In another digression from the ornamentation topic that has been occupying many recent columns, I would like to touch on an issue that has been plaguing many of my students recently, the mind.

Irish music is an oral tradition, one with a rich history, a complex vocabulary and many subtle variations. Often times when you are trying to get your head into it, it can be confusing and difficult to keep all the pieces together. While playing the tune you often find yourself having a dialogue in your head. How many times through the tune am I? Am I going to ornament with a roll here or take a breath? My teacher said it shouldn’t sound all the same so I’d better think of some way to put that little variation they taught me into the tune. Once this starts, panic sets in and the playing suffers greatly. This is the curse of non prescriptive, unwritten music.

The answer is slightly counter intuitive, stop thinking about it. Think about something else, anything will do – the shopping, the book on the shelf across the room or what’s on television tonight.

Wait, I hear you cry, if I stop thinking about it the tune won’t come out at all. Of course you need to know the notes to the tune first. However, the types of questions outlined don’t start occurring until after the tune has been learnt and the student is keen to explore the other aspects that they have been taught by applying them to the tune. The problem occurs because many times the student is still thinking of the tune at the same time and there are too many things happening at once. Like meditation, the answer is to stop the mind thinking about it. Try it with a book, place a book in front of you and then try to play the tune while reading the cover.

A detached part of you should still listen to the tune to make sure it is coming out right but most of your mental prowess should be turned towards the book. You will probably feel VERY uncomfortable at first. Like all exercises the trick is to repeat it regularly.

Try and get the feeling of having a very calm mind that is just letting the tune out rather than creating it, play the tune almost from your subconscious. You try it while watching television or plan your next shopping trip in your head. Once you can do this easily then you have a clear headspace to start to introduce some of the other questions. Now please don’t get me wrong – I don’t want you to stop listening to your playing. This is an exercise to help you be more able to focus on the things that are happening on top of the notes of the tune; all the ornaments, breathing and phrasing decisions that a good player makes in every tune every time they play.

Good luck!