I stand by this - when a gurdy is matched to the music, few things can easily play under it, and the things that can play beside it are strong as the gurdy itself. It is 'over the top' as a performance instrument - carries its own rhythm and accompaniment and does so at a volume and presence that few could call 'reserved'.
So when playing music that is 'indigenous' to the gurdy, you can get away with all sorts of things. When playing Scotts / Irish, you have to be as reserved as a gurdy can be (most fo the time) because using the instrument to it's fullest capacity just doesn't work well in most Scotts / Irish. No insult meant, in fact quite the opposite - the gurdy is an 'extreme' instrument, the players who know how to get to the cutting edge of that (I am not one of these) usually do so in the 'native tongues' of the gurdy, and not in the other stuff. Chris Nogy *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 2/18/2007 at 10:49 AM Matthew Szostak wrote: >> Thank goodness, in this case, there are far more uneducated listeners, >and >> this is mostly my audience. You can be successful, if you can accurately >> judge what the gurdy can bring to the music, and don't try to exceed that >> limit - being 'over the top' which a gurdy usually is doesn't work as >well >> in Scotts / Irish as it does in say, Romany, Slavic, French, or English >> music. >> >> Chris Nogy > > >Hi Chris- > >Hurdy-gurdies playing French music are "over the top... usually"? Let's >see who will let you get away with that one and who won't... <g> > >~ Matt
