' contracts with their publishers. It's not your project, old friend.
It's done, brotherman, and I'm not going to violate my contract because someone, after it's been published, comes up with the idea of having me put my 5-string transcriptions in standard notation, which would be a contract violation, oops, lol. That's not in my contract, and the publisher does not want that. If you were to do that (put my settings to standard), it would be copyright violation, and illegal to publish on line. Are we clear? Don't go there, okay?
Also, Mirek, it would just create more work for everybody, and it's a nuisance at this stage, so please don't be a nudge, haha.
By the way, all the tunes are recorded, at easy beginner/intermediate tempos, with chords, and everything matches. There's no need for standard notation, no need to create more work for students. Notice the title:
Easy Irish and Celtic Session Tunes for 5-String Banjo: Best-Loved Jigs and Reels is meant to make the tunes EASY for folks who read tablature, not to send them back to standard notation.
Last, the publisher and I are satisfied with the end result, and we're making any necessary tweaks and revisions on the webpage, digital download information, and the like, as we see fit. Thank you for writing, Mirek.
I hope you'll benefit from this collection and pick up the 5-string banjo and try out these contemporary settings. These are for 5-string, not 4-string, banjo. 
All the best,
Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/11/2012 04:04:01
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/11/2012: 04:32:13
quote:
Originally posted by deuceswilde
I am sorry I butted in to this topic. I misunderstood when you wrote that questions were welcome to mean that discussions were also welcome here. I now understand that it is for plugging your book, which is good because you clearly have done a lot of work on it. Perhaps this should be moved to the "buy, sell" section. Good luck with sales! I hope it is a success.
Joel, hey, that's a lot of assumptions on your part, and I'm sorry you are tending this way. What did you want to discuss?
If you choose to bow out - that's your choice - but nobody is making you do that, and you don't have to leave a parting shot, or "poison the well" in leaving.
Who wouldn't want to hear from you? I even sent you a friend request, and perhaps you read into it in a way that I didn't intend. No harm, don't be so quick to pack up your toys and leave.
Joel, discussions are welcome, so who told you differently? It wasn't me.
All I ask is that the topic doesn't turn into off-topic debates, e.g., about musical literacy, standard notation v. tablature, or Classic v. Classical banjo, which you introduced.
Let's talk about Irish and Celtic tunes for 5-string banjo. No big deal.
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/11/2012 04:40:14
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/11/2012: 04:51:36
quote:
Originally posted by Jim Yates
My compliments to Denise. She's really captured the mood of Irish music.
Jim, Denise was delighted to hear your comment over breakfast. You made her day, and you made our day. The idea behind the painting is that the music is flowing onward, and all we have to do is listen to the flow....
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/11/2012: 08:45:14
I started a Celtic Fingerstyle BHO Group here, with an emphasis on Celtic 5-string, not limited to a particular Celtic culture or playing tradition. Please feel free to join, post tunes, links, ask questions, and discuss musical matters Celtic: past, present and future.
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/14/2012: 04:01:13
quote:
Originally posted by boyratchet
Tom, from your perspective, is the Métis fiddle tradition part of the larger Cletic tradition?
Cletic tradition? LOL, I make that spelling typo all the time, so it's funny to see someone else make it.
That's an excellent and big question, and it deserves a thoughtful answer because we're dealing in European and Native American cultures as well as contemporary musical subcultures here, a very sensitive and tangled area. Yikes!
The fiddle was introduced to the Métis people by the French and Scots. First, I don't generally go for the "everything is everything" theory of things (in the universe), but of course Métis and Celtic traditions are related in a broad sense, with some lovely musical overlapping in the Venn diagram scheme of things.
Interestingly, some folks in Ireland love to tell me and sincerely believe that Scandinavian music, or even weirder, Cajun music, is just like Irish traditional music, or that bluegrass comes straight from Irish music. Well, no, not exactly, but I hear what they mean and understand why they can relate to other European and American fiddle and folk dance traditions. Of course, there's overlapping, in the spirit of the music alone. And who are the Celts in Ireland or Scotland? I discuss this in my recent book; it's not a road to go down, focusing on race or genetics. Let's talk about cultural traditions, and let's participate in them freely.
