Dick,
I got a gig playing guitar background music at a high class restaurant
once. It so happened that I had a lute gig the next day, so, unasked, I brought
my lute along with the intention of alternating sets. I started with guitar,
then did a few lute pieces and then took a break. After the break I began again
with guitar. As soon as I started, I saw the chef/owner come out of the
kitchen, walking hurriedly in my direction. I thought maybe he was perturbed at
having hired a guitarist and instead gotten some guy playing an esoteric
instrument.
"Hey, that long neck thing - what is it?" he asked, impatiently.
I told him.
"Well, I hope you play a lot more of it. It is just so cool!" he said.
I ended up playing lute there almost every Saturday and I got money and some
excellent food in return.
Anyway, one of the pieces I did on lute that night was "Norwegian Wood." I
didn't make an official arrangement; I just sort of played melody and bass on
the fly. A couple who was at a table nearby suddenly stopped talking and stared
at me. Again, I wondered if they thought I was butchering it, or if they were
early music peeps driven mad by JAID (Joyless Artistic Intolerance Disorder).
After I finished, they explained that long ago, the guy had played it on his
guitar for his wife-to-be on their first date, and ever after it became "their
song." (Which is sort of ironic if you know the words.) They gave me an
extraordinarily generous tip.
So apparently, the secret formula to restaurant background music is
Lute+Beatles tunes=Success.
Chris
Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
www.christopherwilke.com
--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 6/21/14, Dick Hoban <[email protected]> wrote:
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Appropriateness of play list
To: "Christopher Wilke" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Lute List" <[email protected]>, "Edward C. Yong"
<[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, June 21, 2014, 2:36 PM
Ha! That does sound interesting? Do
you have a lute setting of "Norwegian Wood" you can share?
Dick
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 21, 2014, at 8:29 AM, Christopher Wilke <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Edward,
>
> Keep in mind that the food is probably
about as authentically Italian as a taco. (I'm guessing. If
they do serve actual regional Italian cuisine, the food is
going to be the star, not the music.) Your audience will
most likely get more of a kick out of hearing "Norwegian
Wood" on the lute than Francesco.
>
> Chris
>
>
> Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A.
> Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer
> www.christopherwilke.com
>
> --------------------------------------------
> On Sat, 6/21/14, Edward C. Yong <[email protected]>
wrote:
>
> Subject: [LUTE] Appropriateness of play list
> To: "Lute List" <[email protected]>
> Date: Saturday, June 21, 2014, 1:03 AM
>
> Hi fellow lutenetters!
>
> So I've been asked to do an Italian restaurant gig in
July,
> two sets of thirty minutes each.
>
> Should I bother selecting Italian music appropriate for
a
> specific time period - e.g. dances from Negri and
Caroso? Or
> should I just play through '58 Very Easy Pieces for
> Renaissance Lute'?
>
> Does anyone else get into these struggles for
> 'authenticity'? I doubt anyone would even notice if I
played
> an all-English repertoire of Greensleeves,
Packington's
> Pound, and Fortune my Foe on repeat, but I'd like to be
a
> bit better than that.
>
> Edward Chrysogonus Yong
> [email protected]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
>
>
