Keeping Momentum

So last night I got my computer out while I was making different kinds of pumpkin seeds to take for lounge duty.  I needed to nick recipes off allrecipes.com (awesome site). So I opened Skype. Because it didn't even dawn on me until l'autre sent me a note about learning "Will Ye Come Wit Me?" to prepare for epic summer 3.0, namely Boxwood, that I should open iTunes and be listening while I was preparing seeds.  So I opened it up and started my newest tunes to learn playlist.

Ahhhhh...tunes to learn playlists.  I started this idea one year after doing a beat activity at school with lummi sticks to two Irish slides.  After about two weeks of  using this track with both second and third grade I couldn't get the tunes out of my head.  It occurred to me that maybe I could play them on the fiddle now - - and sure enough, I picked up my fiddle and there they appeared under my fingers!  Curious, I tried the same concept with a dance I was having some of the older kids do, and, low and behold, the set of tunes from that came under my fingers nearly instantaneously when I put them on the fiddle.

Hence the start of "tune learning CDs."  Since my discovery, about once every spring and fall I put together a set of tunes that I like and burn them onto a CD for my car.  The first time or so through the CD, I figure out which tunes I actually really like (usually these CDs are put together rather hastily and without much consideration for the whole set, so sometimes I've ended up with a surprise tune in the mix).  The next week or two or four I simply listen listen listen.  Sometimes I skip a track if I really don't like it, or I'm not feeling it that day, but overall, I listen to the CD.  Somewhere between a week and a month into the process I often find myself diddling along down the road with each set (usually depends on the complexity of the tune, how much I like it, and how adept my diddling is going for the day).  After a while I feel a burning need to pick up my fiddle, put the playlist or select tracks on repeat, and play away.  Usually this is the time I realise I've either got the tune (whoot!) or need a lot more listening time (and maybe even some time to break the tune down).  I also find which tunes are in alternative keys (sometimes I'll transpose them later, but usually they just get bumped to the bottom of the to learn pile), which ones lay nicely under the fingers, and which ones are complete buggers even if they are in G.

It usually takes a couple of these nights sitting down and playing along with the CD, sorting out more complicated tunes if I think they're worth the effort...and before long, voila! a load of new tunes under my fingers! Not (so far) ever ALL of the tunes from the tossed out playlist, but I figure even if I get 3 or 4 solid sets it's worth it.

Now to figure out how to REMEMBER those tunes in a way I can START them at sessions without flubbing or forgetting them!