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slackkey808
Akahai
USA
50 Posts |
 Posted - 10/12/2008 : 6:52:43 PM
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I've seen it a lot in this forum and I've been told personally by Uncle Jay that he likes my slower more nahenahe songs better than the faster songs. I'm not saying the faster songs are better than the slow ones or vice versa, I'm just wondering if anyone likes the "fun" in slack key as well as the nahenahe because for the most part, all I've seen is "their playing is so beautiful" or something to that effect. No offense to that because that stuff is good to, but you gotta be a kid once in a while (easy for me to say I guess). I was just wondering if anybody likes the "funner" songs like "Maunaloa Slack Key" or "Whee Ha Swing." To me, there's just something about songs like those that make me want to bounce around a little while I'm listening to/playing them (I'd say its as close to dancing as I'd get). So yeah again no offense to the nahenahe songs because I love those too, just wondering about other peoples feeling on more energetic songs.
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slackkey808
Akahai
USA
50 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 11:31:29 PM
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Hey Uncle Duke,
Yeah I noticed that the majority of people viewing my videos are in that age bracket. Eh about "Mauna Loa Slack," jus try anyway Uncle, it doesn't hurt to learn. To me personally, after I figured it out I couldn't stop playing it for a while (this is at school where I have no amp, no effects, no nothing, just my guitar). I had so much fun playing it in fact that I would actually bother to take the time to retune my guitar and risk breaking the strings. Of course again it's all about your preference and if you don't want to play it thats fine, all I'm asking of you Uncle is give it a shot.
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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 01:50:34 AM
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I know the feeling. You can only do so many medium/slow ones before you go to move in another direction. I am 58 but have been learning mostly faster/older songs lately (3 of the last 4) and I got more lined up.
Except for lessons, you should be playing only what you want to play anyway. Thats what makes the music good. |
Bob |
Edited by - RWD on 10/13/2008 01:51:40 AM |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 01:56:31 AM
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| I love all ki ho'alu. |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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cpatch
Ahonui
USA
2187 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 04:00:56 AM
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| Fast, slow, it doesn't matter to me...what matters is whether or not they connect on an emotional level. (Same goes for all music for that matter.) |
Craig
My goal is to be able to play as well as people think I can. |
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PearlCityBoy
Lokahi
USA
432 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 11:11:17 AM
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Hi Zack,
First off I want to thank you for posting your YouTube videos and for your input here on Taropatch. I’m just delighted that there are excellent next generation players like you carrying on the slack key tradition. Secondly, a disclaimer: I’m not a formally trained musician by any stretch of the imagination, so treat my comments as one from the backyard peanut gallery.
I think your question is a very good one. To me it’s not about whether slack key should be more nahenahe vs. more upbeat/fun. It’s really about whether I can feel the aloha in the performance. This concept may sound a bit esoteric at first, but every slack key master that I’ve had the opportunity to meet/learn from has mentioned, “I want to feel your aloha when you play.” This “aloha” element may be referred to in different ways, such as “Play from the heart (or soul),” “Play with emotion,” “I want the music to move me,” "Be more expressive," or even “Make the aunties cry.”
I’ve heard many people play the fast kine songs like “Whee Ha Swing” or “Slack Key #1” but without the aloha. What I hear is fast playing, Led pyrotechnics, often very clean, but unfortunately, no mo da heart. It leaves me lacking and disappointed. Conversely, I’ve heard technically very simple slack key instrumentals played with such emotion that I’ve been moved to tears--sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes inspirational. Music is a wonderful means of communication and expression. It can communicate emotionally in ways that oftentimes words can’t.
Another very important thing to keep in mind is knowing the meaning of the song, particularly if you’re doing an instrumental version of a song that has lyrics. I think it’s disrespectful to play a sad song, say about a losing loved one, in a playful, upbeat manner. However, in my mind it’s definitely OK, and highly encouraged, to interpret and communicate a song in your own way--i.e., make the song yours (don’t they say that on American Idol too?)--as long as you’re respectful (pono) to the meaning of the song. Through your music, I want to hear what you (the artist) have to say (i.e., the communication thing again). Finally, the cool thing about many Hawaiian songs are that they are songs about nature (wind songs, ocean songs, etc.), and it’s fun to evoke that in your playing: e.g., Ozzie’s “Paka Ua” (raindrops) sounds like rain falling.
Does any of this make any sense? Anyhow, keep up the great playing and I hope to meet you some day, maybe on Oahu when I kanikapila in the park with Duke and Jay during my next trip. Say “Hi” to Ozzie for me.
