I take my lute once a week to the kindergarten. The children love the
sound and start singing once they see it. We sing their songs, of
course, but the divisions I do for every stanza would fit renaissance
music just as well.
And I take it to hospital for visits. I don't open the suitcase unless
requested, but when I do, most patients love it. One advantage of
hospitals in terms of acoustics is that the floors are of very hard
material. You may effortlessly play short easy pieces in slow pace.
Mathias
__________________________________________________________________
Gesendet mit der [1]Telekom Mail App
--- Original-Nachricht ---
Von: Nancy Carlin
Betreff: [LUTE] Re: Early Music life
Datum: 05.01.2018, 0:22 Uhr
An: Alain Veylit
Cc: lutelist Net
I have played in them as well and most of the people there are in the
80s, a lot with some kind of dementia, so they like pop tunes from
their
youth. I talked with someone at one of those places last year and she
said that our kind of music works better in retirement homes in upscale
communities with more of the demographic that might have been concert
goers in their youth.
I have also played in restaurants and coffee shops over the years.
Chains don not work at all - they want each of their places to be
exactly the same and lute music does not fit with their corporate
image. Here in California even the ones that are not part of a chain
like to look they are a chain and have done their research about the
local communities they draw from. The last one I played at was fine
until a new owner came in and decided that looking like a sport bar was
a better image to make more money. That said, if I had a mailing list
of active lute music fans, I probably would have been able to stay
there
playing in what was a dead time in their schedule.
Nancy
> I remember playing at a "retirement home" once. Most depressing thing
> ever - the pensioners were all down on heavy drugs and one foot away
> from the grave... or one push of the wheelchair away, more
> accurately. After that, playing at the veterans hospital was a
truly
> joyful experience. You do the gigs you can, specially when they are
> payed.
>
> One of my friends, a jazz player with a golden album, used to play in
> local bars and got minimal audiences with minimal attention spans for
> music. Jazz is still popular in Europe, but all but dead here. Part
of
> it I think are the venues: streets, metro stations and restaurants in
> Europe lend themselves to music, particularly in the summer.
>
> Any brave soul tried to play at a McDonald's or a Starbucks?? I am
> wondering how many seconds it would take to see them ejected by
> "management".
>
> Also, watching The Blues Brothers does not encourage acts of musical
> bravery in local bars deep inland...
>
>
>
>
>
> On 01/04/2018 01:57 PM, John Mardinly wrote:
>> I played my lute at a hospice once. Went over like a lead
balloon.
>> Classical guitar was better received.
>>
>> A. John Mardinly, Ph.D., P.E.
>> The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
>> Francisco Goya
>>
>> On Jan 4, 2018, at 2:38 PM, Tristan von Neumann
>> <[1]tristanvonneumann@[2]gmx.de>; wrote:
>>
>> My proposition would be the following:
>> Assemble a team: three lutists minimum!
>> If possible, add recorders, Renaissance guitar, cittern etc.,
a
>> dulcian
>> and a trombone, and for the sake of beats some Renaissance
>> percussion.
>> If you have a portable organ, get it on stage.
>> Go to your local jazz club and pitch "Early Music Jazz Jam
Session".
>> When playing, have the musicians occupy the functions of
respective
>> jazz musicians.
>> Jam the hell out of Passamezzi, Romanescas, Bergamascas etc.,
>> throw in
>> some song standards like Vestiva I Colli or Can She Excuse, do
>> virtuoso
>> solos. I bet the audience will have fun.
>> Get that stick out of your spine and rock the venue.
>> Am 04.01.2018 um 20:52 schrieb
>> [2]theoj89294@[3]new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu:
>>
>> Having friends in psychology, economics, and
>> marketing/advertising, we
>> have had this discussion over beer. And the general
conclusion
>> was that
>> most artists (including early music artists) ought
not be
>> lamenting
>> about why people don't show up to appreciate their
art, but
>> rather they
>> should be discussing how best to draw in an
audience. Think
>> about
>> it,
>> if a graphic artist wants to put on an exhibit, they
will
>> bringing
>> alcohol, maybe food, hire a musician, and create an
inviting
>> atmosphere
>> for socializing. Moreover, symphony orchestras also
have this
>> problem
>> and their partial (yet successful) solution are the
multimedia
>> programs; live performance of film music over film
clips of
>> Harry
>> Potter, Star Wars, etc.
>> The fact (sad or not) is that audiences have MANY
distractions
>> pulling
>> their attention nowadays. Music alone, no matter how
pure or
>> inspirational, won't draw an audience as much as
music PLUS
>> something
>> else - drama or a story, visuals, alcohol, dance,
etc. I
>> think it
>> would
>> behoove early music artists to start thinking about
this and
>> corroborating and creating more engaging programs.
And there
>> are
>> successful examples of this out there, but there
needs to be
>> more.
>> One more thing, I am also reminded of a program done
years
>> ago by
>> Steven Wade (?) called 'Banjo Dancing' (?). He
performed as one
>> man
>> with a banjo. He played, told stories, sang, and had
a truly
>> engaging
>> performance. And it drew audiences. There is
absolutely no
>> reason
>> why
>> something similar couldn't be done by a lutenist
given some
>> talent and
>> hard work in creating such a stage performance. And
as a
>> disclaimer, I
>> am not a professional musician, so these are merely
my
>> opinions,
>> looking in from the outside.
>> --
>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>>
[3][4]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmo
>>
[5]uth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwICaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp
>> 9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt
>> 90E&m=zLSUUnLA-CM0h9CGL2p3ZcEQaIF66KbYX69O72O_gzE&s=FzgyZfw29MD4UirX
>> a5aFHV6UuLzftDiQdgDXANkxjnU&e=
>>
>> --
>>
>> References
>>
>> 1. mailto:tristanvonneumann@[6]gmx.de
>> 2. mailto:theoj89294@[7]new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 3.
>>
[8]https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth
.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwICaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n
1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=zLS
UUnLA-CM0h9CGL2p3ZcEQaIF66KbYX69O72O_gzE&s=FzgyZfw29MD4UirXa5aFHV6UuLzf
tDiQdgDXANkxjnU&e=
>>
>
>
>
--
Nancy Carlin
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
[9]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
PO Box 6499
Concord, CA 94524
USA
925 / 686-5800
[10]www.groundsanddivisions.info
[11]www.nancycarlinassociates.com
--
References
1. http://www.t-online.de/service/redir/email_app_android_sendmail_footer.htm
2. http://gmx.de>/
3. http://new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu/
4. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmo
5.
http://uth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwICaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp/
6. http://gmx.de/
7. http://new-old-mail.cs.dartmouth.edu/
8.
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwICaQ&c=l45AxH-kUV29SRQusp9vYR0n1GycN4_2jInuKy6zbqQ&r=VLPJ8OE-c_C6joGeE1ftlvxMmQPq9N6mpKZONBRt90E&m=zLSUUnLA-CM0h9CGL2p3ZcEQaIF66KbYX69O72O_gzE&s=FzgyZfw29MD4UirXa5aFHV6UuLzftDiQdgDXANkxjnU&e
9. http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org/
10. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/
11. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/
