I think it's possible, not just in vocal music, but in playing as well. I think someone made some studies about accent , language and the way one composes and plays and there is a link among them. I can usually tell the American , English and German way of playing from the Italian one. Hoppy is an exception, but he has been living in Europe for a long time. The approach to studying is also different, generally speaking, so I think one can compare the difference there usually is in a tractise made by a European or an American and the approach to a musical piece. I can also appreciate the more practical approach in playing, which makes one produce more, in the USA, without some aspects which are considered very important in Italy and are sometimes fussy, under the point of view of marketing. I think it's a cultural aspect. Italy is very much considered for design, for instance, but at a John Doe level it means that in many places in Italy ( much more than you can possibly imagine) one cannot go out without ironing clothes first or wearing colors which don't match etc.. There are a series of unwritten rules which the foreigner cannot catch and follow. In music it's the same, one finds himself in a maze of written or unwritten rules which make it possible for him to reach a high level of training and be compelled to choose another job to live on. There is even the written prohibition for people studying in Conservatorio not to play in public before finishing the ten year course, ( which students disattend) , unless one asks the headmaster for a written permission, which is such a complicated thing , burocratically speaking, that should one follow the rules, one would never play.
Donatella http://web.tiscali.it/awebd ----- Original Message ----- From: "Herbert Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 3:06 PM Subject: [LUTE] An American accent in lute playing? > > Do Americans play lute with a distinctive "accent"? > > By this I mean: Suppose you took a good teacher with extensive > experience in both American and Europe, and had him listen, > blindfolded, to 10 American lutenists and 10 European lutenists. > Could he pick out the Americans with any degree of success? > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
