March 31, 2005 at 10:14 PM

Ah, the joy of music for music's sake.

Last night was the weekly Irish session at a local tavern -- which I don't get to weekly at all. It was the first session I'd been to in over a month, actually, since I'd been rehearsing and performing instead.

What a lovely, relaxing time it was! Four fiddles, a bagpipe, three guitars, a bodhran and finally a double bass. Mostly new tunes to me, though I can pick them up pretty well -- by the tenth repetition or so, I'm going along with the rest of 'em. And we all were in the same boat, knowing some tunes and learning others.

It's not too hard to learn a tune from another fiddler -- you can watch their fingers, and it's easy to hear where the open strings are. It's not so easy to learn from a bagpipe! Yet, after getting used to the sonority and distinct ornamentation style, I found it surprisingly clear.

The fact that we played pretty slow helped, too. The St. Paddy's Day gig we did, we didn't playing anything slower than 120bpm! This session was quite a bit more relaxed, probably about 106 or so. On the tunes that I know, it was hard to keep the tempo down, though. I'll have to work on that, so they don't run away with me!

Unfortunately, I'm more of a morning person and I work at 8am, so I always end up leaving these things early. I fell into bed when I got home at 11. I'd have stayed there all night if I'd had a ride home!

From Jessica Smith
Posted on April 1, 2005 at 4:52 AM

That sounds really fun!

From Patty Rutins
Posted on April 1, 2005 at 4:06 PM

I highly recommend it. :)

From Magdalena Czajkowski
Posted on April 2, 2005 at 1:47 AM

I am looking for music sheets which I need for audition. I cant find Shostakovich -symphony No 5, Mvt 1 -for violin.Please e mail me if you can help me. Thanks.
jasiek123@comcast.net

From Inna Langerman
Posted on April 2, 2005 at 6:12 AM

hehe...NICE!!^_^

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March 31, 2005 at 10:14 PM

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