Everything comes full circle and I’m reminded of that more often than not. Take for example, bell-bottoms and leg warmers. Who would have thought they’d be cool twice in my life-time? Or platform shoes, of which I’m still afraid to walk in.
Even when it comes to my writing. I come up with an idea, I start writing. I take my words in another direction (maybe a few) yet I always end up writing about my original concept. Coming full circle.
For the last 4-5 months, I’ve been learning various other genres of music on my fiddle other than Irish music. I’ve been practicing some jazz, blues, folk and everything under the sun except for Irish music. It was not intentional. I was taking a class and Irish music was just not on the syllabus. I’ve also been participating in drum workshops and dance workshops that are completely unrelated to Irish music.
Though I enjoy all these activities and learning new genres of music and different ways to express myself, I seem to always revert back to playing Irish tunes.
I remember once when I was learning to snowboard. I took a few weeks off and learned to telemark ski. When I went back to snowboarding, for some reason, it seemed that much sweeter.
Today I sat down and learned a new Donegal tune (thanks Caoimhin). It’s been over 5 months since I learned an Irish tune. Listening to the tune, I realized just how much I love this music. And even though I continue to study other genres, I find my home base is always in traditional Irish tunes. And I believe by veering off and practicing other genres will eventually make me a stronger Irish player.
I’m not sure why I keep coming back to this music. Maybe it’s because it’s one of the first genres I learned on the fiddle. Maybe it’s because the music is so poignant it’s hard to detach myself. Or maybe it’s because like everything else, it just comes full circle.
Session Obsession 