Tennessee Tom - Posted - 09/06/2008:  05:40:21

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Could anyone give some good recorded examples of grace notes and applicable advice on how to play them? They show up quite a lot in the sheet music of Irish tunes.

It would be especially appreciated if anyone could record a note for note example out of Ryan's Mammoth Collection or Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddler. Each of those books has plenty of tunes with plenty of grace notes.

Regards,
Tom

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Edited by - Tennessee Tom on 09/06/2008 06:03:56

telln - Posted - 09/06/2008:  06:35:18

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Try www.dearoldillinois.com There is a section on instructuin that shows various ornaments, how they are written and has a sound file. Grace notes is one of them. It's a pretty neat website.
Telln

mikey - Posted - 09/06/2008:  06:50:31

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HI Tom,

Mel Bay's Complete Irish Fiddler comes with a CD that explains and demonstrates the ornamentation quite well.

The funny thing about ornamentation is that every style of music may vary in their methods. Having been down this road myself, the best advice I would give is to study, play, AND listen to the style of music you're attempting to learn, and do it longer than just a few weeks or a few tunes. Written notation can be deceiving if you don't understand the peculiarities of that style, and many notated tunes may not show the ornamentation at all. Quite similar to vibrato, its almost never written in.

Irish fiddle tunes are a good example of this. On page 54 of of the Complete Irish fiddler, they demonstrate how quavers are played with a lilt as opposed to the way they are commonly written. If someone has not played or listened to Irish fiddle music, they would never know this.

I'd say keep listening, playing , and get the CD for that book. Its very helpful and the tunes are not played overly fast.



MIKEY


Always Remember: You are Special and Unique...Just like Everyone Else

nofrets - Posted - 09/06/2008:  06:59:28

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The grace note and the one that follows should both be squeezed in ON the beat. It doesn't proceed the note, as standard notation might indicate. That's how I've learned them. Not to be confused with a cut. Listening is great advice, and you might need transcribe or something to slow the tunes down to really catch the ornamentation in Irish music. Good luck....

Tennessee Tom - Posted - 09/06/2008:  07:19:50

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Telln,
That page did have a pretty clear example to get the point across. Some other good stuff as well.

Mikey,
Unfortunately, I didn't get the version that came with a CD. That's probably OK, though, since I have FHO and my teacher. As far as "listening" goes, I still hope there is a virtuoso in this group who will pick a tune and record it for this occasion. That's what we do here, isn't it?

Nofrets,
Point taken on the timing.

Thanks,
Tom

bj - Posted - 09/06/2008:  07:52:26

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On one thread or another Percy had posted some links to youtube vids showing examples of different ornamentation specific to Irish. I couldn't find the thread, so you might wanna drop her a line. It was pretty good stuff.

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mikey - Posted - 09/06/2008:  09:05:56

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tennessee Tom

Mikey,
Unfortunately, I didn't get the version that came with a CD.

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The CD is sold separately, but worth the investment.

MIKEY


Always Remember: You are Special and Unique...Just like Everyone Else

VicariousLee - Posted - 11/17/2008:  13:06:28

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quote:

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Originally posted by bj

On one thread or another Percy had posted some links to youtube vids showing examples of different ornamentation specific to Irish. I couldn't find the thread, so you might wanna drop her a line. It was pretty good stuff.

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Found it:
http://www.fiddlehangout.com/forum/...OPIC_ID=4120


...And the CDs for Cooper's Complete Irish Fiddle are well worth it. Got mine last week and the book and cds make me feel likeI had a breakthrough as far as getting a good beginner's understanding for ornamentation.

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Heaven reward the man who first hit upon the very notion of sawing the inside of a cat with the tail of a horse.
- - Thomas Hood

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Edited by - VicariousLee on 11/17/2008 13:16:57