David Baker wrote: >>Had it not been for certain groups of musicians breaking the rules >>because what resulted sounded good to them, the only style of trumpet >>playing would be baroque, and jazz would not exist (to give but one >>example).
Hmmm...that is a very interesting take on the history of music, ignoring entirely the invention of valves (which allowed the trumpet to play in any key and to play diatonically and chromatically in the low and middle registers for the first time); the end of the trumpet guild system; the development of the brass band; the rise of mass production through industrialisation (which made instruments much cheaper); the influence of African music in New Orleans; and the overall gigantic changes that took place in Western music between the baroque period and the rise of jazz. Oh yes, and also the fact that jazz existed long before jazzers started to use the trumpet (Armstrong started on the cornet, for example). I'm afraid it wasn't all just a matter of some cool dudes audaciously deciding to "break the rules". But don't let me rigidly cramp your musicological style! >>I don't think it fair to call any style of playing any instrument >>'incorrect' simply because it does not adhere rigidly to tradition ... >>I would hope the NSP community was receptive to the efforts of young >>players (I hope at 22 I can still call myself one) expressing themselves >>through their chosen instrument and working hard in order to do so. If >>not, this 'tradition' is indeed in real danger of dying out. The trouble, though, is that traditions can get hijacked in a way that takes them far away from the essential nature of the music, so that someone's let-it-all-hang-out-baby self-expression comes to dominate. And with modern media, public funding, and publicity, the new style then takes over and the traditional one is forgotten. Cheers, Mister Nasty (using Paul Gretton's computer) To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
