The day the music died…

May 12, 2012

This Sunday, May 13, will be the last Irish session at The Shoreham Inn. Not because of lack of interest but because it’s being shut down by an outside company who has requested money from the Inn to collect music royalties.

There are companies out there that “collect license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers and distributes them as royalties, to those members whose work has been performed,” according to the BMI website. I know a lot of musicians and composers and have yet to hear how they’re swimming in royalties they’ve received from people playing their music at a session.

As a writer and a musician, I understand the need to protect an artist’s work. We spend hours upon hours writing and rewriting and writing again. And it is work. I get it. If a song-writer writes a song, they should be paid if someone else records it. However, musicians at a session rarely get paid. A session is really just a place for musicians to come and share tunes and let others who don’t play enjoy the music. It’s community building. I would think most of the music we play is in the public domain anyway. These tunes span generations and were made to be shared.

Here is a letter sent from Paul Marangelo, the session host at The Shoreham Inn:

“The Inn was recently contacted by a music licensing/publishing company (BMI), wanting the Inn to pay a large fee to be able to continue the music, out of the chance that copyrighted music was being played.  While the premise of this request itself is absurd (would be a great April fools joke if it were not real) considering the music we play, and that no one pays to listen to or play it, apparently this is not without precedent in VT (others who organize/host sessions take notice).  Since the Inn is not in the business of music performance and needs to avoid complications such as this, they understandably asked that I pull the plug on the session.

So this Sunday is the last chance to come out to play at the session at the Shoreham Inn. Many, many thanks to all who came out over the past few years to help make it happen, and many, many thanks especially to Molly and Domenic at the Inn for hosting us – its been a wonderful and unique place for sessioning over the past few years!”

The session is from 6-8pm. Hope to see you there!

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

Why playing fiddle is much like riding a bike

April 1, 2012

A few weeks ago I got 100 miles in on my bike and 100 miles in on my fiddle. I mean with two gigs and two sessions during the St. Patrick’s Day weekend I think we can count that as miles on the fiddle don’t you? Anyway, it got me thinking that my two passions are similar in so many ways.

  • You never forget how to ride a bike. Though sometimes it’s hard to remember tunes I learned a year ago, I still remember where to place my fingers and strike my bow. It’s always a bit refreshing when I start playing again after taking some time off.
  • Practice makes perfect. I’ll never ride like Lance Armstrong just like I’ll never play like Liz Carroll but the more I ride and the more I play, the more precise I get.
  • Biking is meditative. Whether you’re riding a long ride on your bike or playing fiddle in a killer session, both can clear your mind of stress.
  • You can do it alone or in a group. It’s nice to play in a session but isn’t it also nice to rock out a few tunes in the comfort of your living room?
  • You need to build up endurance. It’s not easy to play three shows on St. Patrick’s Day without lots of practicing in between. Just like it’s not easy to ride 50 miles on your first ride of the season.

Tis the season to ride more and play more. Happy playing!

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

St. Patrick’s Day week, the festivities continue

March 15, 2012

St. Patrick’s Day week is one of my favorite weeks of the year, for obvious reasons. Not only do I usually have a handful of gigs to play at but usually some of the finest Irish musicians come out of the woodwork to share their craft. This year is no different.

There are a bunch of ‘must-see’ concerts coming up. Some, unfortunately, you’ve already missed. But here is the low-down for the rest of the week:

Thursday, March 15 (tonight)

  • 7:00 pm – Burlington based Irish band Extra Stout  at Contois Auditorium in Burlington.

Friday, March 16 

Saturday, March 17 

Sunday, March 18

There are tons of other activities and music happenings on and around St. Paddy’s Day so enjoy the music and have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

It’s never too late to try

January 26, 2012

I used to work in the violin shop. My favorite part of the job was when parents and their kids would come in and get fitted for violins, violas and cellos according to which instrument tickled their fancy.

It is a process fitting instruments to kids and families are usually in there for  more than a few minutes to say the least, leaving plenty of time to talk to the parents. More often than not, they would say, “my daughter (or son) is the musical one, I’ve never been very musical.”

This always makes me giggle because there are very few musicians who wake up one morning and realize they can play an instrument brilliantly. Most of us just spend hours upon hours practicing to get there.

I remember though, there was this one woman in particular who bought what I thought was one of the most beautiful cellos I’ve ever seen. She was buying it for her daughter who was going off to college and was just picking it up the day I was working.

While she was waiting to pick it up I said “this is the most beautiful cello, your daughter is going to love it.” She told me that her daughter was in college out of state and that she was tempted to start playing the cello herself. She always dreamed of playing but thought she was too old to pick it up now. I told her that was nonsense and that you’re never too old to learn something new. I gave her the name of a great cello teacher and encouraged her to give him a call.

Months later the same woman showed up in the shop to get a tune-up on the cello. She told me that she had taken my advice and started cello lessons. She loved her teacher and loved playing so much she was going to buy her own instrument. She also found others her age and ability to play with and though she’ll never be the next Yo Yo Ma, she was having the time of her life.

Playing music isn’t about being the best. It’s about enjoying the process. There are very few people in which music comes easy. Playing any instrument takes time, practice and perseverance. And really, anyone can do it if they have the drive. It doesn’t matter what age you are, it’ never to late to try.

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

When your memory is gone…

January 18, 2012

There isn’t one traditional musician I can think of, that knows the name of every single tune they play, never mind every tune they hear.

