Chopped Liver
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What to do with campanella?
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Nickie
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I'm working on Sam Muir's Little Book of Right Hand Arpeggios too! Very interesting. I hope I can become good enough at it to become a regular student. I asked her if she would come to the States and do workshops, and she said Yes, so we all need to promote her to our uke clubs and get some workshops organized, so we can do that! I plan to work on TBUS for it!
It took some reading and picking at it to realize that Campanella is a style, not a genre. I love watching John King and Sam Muir videos. John King was actually one of the very early members of TBUS, but I joined too late to benefit from his talent in person.
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stevepetergal
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"Hard" is not really a bad thing. The more beautiful or artistic things we do are always the hardest to get. But, they're beautiful and artistic.
As for "it's gonna be a lot of work", I get that. I feel that way about many musical pursuits, playing legato is a labor of love for me. I personally find the results rewarding enough to warrant the time and energy spent.
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Chopped Liver
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And I would totally agree with you! I've never been one to back down from something I wanted to do! I believe hard work on something you love is well worth it! In fact, I would say the journey can be as rewarding as the end result!
OhioBelle
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And I would totally agree with you! I've never been one to back down from something I wanted to do! I believe hard work on something you love is well worth it! In fact, I would say the journey can be as rewarding as the end result!
Totally this! I am absolutely in love with the exercises in her books. They allow focus on the beautiful, pure sound of the instrument. I am not very fast, but I can do it. It is actually relaxing to me, rather than "work." Anyone interested in the style of Campanella should give it a try and not be scared!
And Nickie, if Sam Muir comes to TBUS, I am totally up for a drive down from Ohio!
OhioBelle
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That would be wonderful!
Chopped Liver
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Ooo, yeah! Wouldn't that be fun!
Nickie
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I'm in! So where are we all moving too?
OhioBelle
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Ha ha ha!
I just watched some of her YouTube videos on classical guitar. I need to go back and start my life over so I can begin a bit earlier. LOL!
Chopped Liver
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ripock
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I started this thread over a month ago because I was perplexed by the application of campanella technique. Patently campanella is gloriously beautiful and the arrangers are jedi-level, but for me as a player campanella was about as exciting as watching paint dry. One goes measure by measure and practices the "put your finger here, now put your finger there" tabs, and over time you have a beautiful song. But that's all you have after a month invested.
However Muir's books seem promising. Learning campanella arpeggios is something that I could actually import into my own creativity; I could actively do something with them.
Therefore it has taken a little more than a month, but I think I finally have the answer I was groping for. Thanks, everyone.
However Muir's books seem promising. Learning campanella arpeggios is something that I could actually import into my own creativity; I could actively do something with them.
Therefore it has taken a little more than a month, but I think I finally have the answer I was groping for. Thanks, everyone.
Hawaii? Southern France?
That describes so many difficult but rewarding learning processes. Were you asking if there's a place it takes you beyond a beautiful song? And if that place is what we think of as a creative art, I guess maybe we won't know till we put the time in. So meanwhile, I think you're right, if you're not enjoying the process, it's not worth it. And you're also right that there are probably crossover applications that could still make it worthwhile. That was an interesting question that I didn't really follow.
I've followed this thread with some interest. I've enjoyed the unique sound of campanella-style playing.
Coming from an extensive viola/violin background, of course I immediately recognized that much of the music I first learned there and carried over to the plucked instruments has these features already. Smooth bowing technique while crossing the strings is the main thing making achieving a legato sound tricky there, as we already know to hold the notes down with our fingers as long as the bow is moving, or the result isn't pretty Baroque music is full of string crossing passages, and it tends to also be the "style" in which I most often noodle or improvise on my plucked instruments (when I do noodle or improvise). So, lots of "instant campanella" music already abounds.
That pretty much describes generally all tablature, from my viewpoint. I applaud anyone with the fortitude to learn to play an instrument from it. What I find particularly amazing is people who can sight-read from tablature. It's something I would have to decipher carefully, as I find it perplexingly non-intuitive as compared to reading music from a staff. Again, due to the bowed strings, which have no frets to number, we just don't normally think that way when first learning, and in our habits thereafter.
