I heard Hoppy under two very different situations back in the '70s when I was an officer with the Lute Society of America. Both were at summer seminars, which in those days were held in California. The first was at a seminar at Idyllwild in the mountains southeast of Los Angeles, where USC has a summer arts program. Hoppy played in an auditorium there that had a glass roof. It was not a large hall, but unfortunately there was a summer rain storm happening at the same time. Hoppy's playing was totally drowned out by the pitter-pat of the rain on the roof.
The other occasion worth mentioning was at Dominican College in San Rafael. I was fortunate enough to draw Hoppy Smith as a roommate. The night before his big concert, he said he hoped I didn't mind if he practiced a bit as I was heading to bed. Hoppy was focused on de Visée in those days, and I still remember falling off to sleep to the delicious sounds of his theorbo and Les Sylvains. Peter Danner On Oct 18, 2010, at 1:26 AM, Thomas Schall wrote: I can follow your comment about Hoppy because he is playing at a *very* low volume. I have heard him both in a large church playing as well as in a small salon. The first has been disappointing - the second has been a nice experience. I've heard Julian Bream in a larger room - volume has not been a problem at all . -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
