Funky Seagull Says... "While we are proud of
our use of the latest technology we still feel that it's the skill of our
instructors that sets us apart from other music workshops. Our instructors talk
to you not at you. Each title is taught as if you were picking a few tunes on
the front porch. After all, that's how American folk
music
has been passed on for generations."
The Package
A single CD ROM in a windowed paper sleeve inside a poorly photocopied
folded liner (above). This was inside a plastic pocket, stapled at the top. The
CD ROM is on-body printed. The package feels cheap.
Lesson Delivery Method
The autorun file opens a basic HTML page. clicking on the text link
will open realplayer.
This is a collection of 7 Real video files which can be opened from a menu in
the player.
Using the workshop.
The workshop is delivered by Pete Ryan from London. His style is very
relaxed and chatty but too casual and unfocused in my opinion. The workshops are
delivered to camera and are a mixture of explanation, demonstration, anecdotes,
side roads and iteration. The workshop is very 'relaxed' in its delivery
Pete is clearly a competent player and explains himself well but there
is little apparent preparation or structure to the presentation past the
identification of major road markings. The bits between the road markings seem a
little haphazard and there are a number of awkward pauses which could have been
edited out. The conversational style means that to work on a specific area of
ones playing, one needs to re-hear all the stories and anecdotes again and again
or use the forward button. This I feel is counter productive to an instructional
medium but it is common to all video and audio based tutors I have encountered..
The interview with Pete is interesting, a nice bloke who enjoys what
he does. Pete talks about his own take on Irish
music
the bodhran and myriad other things. At 50 minutes, I found it a long interview
and I'm afraid that I didn't make it to the end.
The play-along section is a relaxed collection of jigs then reels and
hornpipes where Pete is accompanied by a banjo
player. As a special 'treat' Funky seagull added some old tyme music featuring
that neo-ancient Irish instrument, the Bouzouki :) and other banjo/guitar type
instruments. There were a couple of minutes discussion at the start over what
tune they might play, a few in-jokes and when they did finally get going,
Whiskey in the Jar brought a tear to my eye, it is a treat.
User Friendliness
I have to say that this was not a user-focused workshop for me. The
style of delivery does not work for me because of the ratio of relevant
informative content to that of 'other'. Some consideration of the structure of
the workshop and more focus in the text would have made this much more usable to
a learner.
I am not pre-disposed to Realplayer so I was disappointed that this
was the only format available.
What do I think?
Well I have to say that for me, this falls short of the mark of a
useful workshop, fun yes but of limited teaching potential. It's proper title
could be "an afternoon's craic with ....".
I did enjoy elements, but it's amateur, ill prepared, unedited, poorly
presented on screen and mega-cheaply packaged. It feels like some one met
someone in a pub and they said, 'lets make a video'. I have not seen any of
Funky Seagull's other CD ROMS so I can't say if this homemade look is a
feature.
In my opinion, it's not worth anywhere near the price asked in terms
of content, substance or effort. I'd avoid it.
Am I Glad I bought it?
No, I wasted my money
Would I recommend it?
No, not at all
Paul Marshall - January 2004
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