I have a buddy who loves to moan about how a lot of players these days feel that the old or common tunes are beneath them. I tend to agree with him. I know plenty of players who roll their eyes when someone rolls out a chestnut. I know water seeks its own level & players like to challenge themselves, but aren't sessions are supposed to be social events? I know that we all have our select tunes that we could die happily without ever hearing again - but that list really shouldn't be too long. Often times, I have to say that after hearing the latest tune, I usually think, "The old tunes are the best"
Agreed, I often think it is a case of familiarity breeding contempt - sloppiness in the playing of the tune 'because I can't be ars*d' spoiling the essential quality of the tune.
Ain't it nice when you can find something 'new' in a tune? It's not what you play but how you play it.
Is DeDannan your thing by any chance fiddleruairi?
I like heaps of older common tunes, I like heaps of modern newer tunes. It seems somehow that it is not ok to be like that. On this site I get nothing but grief for liking new tunes. Is there perhaps an AA type group for people who like modern tunes?
Hand me down the tackle is one of my all time favourite tunes - as is The morning Dew as is The Otters holt as is a million others.
I hope so, bb. There are some truly naff tunes in the world, old and new, but there are many more good ones, old and new. The best sessions have a healthy combination of both: they don't beat the old war horses to death, but they do let them out of the stable for a wee romp alongside the new young thoroughbreds.
I like like tunes in general... both old and new. Two things can attract me to a tune:
1) If it sounds good
2) How well it is played
They kind of go together... but you can usually pick a good tune when anyone plays it. I'm not usually into tricky tunes... but they can be immensly fun sometimes.
I believe good old tunes will never go out of fashion unlike recently mass-produced ear catching tunes. As Harry Bradley writes: "A good old tune will never age as fast as a bad new one!"
Bradley's right, for a very simple reason: the old tunes have been around long enough for the bad ones - most of them - to get sloughed off. The good ones, we still play.
I think there's a more interesting reason, though, and that's that the folk process is a very good editor. The tunes just get better as they're learned, because when you pick them up through session playing, you get the core of the tune, the bits that stay the same from one playing to the next. The rest gets left behind, and good riddance. Imagine what any of the great old tunes would sound like if we thought that all of the ornaments that were played on one occasion years ago were part of the tune - that's the way most people play contemporary tunes, as close to the recorded version as they can manage.
The thing a lot of tradheads dont cop on to is that many of the 'new' tunes have been around for years in collections or on old recordings and then get a new lease of life on contempary albums.
The best test for a new(ly composed) tune is does the melody stick in your head so you find yourself humming phrases 2 hours later or is it just a random collection of notes put together in 4/4 or 6/8 with 2 A,s and 2 B.s.
In my opinion one of the best albums of 'old' or 'common' tunes is the Arcady CD which Johnny Ringo made as a tribute to the great music and musicians of the sixties and seventies. The one with Niamh Parsons, Conor Keane, Patsy Broderick et al.
To conclude, I enjoy a huge variety of old and new tunes and it definitely about the way you play em!
I agree with Mad Baloney. I was recently at the ICONs festival in Canton, MA, and one of the high points was listing to Winnie Horan, Sean Smith (I think that is his name, the red haired kid from Lunasa) and Tommy McCarthy play a performance almost entirely consisting of standard tunes; Sligo Maid, Munster Buttermilk, Connaughtman's Rambles, even the Harvest Home for goodness sakes. There was no accompaniment to distract us, and we had a great place to listen from. It was great to hear the players adjust to each other's settings, play around the edges, occasionally harmonize, and basically have fun with the tunes. A good player knows how to make old things fresh, doesn't need new tunes to sound new.
The Old Tunes
The Old Tunes
I have a buddy who loves to moan about how a lot of players these days feel that the old or common tunes are beneath them. I tend to agree with him. I know plenty of players who roll their eyes when someone rolls out a chestnut. I know water seeks its own level & players like to challenge themselves, but aren't sessions are supposed to be social events? I know that we all have our select tunes that we could die happily without ever hearing again - but that list really shouldn't be too long. Often times, I have to say that after hearing the latest tune, I usually think, "The old tunes are the best"
# Posted on September 16th 2008 by Mad Baloney
Re: The Old Tunes
Agreed, I often think it is a case of familiarity breeding contempt - sloppiness in the playing of the tune 'because I can't be ars*d' spoiling the essential quality of the tune.
Ain't it nice when you can find something 'new' in a tune? It's not what you play but how you play it.
# Posted on September 16th 2008 by john knoss
Re: The Old Tunes
Im 21 and i think the old ones are best, but there of course new ones that stand out and old ones that are bad aswell, but just to compare.
Good Old Ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFTbrxTbwfQ
Good New Ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SoO-mACx1U
Thats my interpretation of good tunes.
# Posted on September 16th 2008 by fiddleruairi
Re: The Old Tunes
Is DeDannan your thing by any chance fiddleruairi?
I like heaps of older common tunes, I like heaps of modern newer tunes. It seems somehow that it is not ok to be like that. On this site I get nothing but grief for liking new tunes. Is there perhaps an AA type group for people who like modern tunes?