I think it's similar with Métis musical culture (Métis describes a mixed-race people of Canada). There's an affinity for sure, the co-mingling of Native American and European cultures in America, and in the case of the Métis, in Canada, with beautiful traditions in their art, clothing, beadwork, embroidery, and their unique musical heritage. I would love to get my wife some Métis sashes, or some moccasins, or embroidery.
The Métis have a unique cultural history apart from the music. One could argue that Métis fiddle music and dance has elements of Celtic tradition, i.e., Scottish and Irish elements as found in the Celtic Diaspora, specifically in Canada.
However, the origins of Métis culture did not take place in a native Celtic land, or in an ex-Celtic land, but in the Celtic Diaspora, with largely Caucasian (mainly French and Scottish) and various Native American tribal origins. The Scottish and Irish (Celtic) fiddle influence can be found in Métis music, no question about it. I see no problem playing Métis fiddle tunes at a session anywhere where Celtic tunes are played. What a great idea! People would be drawn to Métis tunes, I reckon, relate to them, or at least find them interesting, and I'm sure it's being done, though I don't hear folks playing and extolling the virtues of Métis tunes at sessions in Ireland. It might be a bit exoteric for staunch traditionalists, but not for me.
A famous Métis tune is 'Red River Jig' (aka La Grande Gigue) and it's not exactly an Irish or Scottish jig (6/8 or 9/8-slipjig). Is it Celtic? Well, if Celtic musicians start playing it and other Métis tunes, then they are being absorbed into Celtic tradition, and this is a way in which the living tradition absorbs music from other musical subcultures, whether it be Native American, French-Canadian, Cajun, old-time, bluegrass, or some other form of traditional or contemporary music.
I have no problem with it, or with cross-pollination between styles in general. It's more tunes to mess about with, like boats, and people who like to mess about in boats and canoes.
So, I would give a qualified "yes": Métis fiddle music is traditional Canadian music found in (but obviously not limited to) the Celtic Diaspora, and it's finding its way into Celtic sessions and tune books, though not every Scottish or Irish traditional fiddler or accordion player is playing Métis tunes. I reckon many have never heard of the Métis people or the 'Red River Jig' at all. It's probably just a matter of time.
Interestingly, one can find Métis tunes in The Session, though again, I wouldn't go there first (e.g., 'Red River Jig' or La Grande Gigue), and I reckon more and more tunes will be added piecemeal over time, just a hunch! Listen and watch here. I hear a Celtic sound in this.
Incidentally, I have Native American roots too, on my mother's side, so I enjoy these types of thorny questions.
Now, I have more editing and work to do on another Mel Bay book/companion CD.
Respectfully yours ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/14/2012 04:12:50
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/14/2012: 04:34:27
quote:
Originally posted by Ragaisis
Tom,
I'm going through the book now and it's a pretty solid reference. As you've pointed out, it's a way to get the melodies of the tunes in your ear and under your fingers. And it gives you a great starting point for adding ornimentation and embellishment.
This is a personal stylistic thing, but could you give a couple of quick comments on your approach to taking these basic versions and ornimenting them? Triplets when playing a quarter note? Grace note slides or pull offs, etc? I know that we all do it differently, but some generic guidance from "the author" would be cool.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris, okay, first, play ornamentation that you feel after you have learned the bare bones melody.
Ornamentation can be pre-planned or felt and played spontaneously. If it's the latter, one has to be intimately familiar with the tune and have already played it lots of different ways, possibly with different people, or just different versions of the same tune (practiced at home).
Always practice at home first, before careening into a session, haha. 
Ornamentation is often absorbed through listening to others, and then it becomes second nature.
Ornamentation can be done with either with the fretting-hand or picking hand, and it's a combination of both. I like playing double-hammer-ons at times. I also use picking-hand techniques to blast out triplets to add "lift" and energy to a tune. It's all good, if it works.
