> First of all, the competition should be about the music, not > about > the instrument. It seems to me that musicianship always wins, and the > ones who don't win have not learned to express themselves within the > idiom. At least on the upper levels.And having been a judge, it is > nearly always really clear who has that spark or not.
You must be "judging" players other then fiddlers, because several of the "champion" fiddlers here in the US are about as interesting to listen to on a recording as cold oatmeal. There's no expression there, it's all been replaced by very well-polished precision. They're not really making music, they've turned it into a foot race or a figure-skating competition. Which traditional music isn't. As soon as that happens, traditional music has been damaged, then we might as well be classical musicians memorizing Scottish tunes off of sheet music. That's not why I'm into this. As far as I am concerned, that's not what traditional/folk music is about. Ask Paul Cranford what this music is about and he'll answer with one word "people.." > Third, some of music IS about sheer skill, on the upper levels, > and the winning musician has a combination of skill, concentration, > stamina, creativity, and interpretation. We're obviously coming from some very different frames of reference here. We're talking about traditional music here, not a recital at University for a music performance degree. The "winning musician" to me is anyone who works for a living all day, doing anything from trying to teach screaming little kids, to taking orders in a restaurant, to delievering packages in the dead of winter, then coming home and devoting what little free time they have left to trying to play something. Seriously, most of my favorite players are really technically not the best. Some of them don't even play within "normal" intonation. Some of them I am actually technically am a better player then. Yet they have something which makes their music really real, immediate, and they have a sound that is distinctly their own. > > I don't agree about the robots at all. Musical competition is > an > (optional) step on the ladder of becoming a performing musician. It > trains you in the idiom so that you can then stretch the boundaries and > perform in whatever manner you want. I don't say that this is the only > way to learn the idiom, but it is a pretty good one. It also looks good > on your resume, and unfortunately the rest of the world cares about > that. Get over it. I think the best way to learn the idiom is to spend alot of time listening to as many non-commerical recordings of players as possible, go to house parties, festivals, dances and to pay people visits at their houses. I've learned more about this music over cups of tea in kitchens then I have anywhere else. Resume? Folk musicians are generally not professional musicians. They're normal people who work for a living. Heck, even William Marsall wasn't a professional musician. Obviously that's not a hard and fast rule, today or in the past, and certainly plenty of folk musicians (including myself) have had formal training on their insturments. Honestly, most of the rest of the world doesn't give a damned about traditional music competitions. Most of the rest of the world doesn't really care about traditional music, period. It's just us. If there aren't attempts to spread interest in it on a grassroots level, it will slowly die. > > No, people get asked back to most gigs if they are minimally > competant, clean, nicely dressed (well, not always), and easy to get > along with. Only the most discriminating know when you are playing > well. People will listen to anything and tell you it is good. I think > you need the opinion of an expert/mentor/judge if you are to really > improve. What? I can't believe you said this.. I'm taking this as incredibly elitist. Maybe that's not how you meant it to sound, but that's the way I'm taking it. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
