Gigspanner Gig

As musicians we have learned that who you play music with is of such vital importance. Whilst many musicians learn technical skills, and can slot into a line up and do a job of work with competence and perhaps flair, playing for us is as much about sharing an outlook and the focus that gives us.  When working, our focus is on the story of the songs; on the feel of the songs and we create a soundworld accordingly.  In performance, by listening to each other and moulding what we do to create those soundworlds, our intention is to share a song that lives and breathes.  

Those of you who have read our blog before will remember way back, reflections on a Masterclass with Peter Knight. And one of his oft said pieces of advice is, “It’s the music that is the star of the show.” If you are in Kent and in the vicinity of Ashford next Friday, 10th March, come along the Revelation St Mary in Ashford and hear Peter Knight’s Gigspanner. Then you will indeed hear three musicians at the height of their game playing music which is really is the star of the show. Not to be missed. Follow the link here.http://gigspanner.com/live.html

The Christmas Gigs

There was a  moment in time at one of our Christmas Gigs last weekend. Christine looked up at the audience during Down in Yon Forest, and saw some of those there were visibly moved by the song. There were tears in their eyes, and it occurred to her that it is no coincidence that the songs which moved them are the songs we need to be "in the zone" to perform. Are we "in the zone" to perform all of the songs? Well in a way, but it's different for each and every song and part of the process of preparing for a performance is finding what we think the feel of each one is. And by doing three gigs in a row we found we both, independently and together, relaxed into the feel for each song and became more and more immersed. 

We take care when creating set lists to vary the feel pace and textures. And so in our Christmas Gig the singing of The Holly and the Ivy to two different tunes at the same time gives us all a giggle or two, in fact sometimes literally! We spend a lot of time working to listen intently to each other and make the music the best we can. Having given ourselves the task of singing this carol to two tunes simultaneously, one in 3/4 and one in 6/8 time, at first we found the only way to manage it was to sing back to back so we couldn't see each other and could just listen to how the two tunes fitted together. Happily we don't need to perform them back to back. Always a sense of triumph at the end for both us and the audience! One more Christmas Gig to go until next year. 

Anna & Elizabeth

Last Sunday evening, Fiddle and Faff played on Radio Kent's Folk Show which goes out every Sunday evening at 9pm.  We were delighted to meet the presenter, Doug Welch, and to play four of our songs.  The evening also involved a chat with Doug about Fiddle and Faff, and the experience of doing this really made us think about our work and how we approach creating a performance which engages people.  Doug asked us about our influences, and we talked about the gig by Anna & Elizabeth at The Bower House in Maidstone which we'd attended earlier in the year.  Anna & Elizabeth are singers and instrumentalists whose sparse and atmospheric arrangements of traditional Appalachian mountain ballads have brought them international acclaim.  

When we heard them we were captivated by the way their performances draw the audience into their world.  Their singing is truthful and they tell the story from right inside the song. Check them out for yourselves........./http://www.annaandelizabeth.com/

Playing in the Present Moment

It's a funny thing playing music. It's just music, and yet we want to play in the best way we can. We hear other people play and are inspired, but we don't want to play like them, we want to play like us. We want to find our own voice.
And learning the art of improvisation in music is a way in which players can find their voice, their vocabulary and tease out little technical issues which could do with some attention.
Last week I was fortunate to spend 4 days with a small group of fiddle players learning the art of improvisation with Peter Knight. Peter played for many years with Steeleye Span and currently tours with his trio Gigspanner. His own journey in music was significantly altered when he met and played with master of improvisation, saxophonist Trevor Watts. Improvisation has changed the way Peter plays and creates. His courses are an opportunity for other musicians to give attention to their own relationship with music and learn the valuable art of responding in the moment to what other people are playing. Such a valuable thing to learn which then informs everything else they play.
From time to time we hear people say they want to learn to live in the present moment, and being in a room with four fiddle players making music that is based on nothing other than what each of them play there and then, is for me a way of doing just that.

Christine

Finding Flow

I think it's very interesting that for many of us there are all sorts of blockages that prevent the natural flow of creativity from emerging.....for singers in singing workshops there may be long-held beliefs about the validity of their own voices, for example which prevents them from releasing their natural voice and sharing it with others.  And for me, there is an interesting moment that happens when we are working on a new arrangement after we have identified a 'feel' and found our way into a song a bit, and then we start to use the material to work an instrumental section.  It's a moment when there is a blockage between the flow that has happened in the vocal bits and the desire to translate that into an instrumental passage......and I have found that the way to unblock the blockage is to gently give it time and attention trusting that the deeper forces at work will allow the instrumental to emerge.  This notion of the flow in creativity is a very physical thing - our whole bodies are involved in our music-making - and by actively working to develop a greater physical fluidity I think we can hugely assist in the flow of music from within us.  One way of developing this fluidity is the practice of Medau - which I usually describe as a sort of danced yoga.  The quality of movement is paramount in Medau which encourages participants to literally breathe life and movement into their bodies.  The learning from Medau helps us translate this physical flow in to the musical flow both in our own playing and in playing and singing with others.
Lissie

Amazing Maisery!

A little trip down to Sussex for Fiddle & Faff last weekend, when we went to a vocal harmony workshop led by the amazing 'Lady Maisery' at Lewes Saturday Folk Club.  Lady Maisery is a trio of musicians Hannah James, Rowan Rheingans & Hazel Askew whose music has been nominated for the Folk Awards.  Their vocal harmony is particularly skillful and appealing and so we were very excited by the prospect of a day working with them.

Listening to them we are drawn into their sound world and we really enjoyed their generosity in sharing how they work with the workshop participants.  By the end of the day, those who attended had ways into making their own arrangements at their fingertips. On our journey home we discussed how to further develop our own singing days and look forward to putting this into practice in November. 

The evening concert was a delight.  Their distinctive vocal harmony together with the instruments they play (accordion, fiddle, harp, concertina, banjo), gave us a feast of songs and tunes.  One of their hallmarks is vocalising or 'diddling' to various carefully chosen syllables resulting in rhythmic exciting renditions of  tunes.  This was something that we had explored together in the workshop and it was a joy to hear them performed expertly in the evening.
www.ladymaisery.com

Inspiring Improvisations

It was a  privilege to spend last Saturday with musicians, some very accomplished, some describing themselves as beginners, making music simply because we can. With no agenda other than to enjoy creating, we spent some time making music from the simplest elements of pulse and rhythm and from our favourite sounds on our instruments. There were some extraordinary moments of being in the music together, when communication flowed and the sense of the music being greater than the sum of the parts. was very present. It is remarkable how musicians, whatever their technical ability, can express themselves in the way in which they play. Open strings on violins played with such variety and panache, beautiful melodies created out of a few notes on the recorder, stunning riffs on cello and double bass giving flight to melodies that people didn't know they had the ability to play. At times there were conversations about the meanings of words that describe elements of music. And, helpful as words can be at times, definitions are not necessary to be in the same place at the same time with others who we have not met before and play music together. An experience to be repeated before too long.