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Bluegrass is a music style originating in Appalachia from the Irish, Scottish, and English influences of the area... Also, heavy African American influences -

by geebee 9y ago

Bluegrass is a music style originating in Appalachia from the Irish, Scottish, and English influences of the area... Also, heavy African American influences - a lot of music historians source the banjo to Africa, and African American string bands were very common and were a big influence on bluegrass and what we call "old time". If you're into bluegrass and old time, check out the Mississippi Sheiks. For something more current, the Carolina Chocolate Drops are pretty awesome. Oh one other thing (man, really don't mean to seem too critical here), imperfection is very tolerated in a bluegrass group ;) You don't have to pass on a solo if you're worried you'll make a mistake, go for it. Better to go for it than hold back too much. Just don't play over other people, be cool, listen a bit. You should have a basic competence, if not, probably practice a bit more and join a beginner or slow jam for a bit. But especially in a casual jam, seriously, take your break, it's cool.

stcredzero 9y ago
(man, really don't mean to seem too critical here) I don't think we should give this article a complete pass. I think the author is using something the target audience thinks is cool but knows little about to make assertions for his favored development ideology. Also, I think a more detailed and nuanced analysis is instructive. From the article: Studies show teams in which members have an equal voice and a chance to be heard perform far better. That's not the complete story of how Bluegrass and Old-Time sessions work, in my understanding, at least not all of them. There is often a leader, ranking highest in some combination of talent and age, agreed upon tacitly, who gets to tell people when to take a solo. Irish sessions often work somewhat like this, with the leader telling people to start a tune instead of take a solo. Such leaders can establish a feeling or a culture for the group. As in jazz, bluegrass music often contains unplanned elements. Because the musicians are experts at their discipline, they can quickly make alterations to the song while it is being played. This can even happen in Irish music. However, most often there is a corpus of well known tunes and a structure worked out ahead of time. This also goes for Bluegrass and Jazz. In my experience, whether or not unplanned elements work has more to do with the expertise of the players and their relationships with each other than anything else. I think that is the most valuable takeaway from this analogy. It's not enough that everyone has a chance to be heard. There needs to be a culture of people who are collectively motivated to create something great together who are tuned into a mutual give and take. Sessions can also break down into unproductive competition.
- geebee 9y ago
  Irish music is tough that way. I play a bit of bluegrass and Irish, but I find it easier to join a bluegrass jam. You do need to learn to improvise for bluegrass, but once you can (and you can follow the chord changes), you can improvise during a break and, especially, play backup. Jazz musicians can also do this with chord charts, as long as someone knows the lead. Irish music is both easier and harder in this regard. You can get away with not improvising at all, but I find the tunes are complex, played in unison, and often at high speeds. There's no moment where all eyes are on you and you have to improvise, but there's nowhere to hide if you don't know the tune, either. Adding additional challenge is the minor variances in tunes that occur between regions and jam sessions. You really do need to build up a very substantial repertoire of music to be able to drop into an Irish jam and be able to play along for most of the session. (Yeah, I know, I'm responding to a minor point, and going off on a tangent, I just like the subject).
  - stcredzero 9y ago
    Jazz musicians can also do this with chord charts, as long as someone knows the lead. In one session I used to play in, there was a player who could play any Irish tune after listening to it just one time through, so long as someone else kept playing it. There's an Irish flute player in the Bay Area who I love playing with and listening to. He's 100% variations all of the time, all the way through, but he does it right and everything fits. Adding additional challenge is the minor variances in tunes that occur between regions and jam sessions. TBH, many North American players just fluff those. Often, it falls to more capable players to match up to the others.
- gnat 9y ago
  There is often a leader, ranking highest in some combination of talent and age, agreed upon tacitly, who gets to tell people when to take a solo.[...] Such leaders can establish a feeling or a culture for the group. Correct. It's not always a formally-assigned role. In experienced jam groups, the next soloist is decided with looks and is much more democratic. It's often not a fixed role; the person singing the song often takes that conductor role and nods or calls. I'm an experienced jammer, but I regularly encounter folks who need to be shown the basics (lead vs backup, how you know when to take your turn, how a song is chosen, etc.). Surprisingly few classes teach this, preferring instead "this is a G chord, etc." Probably the best national resource is Pete Wernick method classes: https://www.drbanjo.com/new-jammers.php https://www.drbanjo.com/new-jammers.php (I have no financial interest in saying this, just a selfish interest in having more sensitive jammers :)
mikestew 9y ago
Just don't play over other people, be cool, listen a bit. As a mandolin/guitar player who plays bluegrass music with other people at least once a week, I'll ignore the many misunderstandings in TFA (for instance, a "breakdown" is entirely different from a solo known as a "break" in BG parlance). But if we're going to make an analogy between bluegrass music and software development, your comment that I quoted is probably a good one. When it's an instrumentalist's turn to step up (their "break"), everyone else is there to support them to make the soloist sound as good as possible. It is not everyone else's time to show what they know; calm down, your turn will come, and then it's everyone else's turn to make you sound good. And I think that's where the author was trying to go with this: in software, we all play different roles at different times in the process. I will differ with you on imperfection. Sure, imperfection is tolerated, but an expert player who can improvise a solo with just about any song that's thrown at them, whether they've ever heard it before or not, can be a joy to have at a jam. Not just because of their expert solos, but because when they're not soloing they can really help to make the other players sound good when it's someone else's turn. Likewise, the expert developer is handy because they have good chops, but they're even more handy when it's time to help test figure out how to properly cover that gnarly piece of code, or give PM some options on how to handle the corner cases on that feature. Mainly, though, bluegrass is a "team sport". I can pick at home alone and have fun doing it. But bluegrass is a style that's really meant to be played as an ensemble, with everyone doing their part at the right time. With that, I shouldn't even have to draw a parallel to software development. :-)