So, let it come naturally, organically, bit by bit. Keep going back to the same tunes and try different things with both hands. Don't think just in terms of picking patterns, no, no, no. If one is practicing ornamentation, as patterns or exercises, it might sound stiff, or forced. On has to know the tune, know how others on different instruments tend to play it, and then feel it for oneself on one's chosen instrument. And yes, do use grace notes, do use hammer-ons and pull-offs, do sprinkle in triplets, grace-notes and double-grace notes (cuts).
Play your instrument, and learn its limits and capacities, and push out your limits and capabilities as a player who listens to other players.
My first work explains ornamentation (melismatic, intervallic, rhythmic) in great deal, and I cross-reference ornamentation (variation) and its essential components in the Glossary. It's too much information to get into here.
The second book/CD, finds ornamentation in the tunes themselves. I haven't added ornamentation for the sake of ornamentation (though I use a lot in my own playing), keeping the melodies bare bones for beginners. I use ornamentation because it sounds and feels good (at least to me).
After one has learned a body of tunes, ornamentation found in one tune might come in handy for another tune. And that's where real fluency and artistic license comes into the equation. Experiment and let your fingers find it naturally, by listening and trial and error. That way, once you learn it, it's really a part of your playing, in your hands, not an exercise in reading tab or sheet music.
But first, one has to have a real body of tunes under one's fingers. I hope this helps a little.
Thank you for writing.
Best ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/14/2012 04:44:02
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/14/2012: 04:51:51
quote:
Originally posted by haydukepdx
Tom, thanks for all the pointers! I really appreciate the level you've written it for, and I think I may make my goal. I especially like the chapters 1-3 where you give some context to the music. I've traveled extensively in Ireland and I can appreciate your take on how to fit the 5-string into the culture.
Jon: You got it! Thank you for the kind words. It's my pleasure to help folks. Feel free to write me here or privately if you have questions. It's a vast tradition, and these tunes are largely unexplored (new) terrain for 5-string banjo players.
Thank you for focusing on the chapters. That's where the philosophy behind my approach is contained. And my playing and approach has evolved (devolved?) over the years by getting simpler, getting bare bones melodies, then messing about with them, playing inside them.
Keep going Jon, one tune at time, and combine tunes in medleys, and this will help you to remember batches of them, and then, you're up and running, no ... flying at a session.
It's a good feeling, a real nice buzz, to play tune after tune, set after set.
Best ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/14/2012 05:00:09
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/21/2012: 23:55:30
quote:
Originally posted by Tom Hanway
I started a Celtic Fingerstyle BHO Group here, with an emphasis on Celtic 5-string, not limited to a particular Celtic culture or playing tradition. Please feel free to join, post tunes, links, ask questions, and discuss musical matters Celtic: past, present and future.
I am happy to report that a spin-off of this thread is the "Celtic Fingerstyle" Group, which now has a dozen members, and it's growing faster than I would have imagined. Peter Somerville has already put up his transcriptions for playing in this nascent 5-string style. We are comparing notes privately, playing close attention to picking-hand fingerings, and not thinking in terms of choosing between a "melodic" or single-string model.
I choose to think in terms of "fretting-hand" and "picking-hand" (as outlined in my recent work) because I'm moving beyond various older models, e.g., "right-hand" or "Southern right-hand," which has bluegrass and stylistic connotations. We're moving away from that type of paradigm, moving into a new mindset about style, going with a "gestalt" approach, focused on contemporary Celtic tradition as played in two hemispheres. (Peter lives "down under" in Melbourne, Australia.)
This is not bluegrass or clawhammer; it's not Irish or jazz (tenor) banjo; and it's decidedly 5-string oriented, with settings rendered for playing tunes inside the tradition, faithfully, economically and at tempo. I am especially excited by Peter's self-published transcriptions, which are contemporary. Iain Mac Lachlan from Edinburgh, Scotland, in his published Mel Bay work, is also on a similar path, also Alan Johnson in his self-published work.
There's a common theme and confluence of ideas: We're all after bare bones melodies for the 5-string played in standard G tuning, so that one doesn't have to re-tune constantly to play in different keys at sessions. Capos are an option, but can be another obstacle in learning the neck of the 5-string. (I offer two transcriptions for 'The High Reel' - both with and without a capo.)
