> At 05:57 PM 1/9/03 +0000, you wrote: >>Isn't that why lists like this exist? > > Aye, well...sorry. I'm mentally transferring problems I had with another > list onto this one. Thankfully, we're pretty focused on helping each > other here!
Yes, we're really special on this list. Most people actually get along and can agree to disagree. :-) Mostly because it's the same 25 people or so who have been doing most of the posting for years now (although the subscriber base for this list is actually quite large now, and keeps slowly growing). There are in general few catfights on this list, and more information exchange. We generally leave those catfights to some of the other traditional music lists :-) Heh.. Heh.. > How much variation in tempo would you think is acceptable for a reel > played for listening? How slow can one take it before people start > throwing things at you? Before Fiddlers start throwing things? I've found that you can get away with alot more playing tunes for an audience. It allows you to be alot more creative. I like that. Creative is good, robotic is bad.. Playing for dancers is cool in some ways (gives you alot of practice playing the same tunes, over and over and over) but it can also be a tramautic experience. It seems there's always some fat, bloated, listerbag, non-musician, in a kilt (you know the type, they look like tartan sofas) that wants to come up after every set and micromanage the music. Faster.. Slower.. The first part faster.. The second part slower.. Blah.. Blah.. Blah.. That's just part of the reason that I got so pissed off that I stopped playing the fiddle for an entire year. Now I'm back and I've adopted a much healthier attitude. I basically don't give a damned. I'm not playing music for a living, I have a good day job. I'm playing music because I love it, but heck music isn't even my only passion. Therefore I'm going to play whatever I want, however I want, and the only opinions that matter to me are those of people who actually know about the music and have a clue. If Charlie Gore or Nigel Gatherer says something, I listen carefully. If some bloated walking tartan sofa says something, I smile politely all the while thinking "What a freakin' tosser! I wonder how loud the thud would be if the floor opened up and he fell through to the bottom?" Okay, with that said, back to the question :-) Alot of people take creative license with tempo on tunes. For some reason the first one that comes to mind is that tune I think it's called "the Waulkin' of the Fould". I heard someone (maybe it was Johnny Cunningham) play it as a slow air. I've also heard it play very even and strathspey-ish by some old dude from Cape Breton (which one? I can't remember, maybe Fr. Morris?) Either way it's a pretty sweet tune. -- Toby Rider ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) "He either fears his fate too much, Or his deserts are small, That puts it not unto the touch To win or lose it all." - James Graham, Marquis of Montrose Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
