Cd containing the standards in ITM?

[Stok]

Is there such a cd? I'm starting to get into the music after learning my first ITM song "swallow tail jig" after I heard that song I had to learn it and to my suprise it wasn't too hard of a song to figure out. I thought I would just play it for fun by myself but again to my suprise I found out on the session website that there was two sessions that run in a nearby city to me.

I'm wondering if there is a cd (hopefully one I can download on iTunes) that has a whole bunch of standards that often get played at sessions?

[Clement Barrera-Ng]

What constitute 'standards' in session vary greatly from location to location. What may get played at your local sessions may be very different from what get play in my local session down the street. Best is to show up with a audio recorder and ask if it would be OK to record the session, then listen to it at home. Having said that, also check out the Foinn Seisiún audio tracks from the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann website. It has quite of few of the 'standards' tunes that get play often at sessions or on popular recordings:

Vol.1: http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foin...book_volume_1/
Vol.2: http://comhaltas.ie/shop/detail/foin...book_volume_2/

[Randi Gormley]

If you want to listen to some great tunes, check out The Celts Play Connecticut, a two-CD set with a bunch of ITM favorites played by a bunch of very, very fine musicians. You can find it at www.shamrockirishmusic.org

Note: this is a shameless plug. My group put this out. But it really is spectacular.

[bodatcha]

Check out "The Session" (sometimes known as "The Celtic Session" ) by Na Connerys...great renditions of some standard tunes by well known and respected Irish musicians...the Glackin brothers on fiddle amongst others....it's on itunes I think...

[Avi Ziv]

It's true that the tunes vary from session to session and it's best to pick them up where you play. Sill, if you really want to listen to some "core" tunes (if there is such a thing) you could do worse than picking up A Tribute to Joe Cooley by Frankie Gavin and Paul Brock.

Good luck and have fun with it

[EdSherry]

Check out the "BBC Virtual Session" here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/r2music/folk/sessions/

Not a CD, but a nice bunch of sets played by a bunch of fine musicians with lead lines. IMHO, learning sets is preferable to learning individual tunes, as otherwise you have to manage the transitions between one tune and the next, which takes a bit of practice until you get used to it.

[Avi Ziv]

Good one Ed! I've used it years ago but good to know it's still there

Cheers,

[Bertram Henze]

...after I heard that song I had to learn it and to my suprise it wasn't too hard of a song to figure out.

You're about to make the first step into a bigger world and a few simple rules will get you far:

- they're called "tunes", not "songs".
- not all are easy to pick up; you can bypass the difficult ones to build a repertoire faster, but you will still be listening to them longingly.
- there's approx. 4000 of them out there, and that's only counting the traditional - new ones pop up any day.
- attend a session and hear what they play there; ask for the names of tunes and be thankful if the players can remember them (after playing 100-ish tunes amnesia will get the better of you, too).
- tunes are grouped in sets of 2 to 4 or 5 (again, groupings are a session-local feature); for joining the playing fast it's good to group your todo list accordingly.
- speaking of the todo list - everybody has one, and it's always growing faster than being worked away - abandon all hope for completion; you can't drink an ocean.

...or in three words: Welcome to TAS! (tune aquisition syndrome)

[LongBlackVeil]

Thanks guys, lots of good stuff here. Especially liked bbc virtual session, the advice to learn full sets instead of just single tunes, and the new term TAS penned by Bertram. That's exactly how I feel, just trying to aquire as many as I can remember, practicing them until they're burned into my skull, and then learning more.

I'm actually trying to pickup both bluegrass and irish mandolin at the same time. Not sure that's the best approach, but it keeps things very fun for me and really has me enjoying my mandolin

As long as I don't start chopping at a session I should be good

[sixwatergrog]

Between these two recordings you'll have 50 standards. Played well and played slow. You can stream them for free online or download.

http://stuartmason.bandcamp.com/album/slow-easy

http://stuartmason.bandcamp.com/album/slow-easy-vol-2

[Ben Cooper]

Hmmm, some great ideas here!

[Ben Cooper]

Any recommedations for a good mando-centric version of swallow tail jig?