>Used occasionally it's not too >intrusive. I think the hard line taken by Clough, Adrian and >I is really an attempt to reign in some of the worst excesses >of open technique.
Nicely put, though I enjoy a good choyte now and then. This is probably heresy to some, but I think it's arguable that Clough's was only one possible way of playing and the one most approved of at the time. there may be more. There is a difference between "bad" and "different" isn't there? As between "wrong" and "not to my taste" or "not in my tradition". Django Rheinhardt was a great guitarist but should we proscribe the use of all four fingers? Heifetz and Grappelly were both great but very different violinists and some people can even put up with Joe Venuti (true, he had technique). How's about - to stay within the "folk" or "traditional" ambit - the fiddling of, say, Willie Taylor versus say, Martin Hayes? Same instrument, very different way of playing, both valid. What about singing? Does Pavarotti or Tom Waits do it "correctly" and the other not? Frankly I can't bear to listen to either of them. Give me Harry Cox or Freddy Mercury any day. Er, and Emma Kirkby. They all do it right. c To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
