Technique: Speed Limit

A good quote from a friend of Brad Hurley, related by Brad on the Chiff and Fipple flute forum:

...playing good tunes too fast is "like roller-skating through the Louvre."

Isn't that the truth? I love Altan, but sometimes they play stuff incredibly fast. For example, I much prefer Matt Molloy's version of Drowsy Maggie to Altan's, mostly because of the more relaxed pace in Malloy's recording. (They play somewhat different versions of the tune, but it's really the pacing which makes the biggest difference to me.)

Some tunes sound really good played quickly, though. I really like Altan's "Tommy Peoples" set on Local Ground. "Harvest Home" and "John Ryan's Polka" also sound good when played really fast, I think.

Practice: Listening Speed

People tend to discuss the speed at which they play dance music quite a bit, but lately I've been thinking about the speed at which I can listen.

Before I started learning to play the whistle a lot of dance music sounded like a blur to me. It was too fast for my mind to follow. Learning about different rhythm types helped a lot since I could follow the structure of the tune. So did counting reels in cut time.

But more than anything it seems to be a matter of practice. I'm learning to "listen quickly." The more active listening I do, the better I can follow fast tunes, and the more satisfying the listening becomes for me.