File: chaissonjj06-oh-learning_composingtunes_M.mp3
Speakers:
JC – JJ Chaisson
KP – Curator Ken Perlman
KP: Do you have a strategy for when you compose?
JC: A couple of different ways. I've woken up before with a tune just in my head, and you play it, you dream about it – You dream that you're playin' it somewheres, and you wonder where the hell that tune came from. Other times, I'll sit down and just try different things. Like if I decided right now I wanted to write a tune in F in 15 minutes, 10 or 15 minutes, I'd have a tune in F composed: just out of the millions of different tunes that I've heard over the years, you can put one together. And who knows if it's B It could be similar to a tune that's been written 200 years ago. But if we sat here and did that, the fiddle has four strings…
KP: And there are only so many possibilities.
JC: Only so many possibilities. There's continuously music in my head, and sometimes I wonder why. I can't explain it. When I'm drivin' down the road, or if I'm in church, or I'm out in the fishin' boat, and my hands are at my side, I'm playin a tune. My hand is going like my hand was on the fingerboard of the fiddle, always. It could be any tune, and sometimes I'm not aware of it. Somebody will say, "What the hell are you doin'?" And I'll be goin' like this [demonstrates finger movement], and all of a sudden, "Oh my God I'm playin' Paddy on the Turnpike in my head. And that's continuous. So once a month it's no problem with all those tunes that are goin' through my mind, you just take a piece out of this, and a piece out of this, and switch somethin' around the way you like it, to make it sound good. And sometimes it might not be a corker of a tune, and sometimes it is. Like before I got married I asked my wife to be what she wanted to make the day extra special. She was like, "You gotta write me a fiddle tune." So surprisingly after we exchanged our vows, I got the fiddle and I told her that I composed a tune. And I feel bad telling people this, because I did it probably two nights before. It just came to me. I call it The Icing on the Cake; it was a waltz in F.
Do you have a strategy for composing tunes?
STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING AND COMPOSING TUNES
JJ: Couple of different ways. I've woken up before with a tune in my head, you dream that you're playin' it somewhere, and you wonder where that tune came from. Other times, I'll sit down and try different things. Like if I decided right now I wanted to write a tune in F in 15 minutes, I'd have a tune in F composed. Just out of the millions of different tunes that I've heard over the years. You can put one together. And who knows if its B It could be similar to a tune that's been written 200 years ago. But if we sat here and did that, the fiddle has four strings and there's only so many possibilities. Maybe once a month I could do it. [42:45] I don't know what kind of learner I am, but there's continuously music in my head, and sometimes I wonder why. I can't explain it. When I'm drivin' down the road, or I'm in church, or in the fishin' boat, and my hands are at my side, I'm playin a tune. My hand is going like my hand is on the fingerboard of the fiddle, always. It could be any tune, and sometimes I'm not aware of it. Somebody will say, "What the hell are you doin'." And I'll be goin' like this [demonstrates finger movement], and all of a sudden, "Oh my God I'm playin' Paddy on the Turnpike" in my head. So once a month it's no problem with all the tunes goin' through my mind, you just take a piece out of this, and a piece out of this, and switch somethin' around the way you like it, to make it sound good. And sometimes it might not be a corker of a tune, and sometimes it is. Before I got married I asked my wife to be what she wanted to make the day extra special. She was like, "You gotta write me a fiddle tune." So after we exchanged our vows, I got the fiddle and I told her I composed a tune. I feel bad telling people this, because I did it two nights before. It just came to me. I called it The Icing on the Cake, it was a waltz in F.