Challenging Tunes:
The world of Scottish dance music has an infinite resource of wonderful tunes – some very simple and some technically demanding. Don’t be put off by the technically challenging, as you would be surprised what you can attain to if you go about practicing them in a structured way. I wish that I could say that I have always approached such tunes in this way in the past – but I did not, and as a result thought that there were many tunes that would be beyond my grasp. In the last 10 years I have re-looked at the way in which I learnt these challenging tunes and have surprised myself in what I could achieve.
I have used this approach recently in the music courses and workshops that I have tutored and the approach received positive comments and results. I didn’t invent it. I just thought carefully about my own journey in learning new and challenging tunes and here I share this approach.
Brenda Stubbert – Jerry Holland:
When you are learning new tunes, especially those that are challenging, there is a great danger that if your practice is not structured properly then you might build wrong notes into your rendition of the tune without meaning to. This can be very frustrating and often off-putting. They can also then take a long time to eradicate from your playing because they have been built into your aural and mechanical memory banks.
So, often when trying to learn a challenging tune you start at the beginning – perhaps a little slower in tempo than your finished intention – and just ‘plough’ through it. If you spot that you play a wrong note you either stop, start at the beginning again or make a mental note that you need to return to that section later. The danger is, however, that by starting at the beginning again you make the same mistake. Once you have done this more than a couple of times this mistake has then become part of your aural and mechanical memory, and you may struggle to eradicate it.
I believe, and my own practice has confirmed this, that if you structure how you practice new and challenging tunes, you can avoid this. Through a structured approach you will be building yourself a routine of practicing which will enable you to tackle challenging tunes and play them confidentially under pressure.
Let us take Jerry Holland’s excellent tune Brenda Stubbert as an example and I will take you through, step-by-step, as to how I would approach learning this tune in an efficient manner.
Below is the raw tune – you will find that there are many different examples of how people play this tune.
Note: For the purpose of this excercise the tune is slowed down from normal dancing speed and each of the following views is from the same document. You can scroll through the whole document if you wish.
This approach can also be useful if you have to play this tune as part of an ensemble but know that to play all of the notes would be challenge. These stages can be layered on top of each other. It ensures that the ensemble’s sound remains clean and un-muddied.
First of all identify which are the important notes that your aural memory will store – the ‘coat pegs’ that the tune is built upon. Of course for each individual this may be different. This is my take on that. I structure what I leave in, take out , and what I will gradually put back as you will see as this article unfolds.
(In this tune bars 4, 12, 20, and 28 are also the same. In these examples, however, I have dealt with the A and B music in succession).
Stage 1 – The ‘A’ music – 16 bars
The art of building your practice is to give yourself time and space to think, and, build your aural and mechanical memories of the tune in a structured way.
I usually look at bars 7-8, 15 -16 first as these often contain the same material. In Brenda Stubbert they appear consisitenly througout the whole tune but note that bars 23-24 are slightly different so when you get to the B music you might choose to deal with this bar seperately.
Using the practice backing tracks learn to play these selected bars – don’t worry about the rest of the tune – just get these firmly cemented in your aural and mechanical memories. These will become your anchor points and moments of safety!
Having cemented these moments of safety firmly in your memories you can now go on and begin to fill in the rest of the skeleton.
Stage 2:
Having cemented your moments of safety firmly in your memory now you can now begin to go on and fill in the rest of the skeleton. At this stage do not feel that you have to put all of the notes back in straight away. With this example I have now added a ‘coat-peg’ version of bars 1-3, 5 & 6, 8–10, 12 & 13
Don’t forget you have already bars 4, 7-8, 12, 15 & 16 in your grip.
Stages 3 & 4:
The next 2 stages continue to build the rest of the A music. Each iteration builds back more of the original notes.
Example C:
Gradually more notes are added into the skeleton.
Example D:
You could, of course, if you were playing in an ensemble situation just stay at one of the stages if other musicians have a more secure grasp of the tune. You can layer each of the stages in an ensemble context. (this also applies to the B music).
Stage 5 – The ‘B’ music – 16 bars
Example E gives the moments of safety version of the B music. Note there are similarities with the A music – so you already have some learnt material. (Note end of bar 6 beginning of bar 7 are different)
Stage 6 – The ‘B’ music – 16 bars:
Having cemented your moments of safety firmly in your memory now you can now begin to go on and fill in the rest of the skeleton. At this stage do not feel that you have to put all of the notes back straight away. With this tune I have now added a ‘coat-peg’ version of bars 1-3, 5 & 6, 8–10, 12 & 13
Don’t forget you have already bars 4, 7-8, 12, 15 & 16 in your grip.
Stage 7:
With stage 7 we now add in the triplets and some more of the remaining material. Accordionists – remember to use different fingers (3, 2, 1) for the triplets!
Once you have completed this there are just a few notes left to include at the end of each two-bar phrase.
Stage 8 – Full 32 bars
As I mention at the end of the last stage just the last note of each two-bar phrase to add back. In my arrangement of this tune the second pass of the tune contains a different arrangement of the last 8 bars for the rhythmic and harmony instruments. In this example therefore,
You should now find that you have a comprehensive understanding of the structure of the tune and will probably have surprised yourself on how much of the tune you can now manage without mistakes. You will, hopefully, have built this working knowledge of the tune without having built in mistakes which are hard to eradicate and should feel more confident playing it.
Remember – you may need to adapt some of the stages depending on your technical ability and you may need to have carried out this process over a number of sessions. What you should also find, however, is that your knowledge of the tune is secure.
Hopefully in approaching the learning of the tune and practicing the stages this will have meant that the tune has been established in your aural and mechanical memory in a more efficient way. You can apply this principle to any aspect of a tune that you find challenging and you can, of course, have as many or as little stages in the process, dependent on how you have analysed the tune and broken it down into its skeletal components.
Happy playing and practicing!
Please Note:
Wherever possible we have acknowledged the composer and publisher of the tunes used.