Hello again, Anthony, One question arises over the issue of absorbing a regional musical accent: which side of the hill are we talking about? If the hill is big enough, the style will be pretty different. Northumberland is a huge county, where travelling in the old days would not have been that easy. Aren't we talking about a variety of musical accents here?
Francis > On 30 Jun 2011, at 20:09, Anthony Robb wrote: > > --- On Thu, 30/6/11, Francis Wood <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello Anthony, > I don't think we disagree. At Stuart Hardy's musical altitude, I'm sure > you're right. > That's a level I can only admire but never approach. On a more basic > level, playing the tune with a dotted rhythm will get you through in a > far less exposed manner than playing straight, which would seem to be > an ability to acquire before refining the playing to a more regionally > idiomatic expertise. > > Hello Francis > I'm still not sure I can agree completely. > I've taught lots now myself (more or less regularly since 1976 and > mostly beginners/youngsters) - probably in the region of 3500 > pupil-hours and found that (hornpipes aside - which are slowish anyway) > people get get away with jigs and reels played steady and straight but > as soon as we try and dot/lilt them they fall away after a bar or > two.This is especially true of (even) slowish jigs. I used to take the > approach you outline; get them playing evenly and steadily and then put > the regional (some would say the all important) accent in afterwards > but getting people to feel a good lilt and use it consistently after > having spent months mastering the straight version has proved very > difficult indeed. > In recent years I've tried to get the lilt in from the off so that even > if fingers aren't responding the brain would be taking something in and > it seems to work better. Of course the old guys would never hear the > straight version in the first place and they have the steadiest pace > and control I've ever heard. > Scottish and Irish bands were popular in Northumberland but when the > old guys swiped their tunes they used their own accent to play them. > Sadly that distinctive accent is all too rare these days and it would > be great to see more pipers from this area taking it on. The problem is > how best to achieve it - which ever way we tackle it results are a long > time coming. > As aye > Anthony > > -- > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