We think very similarly in developing a new approach that doesn't spill over into older or hybrid forms, either tending towards recycled bluegrass licks, old-time tunings and patterns, or contemporary jazz forays, as much as some of us may be informed by 5-string jazz banjo, especially its economical techniques.
So, we're keeping it Celtic (some more obsessed with Irish tunes), playing inside the tunes, within the melodic tradition, but not restricted to twentieth century "melodic" style for 5-string, "melodic" here being an ambiguous term that also has bluegrass connotations. It's almost a reclaiming of the term "melodic" to mean strict adherence to melody, to the tunes themselves. Then, it's about combining tunes and playing them all in a streamlined fashion, without having to re-tune or slap on a capo when there's a key change. This is the only way that the 5-string can safely be brought into sessions, contributing tunes without interfering with the general flow and spirit of the music.
To be sure, it's walking a tightrope in search of clean Celtic melody (with ornamentation sometimes built into the tunes), and being part of the living tradition.
Best ~ Tom
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/30/2012: 03:10:11
quote:
Originally posted by hobogal
Hello Tom - I notice you have another book (The Celtic Encylopedia - excuse my spelling) and wondered if your new book is aimed more at beginner level - I am guessing its not just a tune book but also has instruction on playing techniques. I am interested in expanding techniques for playing the 5string. I don't know if you have heard of this chap in the UK - he plays some interesting old British Isles tunes (including jigs). raychandler.net/music/index.html
Carrie - thank you for writing! You raise some important points, especially in reference to preferred terminology. You are probably thinking of Iain Mac Laclan's Celtic Tune Encyclopedia, which he initially self-published as Scottish Tunes for the 5 String Banjo, largely arranged in sets (medleys). The Scottish sets are geared for ceilidh dancing, and it's a wonderful cross-section of traditional tunes from bonny Scotland, from inside that Celtic tradition. It's a tune book, not so much about playing techniques. Highly recommended!
Yes, my second book/CD, Best-Loved Jigs and Reels (what this thread introduces) is geared for beginners, the tunes themselves. I have another book/CD that has an introduction to tab, ornamentation, playing techniques, 101 tunes, plus a glossary: Complete Book of Irish & Celtic 5-String Banjo, Mel Bay product description here. I'll check out Ray, and thanks again for posting.
Playing old British Isles tunes is no bother to me - not an issue, and I love to play 'My Grandfather's Clock' (which is not Celtic); however, I am aware that tune players in Ireland, Scotland and Wales - who don't exactly jump for joy when they hear the term "Celtic" - go in for the politically-laden term "British Isles" music. Go figure?
I personally prefer 'The Bonny Bunch of Roses' approach and mentality, which seems eminently sensible and inclusive.
The very terms that we use to distinguish between categories of tunes and playing traditions (e.g., "Celtic" as opposed to "British Isles") clearly have political and cultural connotations, and, at least to me, it reveals that it is best to be sensitive to how others view their own traditions, whether it be 'Rule, Britannia!' or 'A Nation Once Again'! It's good to be precise about terms, about what Celtic means, for example, and not get caught in the political crossfire. This is about love for the music, pure and simple.
Best ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/30/2012 03:25:47
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/30/2012: 13:17:53
quote:
Originally posted by hobogal
Hello Tom - *snip* ...I don't know if you have heard of this chap in the UK - he plays some interesting old British Isles tunes (including jigs). raychandler.net/music/index.html
Carrie, that's lovely relaxed music, and not just the banjo playing. Really nice stuff, thanks for posting!
Tom Hanway - Posted - 05/31/2012: 12:01:01
quote:
Originally posted by hobogal
Hello Tom - I notice you have another book (The Celtic Encylopedia - excuse my spelling) and wondered if your new book is aimed more at beginner level - I am guessing its not just a tune book but also has instruction on playing techniques. I am interested in expanding techniques for playing the 5string. I don't know if you have heard of this chap in the UK - he plays some interesting old British Isles tunes (including jigs). raychandler.net/music/index.html
Carrie, thanks again. I have more time to think and write now, and I'll be brief.
