>There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio,
>than are dreamt of in your philosophy
And more in my philosophy, than all things heaven and earth.
" And with strumming and a few improvised morsels, they whipped the
commoners into a frenzy".
Michael Thames
www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart LeBlanc" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 9:43 PM
Subject: RE: Blind players and memory
>
> Indeed, the fact of improvisation makes the reading vs. memory argument
moot.
> Performance from memory mimics the act of spontaneous creation that truly
occurs
> in improvisation.
>
> Just a few hours ago I performed a concert based on 13th and 14th century
> repertoire associated with St. Francis of Assisi. (With sheet music).
> Afterward, an audience member who apparently listens to a lot of guitar
music
> expressed his great appreciation for the lute playing. I don't know if it
was a
> revelation to him to have an emotional response to music performed from a
score,
> but he was certainly dumbstruck to learn that several of the solos I
performed
> were completely improvised.
>
> Maybe that $50 ticket should be spent not on Romeo and Juliet, but on
Hamlet:
>
> There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio,
> than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Thames [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 4:57 PM
> To: Arto Wikla
> Cc: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: Blind players and memory
>
>
> Arto,
> As I've said, I site read now more than I memorize. As having come
from
> a classical guitar back ground,where everyone memorizes, I found this
> lutenistic tradition of only site reading ( written in stone) a bit
> perplexing.
> I've asked for sources citing evidence for this lutenistic tradition,
> yet no one has come forward, with anything.
> Sorry to use the term amateur,or non professional, but I was not using
> them in a derogatory way.
> As far as where you look,as your playing,I could careless. This is
all
> stage presence and up to each individual performer, to with as they see
fit.
> All I can say is most super star classical performers thesedays tend to
> memorize their music.
> If I want to hear the music I'll stay home and put on a CD, but if I
pay
> $50.00 a ticket I hope you could recite Romeo and Juliet,without a script,
> between you,and the audience.
>
> Michael Thames
> www.ThamesClassicalGuitars.com
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Arto Wikla" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Michael Thames" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: <[email protected]>
> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 2:29 PM
> Subject: Re: Blind players and memory
>
>
>
> Dear Michael and all
>
> On Sun, 10 Apr 2005, Michael Thames comments:
>
> > >This brings to mind another point in the debate about >performing from
> > memory or
> > >score. Ever notice how most guitarists stare at their >hands while
> > playing,
> > >while a few look into the rafters or close their eyes >(drawing divine
> > >inspiration, perhaps)? I wonder which exhibit greater >professionalism
> >
> > I would say that you might want to consider the music above all.
> > However, it is nice to see a performer in a setting where one might get
> the
> > impression that it's he, or she, and the audience, and not a third party
> > love affair with your sheet music.
>
> It is so difficult to me to take any offence, if someone is using the
> sheet music. It is in a way the contrary: When someone is playing a big
> program by hart, I am so worried, and also symphatise and pity the poor
> performer that it really diminishes my ability to relax and enjoy the
> music! An extreme case was in the Nordic Baroque Festival in 2001, where
> Pieter Wispelway had a concert, where he played ALL the six Cello Suites
> by certain J.S. Bach. He did it well, very well. But he played by heart,
> and that is why I was all the time very worried... ;-)
>
> And by the way, many times during the concert he was looking to the
> ceiling of the church, probably wishing help from the divine forces? ;)
>
> Anyhow, I would have enjoyed more of the conert, if he had had the music
> stand in front of him! It doesn't have mattered, if there were empty
> papers or today's newspaper on the stand...
>
> Summa summarum: If you improvise, you improvise. If you play - if
> you "repeat" - the music composed by another, you are perfectly allowed
> to use the sheet music. Why not? At least that does not dimin�sh MY
> experience...
>
> Arto
>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
>
>
