What to do with campanella?

ripock

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Okay, as of last week I knew what campanella meant in Italian and that's all I knew. Now I understand what it means for ukulele playing. Being a beginner with some experience I certainly can follow directions when a songbook says "fret this note, now pluck this string, then fret this note and pluck that string, next leave the string open and pluck the string, etc..."

But now I'm wondering what to do with this knowledge, aside from robotically doing what the songbook says to do. How do we apply this to our own developing styles? Should we take a Beatles melody and play it with campanella scales? Do we take an existing song of our own and convert certain measures to campanella as a way of festooning our music? How do we get to the point where we can sit on the porch and improvise a ditty in campanella style?

I don't want to harp on the subject, so does anyone have anything to chime in?
 
Perhaps I take the definition of campanella slightly wide, but I'd say: if you need a melody note which is one step lower than the note you're playing at string 1 (A string), use string 4 (same fret). This is applicable to both strumming and picking. Also, very similar, if you need to play 2nd string 3rd fret, take 4th string open instead. You can go out of your head and figure out how to play a piece campanella style all the way (I've heard them do a Bach cello prelude) but campanella can also be used very locally to help you out and make good use of your re-entrant tuning.
 
Yes, campanella is a way of playing on a re entrant tuned uke, do with it as you will, but I don't think there are a lot of tabs out there for it, so you will inevitably have to create your own. I think it is John King that you should have a listen to, & maybe you will get some ideas from that. :)
 
The focus of Campanella is legato. The goal is to, as often as possible, play each melody note on a different string than the note before it. This makes the melody line smooth, as you can hold one note over a bit as you pluck the next, rather than stopping the sound in order to fret the next note on the same string, which makes the line choppy.

So, here's what you do with campanella. When following the "fret here, pluck here..." directions, hold each not as long as you can. Pay attention to getting a smooth phrase. This is a bit of an advanced technique, and so requires practice, but it's not out of reach for anyone who really wants to play legato melody, and who concentrates on smoothness and phrasing.

By the way, campanella has nothing to do with re-entrant tuning. Remember, it's originally a guitar style. Some of the tools are different in re-entrant, but I play campanella on my linear ukuleles, all the time.
 
There seems to a reasonable number of campanella tabs out there. For instance the two collections of Celtic Music for Ukulele by Will Bickart. He posted downloading information for both of them on Chords and Tabs.

-- Gary
 
thanks for the responses. It seems to an extent that the purpose of learning campanella is to play the masterful campanella arrangements out there. I was just wondering if there were more general applications. For example, if someone learns the clawhammer style, he or she could then play clawhammer songs. However that person could also take a blues progression and play it with the clawhammer style as opposed to a standard shuffle.
 
Here you go. http://jons-ukulele.com
There are quite a lot of scales and songs for free down load, then there is also the book by Jonathan and a face book group. Lovely arrangements. Jon is super responsive to comments and questions.
I thought he was a member of this forum as well, but I may be wrong about that.
Have fun!
 
thanks for the responses. It seems to an extent that the purpose of learning campanella is to play the masterful campanella arrangements out there. I was just wondering if there were more general applications. For example, if someone learns the clawhammer style, he or she could then play clawhammer songs. However that person could also take a blues progression and play it with the clawhammer style as opposed to a standard shuffle.

If you want to acquire the skill of coming up with your own campanella style tabs it might be possible to eventually develop your skill to the point where you can come up with the fingering on the fly... don't expect this to be like picking up a new strum...
 
Guitars originally WERE re-entrant, and being in a re-entrant tuning certainly helps playing notes on as many strings as possible. Especially when you only have four strings at your disposal.

John King remarked that it's a seriously technical, prepared, un-intuitive way of playing, so improvising in campanella seems really hard to me; although once you have your fingers going on the basic structure in a campanella style, you can of course embellish it all with improvised rhythmical, harmonical and melodical bits. Playing a song in campanella right off the bat, that's something superhuman, though.
 
thanks for the responses. It seems to an extent that the purpose of learning campanella is to play the masterful campanella arrangements out there. I was just wondering if there were more general applications. For example, if someone learns the clawhammer style, he or she could then play clawhammer songs. However that person could also take a blues progression and play it with the clawhammer style as opposed to a standard shuffle.

I finally get your question, ripock.
Campanella is not simply academic, as you seem to be thinking it might be. Whether you play rock, jazz, blues, classical or..., you can use campanella. It's not so a much style as it is a technique. When you want a phrase or scale to be smoother, you can use alternating strings to make them that way. This is a tool you can use any time you want that legato/smooth line. Break it up here, smooth it out there.
Even though there are campanella arrangements and we call it a "style", it's a tool intended to enable you to enhance whatever you're playing. That's what makes it a relatively advanced technique. You use it not to help you play better or faster, really, but to play with more musicality. Once you've effectively digested how it works, I encourage you to look at something you've played a hundred times and see where you might utilize your new campanella capabilities to change just one or two notes. See what you can do with it. It may open up a whole world of possibilities for you.
 