Hand me down the tackle is one of my all time favourite tunes - as is The morning Dew as is The Otters holt as is a million others.
# Posted on September 16th 2008 by bb
Re: The Old Tunes
I hope so, bb. There are some truly naff tunes in the world, old and new, but there are many more good ones, old and new. The best sessions have a healthy combination of both: they don't beat the old war horses to death, but they do let them out of the stable for a wee romp alongside the new young thoroughbreds.
# Posted on September 16th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: The Old Tunes
Haha... I meant to type colts and fillies. Not sure what I meant by thoroughbred, other than that some new tunes can be quite daft.
Oh, dear, these metaphors seem to be running away with me!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: The Old Tunes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ygd5aprnY&feature=related
Nice new tunes
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by bb
Re: The Old Tunes
Wow, it really *is* a matter of personal taste, isn't it? I would run a mile from that.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: The Old Tunes
I like listening to Beoga -- they are very good musicians -- but I'd never actually sit down and learn to play those tunes!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: The Old Tunes
I would run a mile from heaps of things - but amazing musicianship is not one of those.
I like this very much however
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojpy8yYTU6w
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by bb
Re: The Old Tunes
I wouldnt run a mile from this session. Especially from 1:28 onwards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u9Lnhlfhzk
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by bb
Re: The Old Tunes
you know me too well bb! lol.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by fiddleruairi
Re: The Old Tunes
That first one is hilarious, bb!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by TheSilverSpear
Re: The Old Tunes
You make me laugh bb. I like it. There was I thinking I'd be running a mile heaps before 1:28
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: The Old Tunes
I like like tunes in general... both old and new. Two things can attract me to a tune:
1) If it sounds good
2) How well it is played
They kind of go together... but you can usually pick a good tune when anyone plays it. I'm not usually into tricky tunes... but they can be immensly fun sometimes.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by davydd
Re: The Old Tunes
"Immensely" (SP)
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by davydd
Re: The Old Tunes
Oww! my eyes!... I mean ears!!! LMAO
The first was bit funny. But I couldn't finish it.
The second was great!
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Fishmonger
Re: The Old Tunes
I believe good old tunes will never go out of fashion unlike recently mass-produced ear catching tunes. As Harry Bradley writes: "A good old tune will never age as fast as a bad new one!"
Time will tell.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by slainte
Re: The Old Tunes
Bradley's right, for a very simple reason: the old tunes have been around long enough for the bad ones - most of them - to get sloughed off. The good ones, we still play.
I think there's a more interesting reason, though, and that's that the folk process is a very good editor. The tunes just get better as they're learned, because when you pick them up through session playing, you get the core of the tune, the bits that stay the same from one playing to the next. The rest gets left behind, and good riddance. Imagine what any of the great old tunes would sound like if we thought that all of the ornaments that were played on one occasion years ago were part of the tune - that's the way most people play contemporary tunes, as close to the recorded version as they can manage.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: The Old Tunes
Yeah, we've had that Shand vs 50c thing a couple of times before. It's OK ... but it made me want to hear some of Jimmy. I really like this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3hAtxZXNrA
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: The Old Tunes
It's also very important to note that tunes don't get better with age.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: The Old Tunes
Ha! Good one, Michael.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: The Old Tunes
though the more you play them, the better they get
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by llig leahcim
Re: The Old Tunes
Also good.
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by benhall.1
Re: The Old Tunes
No bad tunes, just bad settings!
Ask not what the tune does for you. What can you do for the tune?
# Posted on September 17th 2008 by SWFL Fiddler
Re: The Old Tunes
"though the more you play them, the better they get"
Depends who's playing them.
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by ragaman
Re: The Old Tunes
The thing a lot of tradheads dont cop on to is that many of the 'new' tunes have been around for years in collections or on old recordings and then get a new lease of life on contempary albums.
The best test for a new(ly composed) tune is does the melody stick in your head so you find yourself humming phrases 2 hours later or is it just a random collection of notes put together in 4/4 or 6/8 with 2 A,s and 2 B.s.
In my opinion one of the best albums of 'old' or 'common' tunes is the Arcady CD which Johnny Ringo made as a tribute to the great music and musicians of the sixties and seventies. The one with Niamh Parsons, Conor Keane, Patsy Broderick et al.
To conclude, I enjoy a huge variety of old and new tunes and it definitely about the way you play em!
# Posted on September 18th 2008 by banjoburger
Re: The Old Tunes
I agree with Mad Baloney. I was recently at the ICONs festival in Canton, MA, and one of the high points was listing to Winnie Horan, Sean Smith (I think that is his name, the red haired kid from Lunasa) and Tommy McCarthy play a performance almost entirely consisting of standard tunes; Sligo Maid, Munster Buttermilk, Connaughtman's Rambles, even the Harvest Home for goodness sakes. There was no accompaniment to distract us, and we had a great place to listen from. It was great to hear the players adjust to each other's settings, play around the edges, occasionally harmonize, and basically have fun with the tunes. A good player knows how to make old things fresh, doesn't need new tunes to sound new.
# Posted on September 19th 2008 by AlBrown