reading about sound listening to paint dancing around in the dark --- Jon Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bill, > > Much as I like the idea of projecting back by > finding early recordings I > question the validity. One of my instruments is the > Mountain/Appalachian > Dulcimer (actually of the lute family of > chordophones, as the strings are > stopped, rather than the zither family that the true > dulcimer is). The old > "front porch boys" of the Appalachians played it as > a pure drone instrument > (the treble course, normally doubled, was played > with a "noter" - a bit of > dowel pressed only on that course). That made the > other two courses > monophonic drones. The moderns (read the Ritchie > family recorded in the > thirties) chord the drone courses by fingering. One > has to assume that the > earlier players did the same, else why frets on all > three courses? So the > logical conclusion is that the backwoods lads who > would have been recorded > at the turn of the century (19 to 20) were not > representative of the earlier > player in their ancestral Europe. The same could > apply to a rural Ukranian > kobsa player of the same time (not all of them, just > the particular one > recorded). > > Many things are lost in the noise of outside > influences, but just as often > things may be lost in the concentration of > tradition. An old college friend > of mine, John Solum, had a career as one of the top > flautists in the world > (none of you will know the name - he stuck with > orchestral anonimity). In > his retirement he has an early music orchestra (I > think they are basically > Baroque, although I haven't heard them). They use > original, or reproduced > original, instruments. But even they, a collection > of retired professionals, > can't duplicate the sound - in my humble opinion. > John's early flute > reproduction will yet have the benefit of our modern > tools in drilling the > finger holes and boring the tube. I have to feel > that the instrument makers > of early times weren't as consistant as we can be. > The best musicians could > afford the best made instrument, but the average > musician would have to > settle for what he could afford - and unless they > were all affluent kings of > music there would have been a lot of mediocre > instruments. > > Best, Jon > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "bill kilpatrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Cc: "lute list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 2004 10:52 AM > Subject: early recordings > > > > dear roman - > > > > thanks for your reply. > > > > i wasn't so much interested in hearing early > > recordings of the established baroque repertoire > > (bach, weiss, etc.) but more in hearing what an > early, > > lute like instrument itself might sound like. > > > > there must be early kobsa recordings, for example > > which would give us an idea. maybe this is stupid > but > > by comparing how a ukranian kobsa player from the > turn > > of the last cent. treated his instrument - > without, i > > would assume, any over riding, outside influences > from > > other cultures, radio, etc. - it might be possible > > to draw conclusions about similar cordophones from > the > > same era and project them all the way back to the > > baroque and beyond. > > > > that's the idea, at any rate. > > > > even allowing for poor quality sound and scratchy > > recordings it might be possible to hear if he was > > playing near the bridge or away from it; with > strings > > tuned more to one frequency than another. > > > > didn't bartok make recordings of folk instruments, > > cordophones amongst them? > > > > for example, on the google early music site, i > posted > > the same query with this address: > > > > > http://www.cuatro-pr.org/Home/Eng/Instrmus/Instrmnts/Tiples/tiples.htm > > > > > > there's an early recording sample of a tiple from > > rural puerto rico (sound sample courtesy kacho > > maldonado, at the bottom of the page) which > suggests > > (to me) that not much has changed with it or the > music > > played on it, for a very, very long time. > > > > regards - bill > > > > > > > > ===== > > "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell > of a creepy crawly..." - > Don Gonzalo de Guerrero (1512), "Historias de la > Conquista del Mayab" by Fra > Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to: > http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > > Win a castle for NYE with your mates and Yahoo! > Messenger > > http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > > >
===== "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell of a creepy crawly..." - Don Gonzalo de Guerrero (1512), "Historias de la Conquista del Mayab" by Fra Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to: http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm ___________________________________________________________ Win a castle for NYE with your mates and Yahoo! Messenger http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