Technique can be learned lots of ways, and my preferred method is to hone techniques as they reveal themselves inside tunes, whole tunes, variations of tunes, ornamentation within a tune. That way, they are not abstractions but live inside particular tunes. In this way, they are "recyclable" or reusable, and a playing technique, e.g., an ornamental device, can be put to use in a tune that has a similar melodic or rhythmic contour, regardless of key and mode.
It's not the same as plugging in licks, as in bluegrass jamming, mainly because it involves improvising (or playing a pre-planned minute variation) in a small musical space, ranging from the "long roll" in the large space of a dotted quarter note (dotted crotchet); to the "short roll" in the space of a quarter note (crotchet); or the triplet, three notes of fairly equal timing in the space of two notes, e.g., three quavers (eighth notes) played in the space of two quavers (one crotchet); or to smaller grace notes (cuts) and double grace notes (double cuts) before an eighth or a quarter note; and the mordent, especially for playing slow airs.
Variation is not predicated on or limited to a rhythmic pattern, e.g., trebling - repeating the same note as a triplet, but may involve melismatic variation adding extra pitches, e.g., the "long" and "short roll" or "turn"; or intervallic variation, i.e., the substitution of a note — often quite higher or lower — for the basic, more commonly played note of a tune or song. These types of variation may even convey some kind of deep human emotion, whether it be joy, sorrow or lonesomeness. It's not just about firing off triplets, or triplets in rapid succession, which may become tedious and might begin to sound boring if they are overused. In Celtic tradition, we have lots of choices in terms of technique and overall playing style.
With all these types of variations going in Celtic music — call it "British Isles" music if you will — the easiest way to make sense of them all and begin to have them under one's fingers, is to practice tunes that use them. One tune at a time. The tunes are all the exercises one needs, considering that there are thousands upon thousands to play and tinker around with.
So, music is listening. It's about peeling back the layers of the onions; in learning and re-working traditional tunes, all sorts of fun possibilities begin to reveal themselves, and these are not from outside the tradition (exoteric), but from within the tunes themselves (esoteric). This is learned by doing, practicing at home, more listening, going to sessions and mixing with tune players on a regular basis.
Thank you for writing Carrie. I hope this helps you in your search.
Best ~ Tom
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 05/31/2012 12:16:28
Tom Hanway - Posted - 06/04/2012: 17:48:03
quote:
Originally posted by AllanJ
Wow, I'd never come across Ray Chandlers' music before. Great to hear English tunes played like that on 5-string, seems to me to have really captured the tunes. Inspirational stuff - made me reach for my banjo and start practising..
Not sure I want to start a BHO controversy (!) but I wish there was a better term than 'celtic' for this style of playing as it excludes music from England and mainland Europe and other parts of the world which are a source of great session tunes. Ah well, it's only a label - it's the tunes that matter!
Well said. Labels like Celtic music, European music, World Music, English music, French music maybe cannot do justice to what's really happening at sessions where people are playing whatever they play.
Celtic may seem too exclusive a term, while also being too inclusive and fuzzy a term. I don't think that trad musicians go out of their way to exclude tunes and instruments from other European, American, New World, Old World, Eastern, Western or folk music traditions in general. Just look at the instruments. Where do they come from?
Celtic, as a term or description, is an often maligned term, and it's hard to know what it means. Musicians may or not be thinking about Celtic tunes at sessions.
I play with an English tenor banjoist, a multi-instrumentatlist, and he though he plays mainly Irish tunes, he wouldn't exclude English tunes, or music from anywhere else. His music would probably be better described as Celtic rather than English, though I wouldn't label his music as either. I hear you loud and clear. These terms!
So, Celtic is just a word, not the thing that players are playing at sessions, and it describes, at least to me, a big tent, hard to pin down, and maybe not as exclusive as say _____________ music.
We're speaking and writing in English here, and tunes, whatever their origins, are given or already have English names.
So, if they have English titles, why would they not be incorporated into English tradition, and vice versa?
Edited by - Tom Hanway on 06/04/2012 18:08:31
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