Horses for Courses?

We all know that Brain Surgeons & Rocket Scientists need to be brainy dudes, athletes need to be super fit, Ballet Dancers need to be fit & bendy & weight lifters need to be very, very strong, but what about Traditional Musicians?

Here, for example, is the Physique you must have to be able to play the Uilleann Pipes for hours on end:

http://www.naturalfitnesstrainers.com/membersarea/guide.htm

& here are the twisted, warped hands of someone who has struggled with the brutes for a lifetime:
http://www.edcampbell.com/Variations_in_shape.htm

I suspect this ‘Water Hand’ is the hand of a fiddle player, or more probably a flute player, with the long slender fingers to cope with the stretch, plus, we all know how much saliva those guys produce in a nights session:
http://www.edcampbell.com/Water_Hand-A.htm

While this ‘Earth Hand’ may well be the short stumpy fingers of a Spoons or Bodhran player:
http://www.edcampbell.com/Earth_Hand.htm

This ‘Air Hand’ is of course, with the short-ish stumpy-ish fingers, the hand of a whistle player:
http://www.edcampbell.com/Air_Hand.htm

& finally, the ‘Fire Hand’ surely belongs to Mandolin & Banjo players:
http://www.edcampbell.com/Fire_Hand.htm

Now, that said, could experts on their own instrument & with an ‘intimate’ knowledge of the anatomy of other players of their instrument, (🙂) please tell us what special physical or mental attributes are required to play their instrument of choice?

I know, for example, that a Banjo player also needs to sit bolt upright, like he has a pole inserted - where the sun don’t shine - to get the right posture!

Any other ideas?

Em…Ptarmigan…it’s “condensation”…NOT saliva. I’ve been corrected myself after going mental when a flutey type dribbled spit, I mean condensation, on my leg. (smirk)

Ah Ha! - CK That’s just what I’m looking for! You said - “….when a flutey type dribbled spit….” - So what is that type, that flutey type? That is the question.

Can you describe or define what exactly a ‘flutey type’ is?

Someone once described most flute players as having long pointed noses!
Could this be a trait of flooty tooters?
Come guys ’n gals who toot, look in the mirror, & be honest!
Check out the old proboscis.

Where are the horses? The headline promised horses, damn it.

Violinists have perpetual hickies on their necks from “fiddling around”.

is there some defining characteristic of anybody who plays this stuff at all, d’you suppose?

We all have access to a computer and know how to get to thesession.org?

Sorry Q, will this do?

dmarie, what a strange idea! In fact this is how Hickeys are made:

The scientific term for “hickeys” is ecchymosis from the Greek “ek” for out and “khumos” for juice, in other words to suck the juice out of your neck or more medically speaking to extravasate blood. Indeed a hickey is nothing else than a bruise! Bruises are caused by ruptures of capillary blood vessels in the subcutaneous tissue. The extravasated blood pools into the surrounding tissues and cause the typical purple/red discoloration of the skin. The breaking of the blood vessels may be caused by a variety of physical abuses to the skin (bumping into an object, falling, strangling, etc…) but in the case of hickeys, the damage is created by the vacuum applied to the neck or other parts of the body by the lips and mouth of the hickey donor.

Note that hickeys are more likely to occur in areas where the skin is thin (and hence capillaries are closer to the surface) such as the neck or medial aspect of the arm or the abdomen. Areas such as the back or thighs benefit from a thicker epidermis and hence are much less susceptible to vacuum-caused ecchymoses.

Bet you always wanted to know that, dmarie? 😀

“is there some defining characteristic of anybody who plays this stuff at all, d’you suppose?” - em..er…..well, that’s actually the question ( very serious, scientific one too (🙂) that’s been posed here! 🙂

“We all have access to a computer and know how to get to thesession.org?” - Aye John, but what about all those poor, lost souls who have never even heard of this hole-in-the-wall resort!

Sorry Q, here it is, as promised, promised:

http://www.plfmorgans.com/promised_land_farm_001.htm

Mandolinists have to be gentle, patient creatures because every time they takeir instrument out they are asked whether it has shrunk in the wash.

That should say “take their instrument out”

Hey Gallpoede, if you think your Mandolin is “takier” take a look at this lot - some of the most tacky looking instruments I’ve ever seen:

http://inersouster.blogspot.com/

We bass players also need the patience of the aforementined mandolists because we are constantly being asked, “don’tcha wish ya played the piccolo?”

Har, har, har…


The other requirements are a strong back and a roomy car that can squeeze into a small spot near the stage door.

Sorry….mandolinists…

“The other requirements are a strong back . . .”

Why is that most pedal harp players are some little slip of a girl?

KFG

Not only do small girls love big instruments – they also love huge animals, like horses……

PA players need no patience - they take great delight in having the biggest, loudest, fastest machine in the sesh.
They also have one arm longer than the other from carrying their mighty wurlitzer around.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/brackenrigg/gw_pov.jpg

I have been told by an old timer, who will remain nameless since I don’t want to name drop (but trust me, a reliable source) that back in the days before amplifiers, accordions were made with up to 8 (!) reeds, and you could tell the box players because they had arms and chests built like lumberjacks.

…and that reminds me of the old saying among bass players- the story goes that the audition standards long ago were quite different than today. If you could get through the doorway without bumping the sides, you got the gig.

Aye Al, here’s that old favourite song about the ‘Accordion Players’ 😉 :

http://humor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.mwscomp.com/sound.html

ooops! Slide down to *.mp3 files: & click on - Lumberjack Song (594 KB)

Surely the defining featur of a Traditional Musician is the Magnificent Beard.

Without it you are but a pale imitation.

The beardless are only playing at playing traditional music.