Now, stop and listen again to the tune. You are close, but missing a couple of notes of the melody and not concentrating on rhthym. Listen until you want to scream, then play it one more time.
Then, play it in SLOW MOTION, but keeping the beat. Typically I play a short phrase 10 times before moving on. If I don't get it, I repeat it 10 more times.
Pat your foot and follow the cadence.
Elementary, Dear Nightshade, but necessary. That's the way you git 'er done.
Pusuant to your dutiful report, when I sober up, maybe tomorrow, I'll break the A-Part phrases down with rhythm (the latter for the both of us). These will be painfully slow, but dat's da way we do it.
Cardinal Rule: You can't play it fast if you can't play it slow.
As promised, here a meager attempt to convey they bare bones of the A part of the Ossun Two Step. You will find that everyone has a different take on this song, so there is no right or wrong, but you must have a foundation to build from. The result will be YOUR version.
Nice work Nightshade and Nedro. Most positive (and useful) discussion we've had on here in a while. Sorta what his Bravenet group is (and should be) about.
You're right Gene, but don't forget that there was also a lot of useful information in all the contributions of some members. If you read between the personal "messages" there's enough interesting to read and sometimes to laugh too ;-)
I see where you are going with this Nedreaux Walker and its meritorious. But it perhaps is worth noting that here we are learning interpretations of Mr. Lawrence and at some point Mr. Nightshade it may be worth circling the wagons and getting back to the original.
There is a wider point I'd like to add for discussion and thought. Many on this forum may have their own personal recordings/video collected over the years from interactions with excellent Cajun musicians. However there does not appear to be a heck of a lot of these shared with this forum as a basis for improvement and personal growth of this community. I am wondering whether there is some underlying level of secrecy within Cajun music and its musicians. I am also wondering whether Mr. Greezy picked this out some time ago.
I have a lot of videos from the many lessons I have had. I don't share them and I don't share the music from CD's. The people I have had lessons with earn money to supplement their income. I tell them I won't share the videos and they appreciate it. To use a term from Senator DeSantis you have to pay to see the "monkey" dance.
I'll be the first to say I've been real fortunate here. I have no idea how I'm going to be able to pay it back or pay it forward I'm sure a opportunity will present itself. As far as Greezy goes I found some of his stuff useful once you got past the hogwash. Is the original version more simplified? I've bought the Lawrence walker cd and listened to it on repeat. Not to be mean but the sound on it is not the best quality.
(That and putting Ossun and Johnny cant dance together half way through the song)
As before thank y'all I couldn't have done it without y'all
Nightshade
"the sound"? Most of the stuff Lawrence Walker recorded was live and they didn't have sophisticated high tech sound equipment either. The rawness of the older music is what the music and the culture is all about. Not all that fancy **** today.
You're absolutely right Jerry that's basically what I was saying even though I ramble a bit. That's why my first attempt sounded like it did to me it was pretty close but y'all heard a bunch of stuff in the original version I didn't hear.
I am d***n near deaf, so I don't hear a lot of things he way others do. However, I find that when I go back to an original song after period of time, there are often nuances that I missed before. Mais, it's a gift dat keeps on giving, dat ol' stuff. Fortunately we have Wade Falcon holding it all together for us!
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