It has made me think about occasionally adding or altering a position shift, so as to produce (or continue) the sound of the overlapping tones. I probably won't use it for more than the occasional effect, though, if it's not already "built into" the music I'm playing. Many melodic lines in fifths-tuning are just too impractical to jump around positionally in order to play on alternating strings, unfortunately. Still, there's been a lot of food for thought in this interesting thread that I'm glad you started.
bratsche
Coming from an extensive viola/violin background, of course I immediately recognized that much of the music I first learned there and carried over to the plucked instruments has these features already. Smooth bowing technique while crossing the strings is the main thing making achieving a legato sound tricky there, as we already know to hold the notes down with our fingers as long as the bow is moving, or the result isn't pretty
Baroque music is full of string crossing passages, and it tends to also be the "style" in which I most often noodle or improvise on my plucked instruments (when I do noodle or improvise). So, lots of "instant campanella" music already abounds. That pretty much describes generally all tablature, from my viewpoint. I applaud anyone with the fortitude to learn to play an instrument from it. What I find particularly amazing is people who can sight-read from tablature. It's something I would have to decipher carefully, as I find it perplexingly non-intuitive as compared to reading music from a staff. Again, due to the bowed strings, which have no frets to number, we just don't normally think that way when first learning, and in our habits thereafter.
It has made me think about occasionally adding or altering a position shift, so as to produce (or continue) the sound of the overlapping tones. I probably won't use it for more than the occasional effect, though, if it's not already "built into" the music I'm playing. Many melodic lines in fifths-tuning are just too impractical to jump around positionally in order to play on alternating strings, unfortunately. Still, there's been a lot of food for thought in this interesting thread that I'm glad you started.
bratsche
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Nickie
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" What I find particularly amazing is people who can sight-read from tablature. It's something I would have to decipher carefully, as I find it perplexingly non-intuitive as compared to reading music from a staff."
I actually find sight reading the tabs much easier than reading notes, because I am musically illiterate. Notes on bars just befuddle me, since I stopped playing piano.
We're all different!
I actually find sight reading the tabs much easier than reading notes, because I am musically illiterate. Notes on bars just befuddle me, since I stopped playing piano.
We're all different!
wwelti
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I want to point out that tablature is actually older than notes, especially for stringed instruments. Old notation for lutes was usually written in tablature. And even for an instrument which is called "renaissance guitar" today. One kind of renaissance guitars was very similar to the ukulele, with four courses and with GCEA tuning. Some of the tablatures (for example by Adrian le roy) are suitable for playing with the ukulele without any modification. Those are roughly 500 years old!
So, back then, it was very common to sight-read tablature.
In my opinion, for complex ukulele arrangements, tablatures are extremely helpful, since in some cases you really can't easily find out how they are meant to be played just by looking at the notes. This is partially caused by the re-entrant 4th string of the ukulele, but this is not the only reason IMHO. An ukulele is not a guitar. You can't simply transfer the idea "A good guitar player doesn't need tabs" into "A good ukulele player doesn't need tabs", IMHO.
Edit: I want to add that campanella technique was quite fashionable back then. Quite some of those old instruments had re-entrant tunings.
Best Regards
Wilfried
So, back then, it was very common to sight-read tablature.
In my opinion, for complex ukulele arrangements, tablatures are extremely helpful, since in some cases you really can't easily find out how they are meant to be played just by looking at the notes. This is partially caused by the re-entrant 4th string of the ukulele, but this is not the only reason IMHO. An ukulele is not a guitar. You can't simply transfer the idea "A good guitar player doesn't need tabs" into "A good ukulele player doesn't need tabs", IMHO.
Edit: I want to add that campanella technique was quite fashionable back then. Quite some of those old instruments had re-entrant tunings.
Best Regards
Wilfried
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brimmer
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Wilfried is one of my favorite campanella uke players, and I recommend his tab books and his youtube channel. It is nice to see him visit this forum. The style he has developed is quite unique and very beautiful. I won't attempt to characterize it, except to say that his technique of the upward stroke, where the melody is on the high g string, is really effective. I also agree with him that for reentrant instruments, tab is the simplest way to convey the music. John King's book from Mel Bay explains this in the introduction.
Chopped Liver
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Thank you for this.
Sometimes it seems that people think using tab is like using training wheels on a bike. They think it is something you should "grow out of". Knowing it was used before notes is affirming. I read music and play by notes on the piano. But tab makes fingerstyle so much easier.
Besides, what is the big deal? Either tab or notes are basically the same thing: a way to help you know where the tone is so that you can produce music.
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