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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
 Posted - 05/05/2002 : 10:41:24 PM
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Well I'm new at this, but I had no intention of deleting this post. Everybody's posts are just too good! At some point I will archive inactive/older posts which will keep the pages loading up efficiently. Archived posts should still be searchable though.
Wish I was celebrating Cinco de Mayo in Kaua`i - that's for sure. Returning to real life has meant reacclimating to work, paying the bills, doing the laundry... ahhhh, vacation is such a great thing.
BTW as of today, the TaroPatch Network has 46 registered members! 27 have made a total of 328 posts. Very exciting! I look forward to finding more "slackers" out there. Thanks for your support.
Aloha,
Andy |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2002 : 12:56:45 PM
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I just discovered this topic today -- you might say I don't spend much time on-line. I wish I'd checked in sooner -- there are some great ideas about teaching, as well as some interesting requests.
The biggest, ummm, problem area I have seen with folks getting into slack key is that they don't know how to play music together. Like Andy says, most of us on the mainland can't just go down to the local taro patch to hang out and find folks to play with.
Or can we? Here's a hint: slack-key comes from the same back-yard homemade music world as, well, bluegrass. When you get right down to it, most of the old-time Hawaiian songs that make up the basic repertoir have chord structures and even melodies that are quite similar to old-time, Bluegrass and gospel songs. Of course, there's that wonderful extra turnaround at the end of each verse, and there's the lilt.
So how do you kanikapila? Same way you "jam." Listen to the song and play along. Know your chords (hint: they are usually fingerings that you already use a lot in your slack key arrangements.) Listen to what the other musicians are doing - then support it. Playing bass notes is good. Strumming is good. (If everyone's strumming on one and three, what does it add to strum on two and four?) Playing sweet little licks that echo and support the melody is good.
Here's another thought: if you can't find a Hawaiian jam, then take your slack key self down to the local Bluegrass session. Or singer-songwriter session. Or Irish seisun. Taro Patch works for songs or tunes in G, Cyril's D tuning for D tunes, you get the idea. Hate re-tuning? Use a capo.
This isn't such a weird idea - Irish and Old-time music both often use instruments like the dulcimer and banjo that have to be re-tuned all the time. Hence the sessions will usually hang out in one key for quite a while. And, as I said, the basic skills you need are the same regardless of the music.
You'll learn how to listen, how to anticipate the next move, how to play back-up and maybe even improvised lead.
Guess what? That's how you play Hawaiian music together, too.
If you mess up, so what? Smile, and keep trying. I like to remind my students of how long it took them to learn to walk.... I've never seen a baby who cared if they look stupid falling on their butt.
Playing music together informally is one of the greatest joys of being a musician.
If you go to either George's Camp on Maui or the August Aloha Music Camp you will find workshops expressly devoted to this topic.
So go forth and make beautiful music together.
Mark
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duke
Lokahi
USA
163 Posts |
Posted - 05/09/2002 : 1:18:30 PM
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Mark--
Aloha from Hana! I just wanted to thank you for that last post. It is one of the most helpful message board postings I think I have ever read, anywhere.
Even though I live within spitting distance of a taro patch I never venture out to "jam" because of the fears of not being able to keep up, what to do, etc... all the fears you mentioned. Even though I play weekly with a local hula halau I rarely venture beyond simple chords, but I do get the job done. And, I'm happy to say I do it all in Taropatch tuning even though it's just for the chord. But now I'm emboldened to start at least experiementing with a few licks/turnarounds.
Thanks for the pep talk!
Duke
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