Sigh.. This whole "what makes a style 'Scottish'?" question has
come up so many times on this list in the past, that it makes me sad and
tired just to think about it :-)
To put it bluntly, you have to be either not be listening, or
totally unfamiliar with the style to not hear it. I don't know of anyone
who can listen to a set by Tommy Peoples and get him confused with Alasdair Fraser.
Even my Chinese mother, who knows nothing about Scottish music can hear
the differences. The key is in repetitive listening and mimicking. Hundreds, thousands
of times, over and over. Just like learning a new language.
Even "sub-dialects" are pretty easy to pick out after just a
little while. John Campbell sounds nothing like Alasdair Fraser,
just like Oscar Peterson sounds nothing like Liberace. You can even tell
when listening to my favourite instrument in the world, the accordion
<very big smirk>. Sharon Shannon sure doesn't sound like Phil Cunningham.
If you don't know who any of those folks are, sounds like what we really
need to do is post a discography online and not waste time trying to prove
the obvious :-)
All of these written/verbal definitions are really just like
walking outside, pointing a straw at the ocean and saying "if you get out there and
swim
long enough, you will end up reaching Japan". That of course tells me
nothing about what kind of journey that might be, which is what is really
important. You have to get into the water. It's all entirely about the journey,
all about the process, the results are just a byproduct.
I am certain that if you were to follow anything I just said, that very
quickly the
questions would answer themselves.
Toby
On Thu, 12 Jul 2001, Wendy Galovich wrote:
> On Wednesday 11 July 2001 15:40, you wrote:
> > Wendy Galovich wrote:
>
> > Please don't be offended but I have concluded that you haven't read or
> > do not understand the two quotes which I included in my last e-mail.
>
> Um.. Actually I did read and understand them, and my own conclusion is that
> the main problem here is one of semantics and context.. more on that below.
>
>
> > The last line in the Turtis quote bears repeating here, "
> > I am concerned that we may be boring others on the list with this
> > discussion. If you wish to communicat further perhaps we snould do it
> > off list.
>
> Not yet. I have a question for you that I would like to ask in the forum of
> the list, because I think it would benefit many of us, if you would be so
> kind as to answer it; it has to do with the semantics issue, and revolves
> around the definitions of the following terms:
>
> - tempered scale
>
> - alternate scale
>
> I am not disputing exact scientific/musical definition of the tempered scale
> (which is not new information to me or to most of the rest of the list), nor
> am I challenging your comments about "alternate scales" per se. But the
> practical reality here is that English language is such that we often we find
> ourselves having to use it in an imprecise way, not out of ignorance but
> simply because the language lacks a specific word or short phrase to
> precisely describe the particular concept we're trying to express.
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