In the old days (you know, like  a couple of years ago) you would probably have to play a tune to your friends, family, neighbors and your friends’ family and neighbors, just to find the name of the tune.

These days, now all you have to do is to play the tune into an iPhone app called Tunepal and voila, the name of the tunes is revealed. Seriously what did we do before the iPhone?

I use my iPhone to record sessions, check my email, update my Facebook status and oh yeah, make calls. And now, I can figure out what tunes are being played by the mere click of a button. Does it get any better?

Here’s a little about the app:

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

Irish sessions – practice or performance?

January 9, 2012

Once, while waiting for a session to begin, I overheard someone at the table sitting next to me explaining to her friend what a session was. “It’s where a bunch of musicians get together and practice,” she said. Practice, hmm…Interesting observation.

If you’re an avid reader of my blog, chances are you not only know what a session is, but you get why this explanation of it is so funny.

It did get me thinking though. I may take for granted that people just know what a session is all about. But in reality, unless you’re a traditional Irish musician, you probably don’t understand the true essence of a real Irish session.

I was reminded myself this weekend at the session at Bagitos when just about every top-notch player I know showed up to share some tunes. Tunes were played with precision and with the quality of music the session could easily have been situated in the heart of Ireland. This was no practice session.

Though there are a lot of different types of sessions, the thing that always remains the same is that the hosts and musicians want to maintain a certain caliber of music. Both for the audience as well as for the players.

Yes, random musicians show up and no one ever really rehearses together. We all just sort of sit down and play tunes. So I can understand the perception of it looking like practice time.  However, there are hours and hours of practice and tune learning going on long before a session ever takes place.

Related Posts:
What is an Irish Session?
Session Obsession – Seven Days

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

2011 in review

January 2, 2012

Thanks to all who read, commented and shared my blog in 2011. I had fun writing for you and am looking forward to writing more in 2012. To receive email updates every time I post fill in your email address on the right (I won’t share your email address with anyone). Thanks for making 2011 a great year. I’m looking forward to 2012!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 3,900 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 3 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

How will you spend the new year?

December 28, 2011

Every year I resolve to not have new year’s resolutions. Most of the time it’s because I come up with resolutions that are completely unrealistic and destined to fail. You know, like practicing my scales on a daily basis, or working out every day. Yeah, not so much.

To avoid failure, I usually just promise myself not to make any promises in the new year. This has worked quite well in years past. But this year, things are a’ changin’.

This year, I’m going to make some new year’s resolutions, but only two. I’m going to write them here today so that they are on record and therefore, I will have to follow through.  Here they are. Drum roll please…

  1. I will write the first draft of that book I’ve been promising to write, pretty much most of my life. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be written.
  2. I will spend more time sharing my music. Whether its a session, a show or a street performance. I will play out more than I did in 2011. (This is a round about way of pushing myself to practice more – but hey whatever works).

So now that I have written down my new year’s resolutions. Tell me what yours are.

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

Top 10 Gifts to buy an Irish musician

December 19, 2011

With Christmas fast approaching and panic starting to set in, you may be wondering what you should buy for your fellow Irish musician as a gift this year.

Here are some ideas to help you out:

  1. Patrick Ourceau’s Live at Mona’s CD – One of my all time favorite albums. It’s a recording of a live session at Mona’s in NYC. If you listen closely you can hear people shooting pool in the background, telephone’s ringing, etc. It’s kind of like you’re there listening to it, well, live.
  2. Tickets to Lunasa for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day concert at the Flynn Center in Burlington – It should be a great show!
  3. Gift certificate to a local music shop – Strings are expensive and we’re all pretty particular about what strings we use. It’s much easier to let us pick them out ourselves.
  4. Gift certificate to iTunes – a musicians best friend.
  5. Subscription to Fiddler Magazine.
  6. Humidifier for instrument case – This is a must-have, especially in Vermont in the winter.
  7. Metronome – Heck, we could all use a timing check.
  8. Rosin – You can never have enough.
  9. Music stand – Although most traditional musicians learn tunes by ear, it’s nice to have a stand when you’re practicing your, ahem, scales.
  10. Tuner – We all sound better when we’re in tune.

I hope that helps. Have a very Merry Christmas!

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

When is a good time to quit?

December 6, 2011

Learning an instrument takes time and patience. I mean let’s face it if was easy everyone would be doing it.

There comes a time though, when you’re learning a tune and you just can’t quite grasp it. So what do you do?

Quit, I say. Just quit!

Not forever of course. Only for the moment.

Believe it or not, sometimes its better to walk away, put down your instrument, play another tune or just quit for the day. You’ll actually play it better tomorrow.

Recently NPR’s show, Radio Lab, had an episode on Sleep that confirms ‘sleeping on it’ actually helps you remember things. “Sleep helps you remember by forgetting.”

There is a limited amount of space in the brain. Every experience you have during the day uses up this space, making it difficult to focus on one thing, like, say, the tune you’re trying to learn.

During sleep, waves of electrical activity wash over your head, and over the course of the night the waves wash through the experience of the day, settling everything down.  This allows your mind to rest  and your head to be cleared so you can play better tomorrow.

So if you’re having trouble with that one elusive note, or you just can’t quite grasp the rhythm of that tune, put it down and quit for the day. You’ll be better tomorrow.

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Posted by Katrina VanTyne

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