I recently participated in my first music workshop which solely focussed on mandolin (an occurence that is really hard to come by here in Germany). My experience resembled your initial remarks about the choir: I wish people would have been a bit looser, take their eyes off the notes and tabulature. The music we created still sounded great, but my approach to learning that instrument was always to learn tunes by ear, to play along to Irish music (those mandolin heavy first bunch of Tossers albums), the occasional Bluegrass tune and of course The Dreadnoughts. I'm definately not saying that this approach is better - clearly not, as I lack the skill of being able to just look at a sheet and go - but I feel it gives you more room to enjoy your fellow musicians, helps to really listen how you blend in, instead of just being focussed on playing by the book.
100% agreed. That's kind of how all great sessions/groups do it. If too much is planned in advance and just done by rote then there is none of that listening, responding, etc. I'm sure some music PhD has a thesis on this, ha ha.
Hehehe, awesome. I‘m currently working on a bachelor thesis which has to do with using music to help with language skills and that magic you mention has occurred to me a few times as I go through the literature. Music is truly an amazing thing…when you‘re not bogged down in trying to get an Album off the ground, I guess. That being said, I hope your next tour takes through Switzerland once again!
What's funny is that it's nature vs. nurture, but not in the way you think. It's not that some people are born with musical soul and others capable of doing math (reading music), at least in my personal experience. I was taught to read and play musicl. God help us all of you asked me to solo off the cuff.
But I've left music schooling long behind, and nowadays I find myself listening to stuff and finding ways I'd tinker with it. Adding harmonies that come from God knows where. And man, is it satisfying when your brain just belches something out of your mouth and you hear it and you go "huh, that sounded okay."
Also, you're not wrong about music tapping into a completely different part of our brains. My good friend's mom had a stroke and ended up completely non-verbal before she passed. But when the visiting nurse would put on the Beatles, she would still sing along to every song. It is literally a different section of your brain from the one that provides logic and reasoning.
Village life is the best. I always shied away from it because of the curtain-twitching parochial stereotypes, but on moving to one out of necessity rather than choice, I will never go back to the city. The curtain-twitching parochialists are all in the suburbs! At least that's how it is in England, dunno about New York ... my sister spent some time in Martha Stewart Country and by her reports it's all soccer moms and Tommy Hilfiger up there.
You're so right about music being a whole different system ... I was in school orchestras and enjoyed them, but never felt the fire in my belly that 'real' musicians did. I'd take out my violin a tootle around here and there, but never kept it up properly. But after a very long hiatus last year I decided I was going to learn the violin line to Gavrilo and it really did feel like a long-dormant energy system was creaking back into life. (Also, wow, Balkan fingering patterns are very different from Celtic.)
I recently participated in my first music workshop which solely focussed on mandolin (an occurence that is really hard to come by here in Germany). My experience resembled your initial remarks about the choir: I wish people would have been a bit looser, take their eyes off the notes and tabulature. The music we created still sounded great, but my approach to learning that instrument was always to learn tunes by ear, to play along to Irish music (those mandolin heavy first bunch of Tossers albums), the occasional Bluegrass tune and of course The Dreadnoughts. I'm definately not saying that this approach is better - clearly not, as I lack the skill of being able to just look at a sheet and go - but I feel it gives you more room to enjoy your fellow musicians, helps to really listen how you blend in, instead of just being focussed on playing by the book.
100% agreed. That's kind of how all great sessions/groups do it. If too much is planned in advance and just done by rote then there is none of that listening, responding, etc. I'm sure some music PhD has a thesis on this, ha ha.
Hehehe, awesome. I‘m currently working on a bachelor thesis which has to do with using music to help with language skills and that magic you mention has occurred to me a few times as I go through the literature. Music is truly an amazing thing…when you‘re not bogged down in trying to get an Album off the ground, I guess. That being said, I hope your next tour takes through Switzerland once again!
What's funny is that it's nature vs. nurture, but not in the way you think. It's not that some people are born with musical soul and others capable of doing math (reading music), at least in my personal experience. I was taught to read and play musicl. God help us all of you asked me to solo off the cuff.
But I've left music schooling long behind, and nowadays I find myself listening to stuff and finding ways I'd tinker with it. Adding harmonies that come from God knows where. And man, is it satisfying when your brain just belches something out of your mouth and you hear it and you go "huh, that sounded okay."
Also, you're not wrong about music tapping into a completely different part of our brains. My good friend's mom had a stroke and ended up completely non-verbal before she passed. But when the visiting nurse would put on the Beatles, she would still sing along to every song. It is literally a different section of your brain from the one that provides logic and reasoning.
Village life is the best. I always shied away from it because of the curtain-twitching parochial stereotypes, but on moving to one out of necessity rather than choice, I will never go back to the city. The curtain-twitching parochialists are all in the suburbs! At least that's how it is in England, dunno about New York ... my sister spent some time in Martha Stewart Country and by her reports it's all soccer moms and Tommy Hilfiger up there.
You're so right about music being a whole different system ... I was in school orchestras and enjoyed them, but never felt the fire in my belly that 'real' musicians did. I'd take out my violin a tootle around here and there, but never kept it up properly. But after a very long hiatus last year I decided I was going to learn the violin line to Gavrilo and it really did feel like a long-dormant energy system was creaking back into life. (Also, wow, Balkan fingering patterns are very different from Celtic.)