Richard York wrote a very thoughtful posting ending: And yes, a really good player can make a poorer [insert instrument name here] sound better, and a music-less player is never going to make anything sound wonderful, but I do feel there are too many instruments of all sorts out there - whether harps, gurdies, squeeze boxes, fiddles or smallpipes, sold as "a beginner's instrument" to people who don't get the reward they deserve for lots of hard work, and may not even realise why. And that does perturb me on their behalf. Dunno if this helps at all. Regards, Richard.
Thank you Richard for some calm common sense. I too often take the bait and get stuck in before giving real thought to my relpies. I did make sure that people knew on this occasion if they should be deleting at source so to speak but I give postings the benefit of the doubt, take them seriously and give full replies if I have time. I rose to the bait in a knee-jerk fashion re the Blackbird comparison from John Gibbons. I should have simply replied: don't be daft, I heard Greg's Blackbird 15 years before Chris Ormston's. Was I supposed to think don't be seduced by this music because: a) it is not being played on pipes and b) in 15 years time a Northumbrian piper might offer a (much less interesting) version of it? It would have saved us all, you especially, a huge chunk of time. Warmest & best Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html