by geebee 9y ago

stcredzero 9y ago

(man, really don't mean to seem too critical here) I don't think we should give this article a complete pass. I think the author is using something the target audience thinks is cool but knows little about to make assertions for his favored development ideology. Also, I think a more detailed and nuanced analysis is instructive. From the article: Studies show teams in which members have an equal voice and a chance to be heard perform far better. That's not the complete story of how Bluegrass and Old-Time sessions work, in my understanding, at least not all of them. There is often a leader, ranking highest in some combination of talent and age, agreed upon tacitly, who gets to tell people when to take a solo. Irish sessions often work somewhat like this, with the leader telling people to start a tune instead of take a solo. Such leaders can establish a feeling or a culture for the group. As in jazz, bluegrass music often contains unplanned elements. Because the musicians are experts at their discipline, they can quickly make alterations to the song while it is being played. This can even happen in Irish music. However, most often there is a corpus of well known tunes and a structure worked out ahead of time. This also goes for Bluegrass and Jazz. In my experience, whether or not unplanned elements work has more to do with the expertise of the players and their relationships with each other than anything else. I think that is the most valuable takeaway from this analogy. It's not enough that everyone has a chance to be heard. There needs to be a culture of people who are collectively motivated to create something great together who are tuned into a mutual give and take. Sessions can also break down into unproductive competition.

geebee 9y ago
Irish music is tough that way. I play a bit of bluegrass and Irish, but I find it easier to join a bluegrass jam. You do need to learn to improvise for bluegrass, but once you can (and you can follow the chord changes), you can improvise during a break and, especially, play backup. Jazz musicians can also do this with chord charts, as long as someone knows the lead. Irish music is both easier and harder in this regard. You can get away with not improvising at all, but I find the tunes are complex, played in unison, and often at high speeds. There's no moment where all eyes are on you and you have to improvise, but there's nowhere to hide if you don't know the tune, either. Adding additional challenge is the minor variances in tunes that occur between regions and jam sessions. You really do need to build up a very substantial repertoire of music to be able to drop into an Irish jam and be able to play along for most of the session. (Yeah, I know, I'm responding to a minor point, and going off on a tangent, I just like the subject).
- stcredzero 9y ago
  Jazz musicians can also do this with chord charts, as long as someone knows the lead. In one session I used to play in, there was a player who could play any Irish tune after listening to it just one time through, so long as someone else kept playing it. There's an Irish flute player in the Bay Area who I love playing with and listening to. He's 100% variations all of the time, all the way through, but he does it right and everything fits. Adding additional challenge is the minor variances in tunes that occur between regions and jam sessions. TBH, many North American players just fluff those. Often, it falls to more capable players to match up to the others.
gnat 9y ago
There is often a leader, ranking highest in some combination of talent and age, agreed upon tacitly, who gets to tell people when to take a solo.[...] Such leaders can establish a feeling or a culture for the group. Correct. It's not always a formally-assigned role. In experienced jam groups, the next soloist is decided with looks and is much more democratic. It's often not a fixed role; the person singing the song often takes that conductor role and nods or calls. I'm an experienced jammer, but I regularly encounter folks who need to be shown the basics (lead vs backup, how you know when to take your turn, how a song is chosen, etc.). Surprisingly few classes teach this, preferring instead "this is a G chord, etc." Probably the best national resource is Pete Wernick method classes: https://www.drbanjo.com/new-jammers.php https://www.drbanjo.com/new-jammers.php (I have no financial interest in saying this, just a selfish interest in having more sensitive jammers :)

mikestew 9y ago

Just don't play over other people, be cool, listen a bit. As a mandolin/guitar player who plays bluegrass music with other people at least once a week, I'll ignore the many misunderstandings in TFA (for instance, a "breakdown" is entirely different from a solo known as a "break" in BG parlance). But if we're going to make an analogy between bluegrass music and software development, your comment that I quoted is probably a good one. When it's an instrumentalist's turn to step up (their "break"), everyone else is there to support them to make the soloist sound as good as possible. It is not everyone else's time to show what they know; calm down, your turn will come, and then it's everyone else's turn to make you sound good. And I think that's where the author was trying to go with this: in software, we all play different roles at different times in the process. I will differ with you on imperfection. Sure, imperfection is tolerated, but an expert player who can improvise a solo with just about any song that's thrown at them, whether they've ever heard it before or not, can be a joy to have at a jam. Not just because of their expert solos, but because when they're not soloing they can really help to make the other players sound good when it's someone else's turn. Likewise, the expert developer is handy because they have good chops, but they're even more handy when it's time to help test figure out how to properly cover that gnarly piece of code, or give PM some options on how to handle the corner cases on that feature. Mainly, though, bluegrass is a "team sport". I can pick at home alone and have fun doing it. But bluegrass is a style that's really meant to be played as an ensemble, with everyone doing their part at the right time. With that, I shouldn't even have to draw a parallel to software development. :-)