Lessons Learned at Lark Camp 2003

Personal notes by Jaya R. Carl taken during classes at the Lark in the Morning World Music & Dance Celebration 2003, August 1 - 9, 2003, Mendocino, California. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not neccesarily reflect the views of the instructors, Lark Camp or our sponsors. All errors and omissions are my sole responsibility. The words are mine and not neccesarily the instructor's unless quoted.

Bodhrán Class ― Steve Forman

www.Tambourine.net

I learned a lot. And I practiced for an hour or more every day. The most fun was the 10 minutes when we all just played our drums together on the last day of the advanced class. Having Tim Hart join this last class was cool, he played tunes on his wooden whistle with Steve on bodhrán.

Below are notes on various topics from the bodhrán classes.

• Play what you hear! Not what you can play.
• Articulated triplet (as oppossed to the top stick triplet)
  • Articulated triplet is used when you want to hear all 3 strokes and/or when playing the high register.
  • Articulated triple is [Down, (up), Down, Up]. (The (up) is where the top stick stroke would be in a top stick tri-pul-let, played softly.)
  • Do it the natural way (start with a down stroke) then practice it the other way (start with an up stroke). [Down, (up), Down, Up] vs [Up, (down), Up, Down]
  • Triplet is commonly inserted in two places;
    1. triplet accent on the down beat [Down, (up), Down, Up] or
    2. accent is on the end of the triplet, on the down beat [Down, (up), Down, Up],
• Any rhythm that fits over 4 beats may be played 8 ways. This is done by shifting the phrase 1/8 note to get the next variation. For Example, here we used red, blue and green to show accents [triplet, triplet, duplet].
  1. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  2. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  3. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  4. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  5. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  6. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  7. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
  8. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
• Write out exercises like the one above. It helps you to practice the same thing day after day. If you don't repeat your practice sessions you will not make any progress, always plowing new ground and all that.
• Polka ― All down stroke 1/8 notes. [mute, open, open, open | open, mute, open, mute | open, mute, open, mute | open, rest, rest, rest] ???
• Slide and Jig are mechanically similar.
• Hornpipes and slides lie between tertiary and binary beats.
• Practice along with recordings. Much more interesting than using a metronome.
• From time to time record yourself playing with recordings. Listen to the playback.

Musicality

• Maintain the frame of the piece but vary the shape or density.
• Drum characteristics you have to work with;
  • shape
  • density
  • volume, dynamics
  • pitch
  • open vs muted
  • juxtiposition
  • tipper style
• Relax on the syncopated beats.
• Care where you start and stop.
• Play what you hear!
• Learn the tunes.

Session Etiquette

• Basic social manners.
• Only one drum plays at a time in a small session.
• Follow the music.
• The most profound thing you can play on a Bodhrán is silence.
• Practice. All the other musicians have spent many years practicing their instruments to be able to play. If you don't have the same level of commitment then respect them and listen, don't play like a hack.
• Warm up before playing.
• Play what you hear, not what you can play.
• Care where you start and stop. Come in solid at the first bar on the A or the B part. If you miss the train catch it at the beginning of the next tune in the set.
• In big sessions you can't hear the people on the other side so don't try to play for them. Play with the 2 or 3 people next to you, your own private session within the whole.
• Common sense and basic social manners.

Flute Class ― John Skelton

An Interview with John Skelton

• Attack the beginning of the A part. You want to come in with confidence and a sense of purpose. Nothing worse than a whistle timidly sneaking in after the tune has started, they don't know the tune well enough so they are not blowing hard enough causing them to be flat (rant given at lunch by a mandolin player).
• Accent the first note with a strong attack, whistle players careful not to over blow and get the octave, give it some punch. An ornament might do the trick as well.
• Don't over blow in a attempt to be heard. Go for a good tone.
• Best to play in session of two or three people. Big sessions are fun but not very if you want to hear yourself.
• We tend to mix up speed with excitement.
  How do you stop yourself from playing too fast?
  • Build in speed bumps i.e., triplets that take time to play. Then when you get going to fast and you can't play the triplet you know it is time to slow down.
  • Put the speed bumps early in the A part, so you hit them before it is to late. Good trick for tunes that start with quarter notes the speed up, play a triplet instead of a quarter note.
  • Remember, if you want to make money then speed × volume = applause.
  • Use your body motion for pacing. Rocking the body or moving the head are very effective at showing you that pace is to fast.
• Keep going back to the first tunes you learned. Find new meaning and interpretations in them.
• Practice the tunes that everyone knows. It doesn't do you any good to know a lot of tunes if you can't find anyone else to play them with you.

Shakuhachi Class ― Phil Gelb

www.PhilipGelb.com
www.BayAreaShakuhachi.com

The following are thoughts, ideas and lessons that came to me either in class or talking to Phil at other times. He gave an awesome concert on Tuesday night, make sure you catch it next year!

• Warm up with long long notes.
• Attack the note, atari, then diminish. Like a bell ringing away into silence. A basic shakuhachi technique that is most impractical on a whistle. However, I found the exercise on whistle rewarding in spite of the fact that it sounds awful through most of the dynamic range.
• Hold a note as long as you can. Retain breath for two seconds before inhaling.
• Shakuhachi players never use the tougue to delineate notes. They do use cuts and strikes (but don't call them that).
• Play the interval from each note to all the other notes. Part of your warm up.
• Play scales with octave jumps.
• Each practice session work on something that you are not able to do. Do this for exactly five minutes. Continue every session until you master the difficult technique or phrase. Best time is 3/4 into the practice session, you are warmed up and not tired yet.
• Stop playing when you get tired. In the beginning you will only practice a few minutes before embouchure fatigues. This also mean practice until you are tired, don't stop until you are done.
• Shakuhachi is held lightly with the right pinky, right thumb and lower lip. These fingers do not cover any holes. This translates to the whistle quite well. I have started holding my whistle like this and it really helps keep the instrument under control and the fingers over the holes.
• Practice hand exercises for finger dexterity.
• Improvise for a few minutes each practice session.

Whistle Class ― Tim Hart

www.TimHartCommunications.com

• Talked about various brands of whistles. I think I'll look for a nickle silver whistle.
• I don't think there is a better low-D whisle than my Ian Lambe.
• How to you keep from getting so shrill on the high notes, especially when the tune starts at the top of the 2nd register? Take The Cliffs of Moher, starts on a high-A; instead of playing the note for its full value cut it off or add an ornament. That way people hear the note, it registers, but isn't there long enough to get on their nerves. The brain will fill in the silence.
• Warm up with long notes
• You need to warm up, fingers included.

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