Hello Philip & All
That certainly livened things up a bit!
Can I make it clear that I'm in favour of bounce and lift however it is
achieved.
With regard to the idea that tunes have to be played faster for
dancing, we come back to the point that an up-tempo reel in other
traditions becomes a slower bouncy rant in Northumberland. Try doing
Hesleyside Reel as a full on reel and the music vanishes; slow it down
and give it bounce a beautiful; and not just for dancing!
Coming back to Dick's point about ear training can I blow my own
trumpet a bit and tell a wee story from the last Darlington Folkworks
Workout 4 or 5 years ago. Scene: dance, band: "scratch" (consisting of
3 fiddles + piano). Robin Dunn had gone through the dance and told the
other two fiddlers Stewart Hardy & me the three tunes to play a each
twice through. The first two tunes were fine, the third tune was not
only not the one mentioned but also completely new to the rest of us.
It worked somehow and the band carried on till the end, the dancers
were appreciative and returned to their seats. When asked what the
third tune was, Robin said he hadn't a clue - he'd forgotten the tune
he was going to play and set off making a new tune up as he went along.
Stewart & I played notes that seemed to fit and when the dancers were
told what had happened voiced disbelief then gave us a standing
ovation.
By all means use dots but also listen, listen and listen again; you
know it'll do you good.
As aye
Anthony
--- On Thu, 11/6/09, Philip Gruar <phi...@gruar.clara.net> wrote:
From: Philip Gruar <phi...@gruar.clara.net>
Subject: [NSP] Re: re notes v. ear
To: "Dartmouth N.S.P. site" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Thursday, 11 June, 2009, 12:33 AM
Can I just say, with particular reference to Richard's last post, that
I am in no way claiming any superiority for the classically-trained
position. Reading my post again, it looks a bit as if I am.
I enormously admire all those who play mostly by ear. I think on the
whole they are better musicians than me - but I just wanted to defend
those of us who play best from the written music against the charge of
alway and inevitably playing without any life and expression.
Communication with listeners is always best without the music-stand in
the way, of course.
Philip
To get on or off this list see list information at
[1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