Aloha,
Doug
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braddah jay
Lokahi
235 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 2:47:35 PM
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| Howzit zack,yeah I did say I like your nahenahe songs,probably because it shows another side to your playing.Like doug said you're going to play with feelin.Don't get me wrong I like both,it's that when you played the nahenahe it touched me.As you play more and more and your song list grows,you'll see how your music will touch people,and when it does you'll see it as a gift that should be shared.Keep it up you're music is only goin to get bettah and sweetah with time.Aloha uncle jay |
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slackkey808
Akahai
USA
50 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 3:26:24 PM
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| Thanks for your responses guys. I never meant you should play slack key without feeling because as Kumu Kwan told me before in guitar class, if your not playing it with feeling he doesn't consider it truly slack key even though technically thats what your doing. I guess I may have misinterpreted some responses about the "beauty" of it and everything, but I still stand by saying that the faster songs aren't mentioned as much. |
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RJS
Ha`aha`a
1635 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 4:07:50 PM
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Some of focusing on nahenahe may also be due to accidents of culture. A good many of us on this board did not grow up in Hawaiian culture and consequently many of the songs which depend on lyrics for their double meanings, etc, go over our heads. Many of us have come to slack key when we were already in the second half of our lives, and tastes and interests change as you get older. If by "fun" songs you primarily mean up tempo songs, well probably most of us know a few and those of us who play either professionally or semi pro certainly know enough to keep a set interesting.
Personally, I took up guitar when I was 50. At that point I already knew that I would physically not be able to get to the proficiency level I would need to do the kind of playing that, say, Led does so well. It's a question of knowing your limits and working within them. Our neurology largely does set the parameters for what we do in life. So, rather than play up tempo stuff in a mediocre fashion, I would rather focus on repetoire that I can play really well. Besides, you can get some really interesting swing in a slower tempo piece, as in, for example, Jeff's Slack Key Jazz. |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 7:21:33 PM
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Dunno--Despite my linguistic limitations and just-visiting status, I believe I have always heard in Hawaiian music the whole range of feelings/tempi/kinesthetics available to any musical tradition: fast/slow, melancholy-reflective/mischievous-wacky, languid/energetic, and so on. Same goes for the translations of the lyrics (despite the bandwidth limitations imposed by translation). Now, audience expectations, preferences, and reactions to performance seem to me to represent a different kind of bandwidth restriction, one that's going to vary wildly according to the setting, makeup of the audience, ability or sensibility of the performer, and so on.
Audiences outside the Islands, I suspect, react strongly to the nahenahe side for some of the same reasons non-gypsy audiences respond to the fast end of the gypsy-jazz spectrum: it's something the tradition is very good at delivering in a way that's not familiar to or readily available in the visiting culture. I wonder how much of the mainland attraction to the nahenahe end of slack key is a reaction to the Hollywood/Tin-Pan-Alley kind of wicky-wacky-woo novelty tune that they previously associated with Hawaiian music--Uncle Ray is a serious and welcome contrast to that material. It's as though swing were to be represented entirely by jump blues, and then you heard Basie and Ellington and Artie Shaw. (Wait, we just went through a phase like that. . . .)
In a set, as Raymond suggests, selection and distribution of material is a matter of pacing and variety; in a career (personal or professional), it might be a matter of hitting one's technical ceiling or emphasizing a strong personal preference (some folks can't abide high-velocity gypsy stuff, while others detest torch songs). I'd like to think that the listeners can tell if a performer really gets it, whatever "it" might be, and whatever limitations the player has to operate within. Seems to me that "Hot damn! Lookatthis willya!" is as authentically Hawaiian as "I love this land where my people have lived forever"--after all, didn't Hawaiians invent surfing?
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2008 : 07:50:14 AM
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I think there is a terminological issue here too.
nahe.nahe
vs. Soft, sweet, melodious, as music or a gentle voice; soft, as fine cloth; softly blowing, as a gentle breeze; gentle-mannered, soft-spoken, suave.
That defn. has nothing to do with fast or slow or uptempo or whatever.
Keola always defined nahenahe, in his classes, as "legato", connected, or flowing. You can play uptempo and still be nahenahe. In fact, you should.
...Reid |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 10/14/2008 : 09:34:20 AM
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Sometimes ya gotta do what puts a smile on yer face. That might be blistering fast runs for some folks, and the escence of swaying palms to another- or "C-A-T Spells Popoki" for another. It's your guitar, play what moves you.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
Edited by - rendesvous1840 on 10/16/2008 11:43:13 AM |
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slackkey808
Akahai
USA
50 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2008 : 6:47:37 PM
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| Thanks for all your opinions. I felt kind of alone in liking the fast stuff, but I guess that just has something to do with age. |
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braddah jay
Lokahi
235 Posts |
Posted - 10/15/2008 : 10:58:53 PM
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| Wassup zack,did you find what you lookin for?Pretty much what everybody said is summed up by what uncle led said "jus press" nevah mind what people prefer,what they don't like,jus play what makes YOU feel good.When someone says they like a certain style of yours,that should be taken as a compliment,nothin more nothin less.As you grow in your music,nevah forget people will have preference.You say not enough is mention about the upbeat goodfun stuff,believe me get planny braddah's playin the very type music you enjoy,which is why I liked what you played that day.Me I'll take a song played with feelin and emotion over a song played with fast technique any day.But that's just me,some may like what you prefer,notin wrong wit dat.Just remember play what YOU enjoy,and no look for some type of confirmation.Aloha braddah jay |
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RWD
`Olu`olu
USA
850 Posts |
Posted - 10/16/2008 : 02:13:49 AM
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I think Led is 60yrs old and Ozzie has to be up there too. I can gaurantee that you will get better as you age--I am nearly 60 and have never been better.
What changes with age is not so much ability or desire, it is creative energy. Young guys (& girls) have a lot of fresh creative energy. I think this would be a great time for you to start creating music. |
Bob |
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