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Friday, August 24, 2012

Picking Tunes (out of a Fishbowl!)

A co-worker gave me this idea.  Write the name of every tune or song you can play on a separate slip of paper and put all the pieces of paper in a fish bowl.  Then periodically select from the bowl to come up with a random tune to play.  This will keep your repertoire fresh and varied.  If you draw a tune that you've temporarily forgotten how to play then you know it is one you need to work on. Add more tune titles to the fish bowl as you learn them.
I can think of about 35 tunes I currently (supposedly) know.  Lately I've been trying to improve the effectiveness of my practice methods, so I hope to at least double that number in the next year and expand it exponentially beyond that.

My Fish Bowl Tunes:

Angeline the Baker
Arkansas Traveler
Banish Misfortune
Clouds Thicken (by Paul Rosen - Floorplay)
Cluck Old Hen
Cooley's Reel
Fair Jenny’s Jig
Flop-Eared Mule
Geese in the Bog
Girl I Left Behind Me
Horace Hanesworth (from Portland Collection)
Jerry’s Beaver Hat
John Ryan’s Polka
Kesh Jig
Kitchen Girl
Lilting Banshee
Little Dutch Girl
Maid Behind the Bar
Minnesota 6/8 Two Step (from Mandolin Uff Da!)
Miss Monaghan’s Reel
Off to California
Old Bunch of Keys
Old Mother Flanagan
Out on the Ocean
Over the Waterfall
Rakes of Mallow
Red Haired Boy
Road to Lisdoonvarna
Soldiers Joy
Star Above the Garter
Staten Island Hornpipe
Sugar Candy Schottische (from Mandolin Uff Da!)
Swallowtail Jig
The Butterfly
Tralee Jail (Irish polka)
Twin Sisters
Whalen’s Breakdown (Canadian tune)

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