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I enjoy playing campanella because I love the way the overlapping tones make it sound like a harp. There is a lovely example here of Wilfried Welti playing some old Irish music, "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls".
 
I finally get your question, ripock.
Campanella is not simply academic as you seem to be thinking it might. Whether you play rock, jazz, blues, classical or..., you can use campanella. It's not a so much style as it is a technique. When you want a phrase or scale to be smoother, you can use alternating strings to make them that way. This is a tool you can use any time you want that legato/smooth line. Break it up here, smooth it out there.
Even though there are campanella arrangements, and we call it a "style" it's a tool intended to enable you to enhance whatever you're playing. That's what makes it a relatively advanced technique. You use it not to help you play better or faster, really, but to play with more musicality. Once you've effectively digested how it works, I encourage you to look at something you've played a hundred times and see where you might utilize your new campanella capabilities to change just one or two notes. See what you can do with it. It may open up a whole world of possibilities for you.

thanks for understanding. It is hard enough to express what you know; it is even harder to articulate what you don't know. However I think I now can see my path. I can play the C major scale with the campanella technique. All I have to do take a melody, transpose it to C, and play it with the C campanella versus the usual C scale. I think I will also try my hand at improvising using the campanella C scale to see if I can noodle something dulcet out that way. Lastly I have ordered Tony Mizen's baroque ukulele book. I will give it a try although I find playing other people's music more of a chore than creating something new.

I see your location is posted as Oak Park. I've had more than a few bottles of Old Rasputin at Winberie's. I'll drink the next one in your honor.
 
I enjoy playing campanella because I love the way the overlapping tones make it sound like a harp. There is a lovely example here of Wilfried Welti playing some old Irish music, "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls".

That was lovely! Thanks for posting it!
 
I finally get your question, ripock.
Campanella is not simply academic, as you seem to be thinking it might be. Whether you play rock, jazz, blues, classical or..., you can use campanella. It's not so a much style as it is a technique. When you want a phrase or scale to be smoother, you can use alternating strings to make them that way. This is a tool you can use any time you want that legato/smooth line. Break it up here, smooth it out there.
Even though there are campanella arrangements and we call it a "style", it's a tool intended to enable you to enhance whatever you're playing. That's what makes it a relatively advanced technique. You use it not to help you play better or faster, really, but to play with more musicality. Once you've effectively digested how it works, I encourage you to look at something you've played a hundred times and see where you might utilize your new campanella capabilities to change just one or two notes. See what you can do with it. It may open up a whole world of possibilities for you.

Too hard for a beginner to finger style or just "it's gonna be a lot of work"?
 
I would echo what everyone else said about campanella. I would say it is an intermediate technique, and definitely requires facility with fingerstyle. You have to train your thumb to grab higher melody notes rather than just lower bass notes. This requires a mental adjustment if you are used to playing fingerstyle on a non-reentrant instrument. There are plenty of relatively easy books in the campanella style. I like Rob MacKillop's celtic book. Free tab is around too - my ebooks have some simple tunes.
 
I would echo what everyone else said about campanella. I would say it is an intermediate technique, and definitely requires facility with fingerstyle. You have to train your thumb to grab higher melody notes rather than just lower bass notes. This requires a mental adjustment if you are used to playing fingerstyle on a non-reentrant instrument. There are plenty of relatively easy books in the campanella style. I like Rob MacKillop's celtic book. Free tab is around too - my ebooks have some simple tunes.

Yes, I have already downloaded your two celtic books! Thank you so much for sharing! I am off from work for the next few weeks (school teacher) so I am jumping in to these to get started!
 
A good place for a beginner to start is to simply learn to play arpeggios over chords, using the thumb and two fingers to pick. Play slow at first and use a metronome, and try to get a clear consistent tone with each picking finger. That little exercise will keep you busy for a few weeks, or longer...
 
A good place for a beginner to start is to simply learn to play arpeggios over chords, using the thumb and two fingers to pick. Play slow at first and use a metronome, and try to get a clear consistent tone with each picking finger. That little exercise will keep you busy for a few weeks, or longer...

Good advice, brimmer! This is exactly what I am doing. I downloaded Samantha Muir's free Art of Arpeggios, which is nothing but right hand only, no left hand fretting required. I've been working on it for few minutes every day. I also bought her first "Little Book." It's Carulli and very pretty and fun.
 
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