Nuala Kennedy
Cathy Ryan & John Doyle
Haley Richardson
for an interesting mix, and the students who mix it up come from all over the world. I attended two classes during my time at the Gathering, Session Guitar Accompaniment with David Surette, and DADGAD Guitar with Eamon O’ Leary.
“…“It’s kind of like this one interesting strand gets pulled…And then you find all these other interesting
strands…” From South Berwick, Maine, Surette has played guitar since he was 14. He developed an interest in Contra-dance music while in college, which then led to a fascination with Celtic music. Session Guitar started with Surette gathering information about what his students wanted to learn in class. “It’s kind of like this one interesting strand gets pulled,” he told the class. “And then you find all these other interesting strands.”
Most of his students were not beginners. Many were trying to find a way to emulate what they called “that Celtic sound” and, not unreasonably, Celtic music’s modal qualities seemed to particularly baffle them. They had a lot of questions to ask about the different styles of Celtic guitar, questions that included keys, rhythms and chord families, and why it sounded so unlike what they were used to hearing.
But according to Surette, playing guitar tastefully at a session isn’t just a matter of knowing the chords, but knowing where to put the chords, and how to find a place within the rhythm of the music.
“There is not so much a difference between the actual guitar styles, but in the requirements of the traditional music”, Surette explained, using accompanying the Scottish repertoire of Cape Breton Fiddler Kimberley Fraser as an example, and the usefulness of modal chords which “hedge bets” a little when accompanying Celtic music.
“Breton music is kind of its own world, and French Canadian back-up traditions may be influenced a little bit more by piano than Irish music would be”, he said. “But they were really influenced by Irish guitar – or that is what they tell me. I think that there are a lot more similarities in guitar style than there is in more traditional instruments - the right hand is really key in getting the rhythm to flow.”
Using typical
“D-chord family” based tunes, such as Devanney’s Goat, and a whole lot of patience, after the first lesson the whole class was roughly in tune, and roughly in time. Not a bad start to the week.
There were many different accompanying guitar styles on show during the different classes at Swannanoa. John Doyle’s signature pulsing precision and power, Eamon O’ Leary’s delicately ringing clarity, and Surette’s limber finger-picking exuberance to name but a few. “Vive la différence”, Surette said. “You can make good music with different things.”
Kevin Crawford, Martin Hayes, John Doyle
Jim Magill, Doug Orr, Dylan Richardson – Tony Cuffe Scholarship
Brian McNeill
The Living Tradition - Page 23
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