I’ve recently taken up the fiddle and have been mostly learning from the Matt Cranitch book+Cd mixed with few lessons. Most of my listening, and what got me interested, has been done at local sessions. I have got a couple of ITM compilations and a Danu album but thats pretty much it!!! I’d really appreciate some ideas about what to listen to. I’d like to be inspired, entertained and mostly listen something my wife won’t make me switch off!!!!! Any ideas?
What kind of music does your wife like?
Something which easily accompanies the cries of demanding children.
listen to flutes and pipes, not just fiddles
Listen to banjos too …. (runs off)
There are nice-sounding (i.e., modern, well recorded, easy for newbies to listen to) albums by Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Dervish, Altan, Solas, Lunasa, and many others.
Listen to concertina and C#/D box too.
For fiddle players, I would suggest Michael Coleman, Andy McGann, Seamus Connolly, Martin Hayes, Tommy Peoples, Brian Conway, Liz Carroll, Kevin Burke, and any others really. Those are some of the best and probably many of the easiest to find. Also bands such as Teada, Lunasa, Dervish, Danu, Solas, Altan, The Bothy Band, DeDanaan, and Planxty for some variety in instruments. But listen to other instruments, too. Get some flute, pipes, or accordian albums and listen to those as well. It’s all the same music and you might learn a bit about some different styles.
This lives in the car cd:
https://thesession.org/recordings/208
Anything by De Dannan that you can get hold of will showcase plenty of good fiddling by Frankie Gavin. Mind, if I remember rightly a lot of it’s jacked up a semitone from the normal keys.
Altan, sure, and also Sharon Shannon’s albums which have a lot of fiddle and are IMO a cheerful groove though they do feature some cringe-inducing novelty tracks.
Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell is a surprisingly good fiddler as well, and again there’ll be a fair amount of fiddle on any of her albums, with slow tunes as well as faster ones to try out.
I second the advice to listen to plenty of other instruments; it encourages lateral thinking and shows the extent to which a tune can show quite a different character from one instrument / pair of hands to another, while remaining the same tune.
While on a long car trip, my sister (a fan of pop music) rally enjoyed Blue Idol by Altan. But she vetoed Tribute to Joe Cooley in about 30 seconds. Just not enough slick production to suit her. Remember--baby steps!
Thanks everyone thats the next few birthdays sorted out.
Listen to anything played on harmonica. It’ll do you good to see how so many people struggle and it will fill you with even greater fortitude.
James Kelly, Brian Conway, Andy McGann, John McEvoy, Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran, James Morrison, Willie Kelly, James Cullinan, Tony Linanne, Conor McEvoy (saw footage on youtube. search for “temple bar trad”. superb and surprisingly young fiddler to play as he does). There are more but I’m at work and I don’t do my best thinking here :P
Warning: My taste may be very different than your wife’s. The players I’ve listed are some of the greatest exponents of Irish fiddling there are.
Buddy MacMaster, Seamus Connelly, Pete Clark, Aly Bain, Catriona MacDonald (she has a spectacular new CD out; be prepared for “different,” but it’s truly amazing), J.P. Cormier, Pierre Schryer.
Those will take you a little further around the fiddling world.
After you listen to the fiddlers go & find some uilleann pipers ~
Cillian Vallely, Liam O’Flynn, Leo Rowsome.
Flute ~ I would know where to start Cathal McConnell, Seamus Tansey . . .
Pardon . . . I would “not” know where to begin . . .
Crehan, Casey, Cunny, etc: http://www.rte.ie/radio1/ceilihouse/rams/7august.ram
Glackin, Molloy, Carty, etc: http://www.rte.ie/tv/thefullset/index.html
Comhaltas Live: http://comhaltas.ie/music/archive/C62
And be sure to check this list: http://www.claddaghrecords.com/www/categories.asp?cid=43