I've been bothered by the charge of dilettantism (someone who "prefers diversity to virtuosity") which was raised on this list recently. How many different instruments is it possible to play to a high professional standard? One? Two? And how many do most lutenists try to play? Four? Eight? And the differences are not trivial: sizes, playing techniques, tunings, repertoire, notation... Hans Keller once wrote an essay denouncing Phoney Professions, one of which was the Viola Player. Phoney, because playing the viola is so similar to playing the violin that specialist viola players shouldn't need to exist. Yet they persist. The string player's quest for the highest possible standard on his/her instrument trumps Keller's logic. Are we in the lute world systematically harming our playing standards, even the reputation of our instrument, by spreading ourselves too thin? Wouldn't we do better to specialise? Peter (lute, theorbo, classical guitar, baroque guitar, ocarina...) --
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