Lounge Lute .. now THERE's an interesting concept ... > Ah yes, deconstructive criticism, delivered with the kindest of > intentions- If this sincere critic is being slanderously > misunderstood; he should respond, set the record straight, and hugs > all around. It's a small world, after all- and it's that tunnel-vision > vehemence which seems to gather more intensity, the more narrowly the > vision is focused. I remember at a lute gathering one year a famous > player was being shredded for some lute crime, and my wife said, "For > God's sake, it's just a difference of opinion on interpreting > Francesco da Milano; he didn't fly an airplane into a building!" > My most interesting critique- (not intentionally constructive) was > being pointedly disinvited to leave the stage at a country-western bar > in rural Maine, the benighted new owner had thought that he could > raise the cultural tone of his new venue by sticking a lute player in > bottle-flinging range. By contrast, the next year I started giving > lute lessons to an actual country-rock guitarist, one who was very > used to the flying missile reviews routinely encountered in his normal > working gigs. He was profoundly unnerved the first time he gave a lute > recital before an audience of sober, polite, seated people who quietly > gave him their quiet and undivided attention. > > There must be a happy medium somewhere, short of lounge > entertainment, and my apologies for veering off of video reviews into > old reminiscence. It's still a brave new world for me, and I stopped > videoing myself after becoming my own worst critic. Much improvement > needed, but I will be back in shooting range one of these days. > > Dan > > > "Right after I came out with my Hurel album, I received a private > email from someone who regularly contributes to this list. This was > one of the first comments I got about the project. In the rudest, > most brusk manner, this person told me A) What an awful job I had done > with the repertoire B) How could I be so thoughtless as to use > synthetic strings? C) I was being irresponsible to the repertoire and > instrument by even presuming to have such a wretched recording out > there D) I should just hang it all up right then. This was from > someone who was definitely informed about the lute, but constructive > criticism it was not." > > -- > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
Tom Draughon Heartistry Music http://www.heartistry.com 714 9th Avenue West Ashland, WI 54806 715-682-9362
