Re: Tune tinkering/Performance Practices
Barbara G Jacob-Mcdowell (bj00+@andrew.cmu.edu)
Tue, 22 Oct 1996 18:25:21 -0400 (EDT)
Nelson and John make good points, but I'm coming from a different
perspective.
I was probably the ONLY kid in my 1960s high school who did not own
a transistor radio. My parents had a radio in the kitchen, so we could
hear the weather during breakfast in the morning, and vitally important
info such as school closings 8^)...and had a radio in the record player
cabinet they had gotten when they were married in 1935, which was rarely
turned on. The Christmas I was 12, after my dad's biggest promotion, I
was given a mono record player--but it was made clear to me that it was
really to replace the 1935 one, for the whole family's use, and I felt
it was unfair...so i boycotted it by hardly ever playing anything on it.
I bought books, not records, as my first priority for spending my money.
I did not go to concerts; I did not hear pop or rock & roll music as my
contemporaries did.
If this sounds bleak, it really wasn't--I wasn't deprived of music
at all! I heard and sang it at church, at Scouts, at Opera Festival and
music class and Chorus at school, from the records the rest of the
family played--folk music, show tunes, Mitch Miller, some classical
instrumental music--, on TV. We always listened to specials of things
like the Bell Telephone Hour, and it really is surprising to think now
of all the classical/operatic/jazz/other kinds of music I first
encountered sitting on the floor in front of the TV during Ed Sullivan
and other variety shows. I just didn't get much exposure beyond that to
what's commonly called pop music.
Unlike my husband, I cannot tell you who or which band made a
particular rock & roll song popular. I have no idea. I'll recognize that
I've heard it before, I may even recall where I was when I did first
hear it. Its name? Who did it? I have no idea, usually.
In college and grad school, I was so busy scraping the money
together to stay in or get back into school that I didn't buy records or
go to concerts (unless they were free). But I still sang in choirs and
choruses, and enjoyed the music my friends played on their stereos.
It is a delight, now, as an adult (and having a bit more money) to
be able to buy and play tapes and CDs. The absolute nicest thing in a
personal sense about the new Mac I use at work (despite it and the PC on
my desk taking up so much room between them that any hardcopy I am
working from on them must be held on my lap) is that the Mac has the
capability of playing CDs! WOW! While I am trying very hard not to drive
my co-workers nuts, it is very nice to be able to play harp music at
least an hour a day there. It's soothing to everyone else. It helps me
keep my dream of being a better harper on track, because it helps me get
the music into my subconscious memory, so when I *am* good enough to
play some of the music I'm hearing, I will be able to draw on that. I
want very much to someday sound *something* like the harper/ists I
listen to. And not being very good at rhythmic things, it helps to know,
through repetition, what a strathspey and jig and reel sound like. When
I read Sue's explanation a while ago, about strathspeys, I made sure to
play her *Hazel Grove* CD several times, noting which track she had
mentioned, and that made it clearer. God knows when I actually get to
start flailing away at a strathspey myself, but when I do, I'll have a
better idea of what to aim for.
Yes, we do spend too much time passively spectating, and not just
with recorded music--but my rant on team sports is another whole thread,
if not for another list!
One thing that's been on my mind a lot lately is when I will be able
to play something as part of my gigs--I want to combine the telling with
my harp, as I've said before. But at the Ligonier Games, it dawned on me
that maybe I'm waiting too long. I mean, okay, I don't have to be able
to play the whole Pachibal canon PLUS all of O'Carolan's tunes PLUS all
of Sylvia's Brandiswere music (at the rate I'm going, that'll be well
into the 21st century, if ever!) before I can take my harp with me to a
gig. If I can play a few things passably well, and reasonably combine
them with my stories, then I can and should do it. BECAUSE (before you
start flaming me for low standards) isn't one of the important things we
do exposing people to the harp? I love demoing mine! I just get the
biggest kick out of seeing the expression on the face of some moppet or
older person when they pluck a few strings after I show them how to hold
their hands. I sat for half an hour last month, just playing some finger
exercises straight out of the Friou book, and The Chimes, while I
babysat someone else's Webster, and talked to people about how great the
Celtic harp is. It was so exciting! If I wait to play perfectly, I'll
never do it. I know, I'm rambling off-topic, but this is something on my
mind. Can we start a thread on hmmmm, harps in the schools? Wasn't there
a program about that at one time? Does it still exist?
This isn't to say that I'm not going to be sweating gumballs when I
*do* play my harp at a gig, because I have and I will!
Sorry to run on so long....but this struck a chord. (oh, dear....)
--Barra