That certainly could've gone worse; also, tonight's Tricky Pixie

[solarbird]

So I got down to the shops and discovered O HAI STAGE AND BAND AND AMPS, not on the calendar, and they've moved some things around so the good spot under the tree isn't available anymore. So I was What! Gir! and they were "technically it's not us, and no, you can't stand at the end of the table." And they made me go face a road in the parking lot, which I tried for like three songs and then said "screw this" and moved over to the other side of the traffic island at least facing part of the market. But I still had to compete with the stage act, which was loud enough to be a problem.

I tried what I could with my flute set, but that mostly failed, so then I got out the mandolin and started playing, and then got just a little annoyed and decided THE PARK IS MINE or at least this corner of the market, and started playing like that was actually true, and as loudly as I could...

...and it worked. I actually took over that part of the market, at least while on mandolin. It was kinda awesome in that omg-I-can't-believe-this-is-working kind of way. It cost me four strings (!ouch! !ouch! !ouch! !ouch!), but it turned a crap and nearly-abourtive day into a genuine success.

As for tonight's Tricky Pixie show, there aren't a lot of audiences who will deliver five-part layered harmony singalong - at least, not outside Wales - but tonight's audience did. That was pretty epic, and I was proud to be a part of it. Good show all around, really; the room, acoustically, was a bit of a problem (way too live) but the sound crew did good job of dealing with it, and the band was nicely on. Plus it's just nice to see s00j and stealthcello and Alec and everybody ^_^. Alec also gave me some suggestions for more durable mandolin strings. I'll apparently be needing them. *^_^*;;

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

more durable mandolin strings

Oh, is that what you two were on about? And for the record, good on'ya for corner pwnage... somebody's gotta do it, and I'd rather it be you than some yaya that can't stay on key :)

Oh, and as for five-part harmony? Remember who was in the audience: a whole bunch of filkers, at least four of which (cflute, vixyish, tfabris, and gfish) have made saleable CD's (plural on all counts, if you count tfabris' appearances on cadhla's CD's)... yeah, you're gonna get harmony stacked up like pancakes on Sunday morning. They live for this stuff. (sooj and Alec just manage to do so literally. :)

[solarbird]

Oh, is that what you two were on about?
We did some mandolin geeking, yeah. We both play the mandolin the same "wrong" - or more correctly, nontraditional - way, and have the matching fingertip callouses to prove it. We're both doing that to intentional purpose; it produces a different sound - a very different sound - compared to the traditional way, and that different sound is the sound I like so much.

One reason it's atypical is you need kinda thin fingers to make it work. Being self-taught, I didn't know you'd play any other way; I just kind of developed that method on my own, migrating to it as the only way to prevent incidental string contact, and keep all strings "live" at the same time. Alec initially picked it up just from starting with violin, and playing the mandolin with the same sorts of finger touches on both instruments - and also quickly realised this was the only way to keep all strings available at once.

Oh, the traditional method - which is how all those thick-fingered mandolin experts play so very well, and don't get me wrong, it's awesome, it has the advantage of letting you build up a lot of speed more easily, it's just not the sound I want and I'm willing to do the extra work the fingertip-method demands - is to use the flats of your fingers instead of the tips, and do a lot of string muting and partial-plucking to prevent the incidentally-touched strings from sounding. This is apparently how most mandolin players do it, and how people with thicker fingers have to do it.

But I want those strings. I want all of them available to me - you're already looking at an instrument with no more than four tones at any time, and as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to lose any if you can help it. I want that bright, piercing clarity of sound available to me at any time. When I joke about reinventing the mandolin FOR METAL!!1!, that's what I'm actually talking about.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*nods* particularly when you're faced with a hostile environment like yesterday, you need all the help you can get... a turbocharged, nitro-burning mando with flames coming out the sound-hole would be only marginally inappropriate, and that just 'cause the city fathers get antsy about open flames :) :) :) (ha ha only serious)

now, that breaks my brain... resonator mando? you could use an open tuning, get you a slide, and do blues-grass :) But you'd be *heard*.... :)

(I know they make a resonator uke, I've seen'em at Dusty Strings, or at least that's what I remember....)

[solarbird]

Resonator mandolins exist! Here's a whole bunch of 'em.

But, aside from the loud, which is useful - I want all the tones. I want the fully extended chords available.