Not to forget that many of us are not actually going to play in public or
professionally (that's probably the majority of people who learn to play any
instrument) and the whole idea of playing is for our own pleasure.
Few of us will rise to being performers - that doesn't make us any less
enthusiastic for our instrument.
Most of the players on a list WILL be striving to learn it to a level that
will allow them to do public performances but personal pleasure must be the
driving force.
Many of us (speaking for myself) will never get to make a CD (a real one I
mean) but we still get the thrill when we learn a new piece, that difficult
coup suddenly works or even when the fingers hit the right key at last (I
had a lot of trouble reaching that key in Bouffard's waltz - my first finger
was aching for days).
Hopefully, our ears will tell us if things are not quite right and we can
use resources (like this list) to help sort out the problems - even if the
advice is "see the maker".
FUN FUN FUN are the key words, I think.
Colin Hill
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: [HG] on making simple hurdy gurdies
I don't often weigh in on discussions, especially if they get technical,
but I do have an opinion on this issue. I think it is all to easy, in this
day and age of high fidelity musical perfection, to lose sight of the fact
that music doesn't have to be, and isn't meant to be, perfect. It is meant
to be personal, with all the interesting imperfection that entails. People
can get awfully snobby about it, but for me it all comes down to playing
your instrument (even if it is from a kit!) and having fun. Viva lo fi!
Suze
Arle Lommel wrote:
Hi all,
We have pretty good evidence that tastes have changed even in recent
years without going back to before 1900. You can find recordings of
Hungarian hurdy-gurdy players from the 60s, those who belonged to the
last generation of "traditional" players, and the sound is not what is
currently aspired to. It sounds very whiny to modern ears. Here I am
thinking in particular of one player who was widely considered the master
behind the revival. None of his students have kept the very raw sound of
his playing, yet it agrees with other recordings from the period. So some
of what we now consider unpleasant was considered ideal at the time. I
love Hungarian HG, but I have no real desire to sound like the old
players overall. I do admire different elements of the playing, but I'm
afraid the expectations really are different.
If anyone is curious about these archival recordings, I could make some
small snippets (within fair use) and post them for you to hear. I warn
you that they won't be pleasant...
By the way Colin, old vinyl, when well cared for and before it has worn
out, actually is a truer sound than a CD, which effectively runs a very
high-pass filter due to the sampling rate. Vinyl actually can preserve
high harmonics that are completely lost in a CD. The trick is to find a
record that isn't worn out or scratched and that was pressed with the
best quality.
-Arle
On Feb 5, 2008, at 10:44 AM, Colin wrote:
I think we must also acknowledge that, whilst we thought 78s were
fantastic and 33 1/3 and 45s marvellous in the days of vinyl, the CD has
brought a new understanding of what sound can be.
We accepted the old records (with all the scratchy sounds etc because it
was the best available.
The same can be said of special effects in films (anyone watched the
original Flash Gordon films?). I thought they were state of the art back
in the 50's when I saw them (although I do have them all on DVD now).
Regardless of how instruments sounded at the time, there wasn't the
choice. You either liked what you heard or you didn't. We may say NOW
that the sound was (or may have been) harsh to our ears but I doubt the
comparison could have been made then.
On the other hand, they may have had some way of making them sound
perfect and we have lost the method.
Because we just don't know, it seems fair enough to make instruments as
best we can today without speculating what a similar instrument may, or
may not, have sounded like many years ago.
Colin Hill
--
Heart of Hythea by Suzanne Francis is available now from
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