Last night my teacher said she was off to the pub to play in a 'session' and did I want to go!!!

So off I went with my fiddle in the boot of the car under a blanket .. and ok it stayed there.

BUT.. a chap handed me an 'octave' fiddle which is a strange beast a bit like a viola but with the same strings as a fiddle just tuned down an octave. And.. although I couldn't play any of the tunes because I didn't know them (I've only been playing for six months) my teacher whispered the key to me and I joined in with the harmonies!!!!

OK I know it's not the same as playing for real but I thoroughly enjoyed it and am determined to memorise some of the tunes so I can join in properly. I just find memorising even the simple fiddle tunes really, really difficult but I hope it will come with time. And at least the bow didn't bounce about with nerves.. in fact I didn't feel nervous at all (and I was only drinking coke).

Meanwhile I can see Claudia growing a beard and drinking Guiness just like Rosfrog's fiddle

If Claudia grows a beard it will be slightly more worrisome than Hamish's

Sounds like fun. I'd love to have a try on an octave fiddle!

Well done

hi well done you
i am taking my flute to the local jamming session at the pub next month to do a simliar thing i have got to know someone in a band that has been going for years and they want to add flute to banjo mandalin bongos guitar so i am trying to learn stuff they play from their cd i am finding really hard so know just what you mean good luck for future sessions

That sounds like it was a lot fun! I hope I will get the chance to do it too one day!

Sounds good to me, Lottie!

I have 2 friends who I want to play stuff with. One is a pre-G1 piano/keyboard player and the other a rusty G2 violinist. Should be fun!

An octave fiddle sounds great! That kind of 'violin' I could happily play. He would go even lower than my Vicki, huh?

Hey that's great Don't worry too much about learning the tunes, as long as you were playing something then that's great!! ON the other hand you could get your hands on a book and try learning a few tunes, don't know if you have anything at the moment. The ones I mainly use are Pete Mac's Band Swing and Play in the Band.
Octave violin sounds cool!!

Wow! That's fantastic Lottie! There's no turning back, now, of course - you're doomed to become obsessed with learning new tunes all the time to play at the session.

I know it can also seem really daunting to think how many tunes you need to learn - but my advice is to take a little dictaphone (pref an MP3 one - I use an olympus) to the session and record the tunes. Don't use a book if you can avoid it - you can usually tell the people who have tried to learn their tunes from a book because they don't have the style and gracing down the way it should be. Get some CD's (Anna Wendy Stevenson is a great scots player as is Alisdair Fraser) and learn from there.

I think Anna Wendy also offers online teaching at Ayepod - there's a course if I remember rightly where she teaches a couple of reels and jigs and a march or two. It's around 30 pounds for access I think.
Failing that, I'll happily record some popular jigs and reels and send them to you if you like.

Enjoy! We must try to get Claudia and Hamish to play a tune together at one of the adult learner concerts!

Allan

Thanks for all the great advice Allan I'll need to get a dictaphone as my last one only plays back at double speed and that would be impossible for working out the tunes I'll try and find those CDs too. I've never heard of Ayepod but I'll google it. I'd love it if you could send me some recordings of jigs and reels - I'll PM you!

I think Claudia would love to meet Hamish - she came over all gruff and delighted when I told her(while tapping out her pipe on the back of the sofa) - how do I find out about learner concerts because that sounds like a brilliant idea. We could put together a little 'set'

I don't think we're going back to that session because it wasn't really the tunes that we want to play and the old manny that was leading it wasn't too pleased with our choices but I'm sure we'll find another session somewhere else. It's just a pity Claudia will get the pint coz I'm driving

If you twist Allan's arm I expect he'll send you one of his session recordings (I'm not an expert to tell you how good it was, but I enjoyed the one he sent me )

Se do bheatha, mo chara!

I'd definitely recommend the olympus dictaphone, though, I paid 60 euro for mine and it records twelve hours of stuff. I can then import it into my computer and, using Audacity I can slow it down without changing the pitch (although I did this loads at first, you'll soon find that you don't need to slow it down anymore). Makes learning the tunes much more manageable!

Ayepod is a great site, I've just checked it and there are currently Scots fiddling courses on offer from Anna Wendy Stevenson (excellent player), Alasdair White (fiddler with the Battlefield band - astonishing player) and Mairi Campbell (originally a singer turned violist, has a beautiful style for playing slow airs) - all worth checking out - they teach you the tunes phrase by phrase on video and then play it throught slowly a couple of times before building the tempo. Once you've learned a few tunes they put them together as sets.

Claudia and Hamish are definitely destined to meet if she taps her pipe out on the sofa! The Adult learner concerts are forum events - organised by various people on the site (KatyJay has a big part in a lot of them), you should be able to find out when the next one is by looking at the adult learner forum (we'll have to decide on a date that suits us both then we can let rip with a cool set of jigs and reels!).

It's worth changing session if it's run by people who don't like change - it's a shame when they get like that because it ultimately means the session will die out - but you'll find one that suits! A good test is to play the twisted bridge, Jenny Dang and the Ale is Dear as a set - see how that goes down, if they like it you're in a good place!

I'll wait for your pm.

Mar sin leat an-drasta!

Allan



I might just do that! Floot has been bombarded with such recordings and has, thus far, resisted the temptation to say "enough diddly diddly music, Allan"!

Spasiba flootovich!

Flootovna, 'scuse me!

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