Re Toby Rider and Sue Richards comments on traditional music and musicianship.
I have been listening to and studying Cape Breton fiddle music for over 60 years now. The best known CB fiddlers over that period of time were those with the highest skills on the instrument, without a single exception. There is almost universal acceptance as to who these players are [were] and that they are "traditional" players. As J. S. Skinner said and I quoted in my last e-mail: "An artist must be richly endowed by nature, but he must subject himself for a time to the rules and restrictions of technical art. From these some performers never escape, but a really great artist soars away into a region of freedom after his apprenticeship to art. The shackles to which he submitted are for him no longer 'bonds, but wings' " Or stating it another way, putting feeling or expression into music, traditional of otherwise, requires many skills; the more skills you've got, the more scope there is for feeling and expressions. An abundance of skills doesn't guarantee feeling or expression but a lack of them guarantees neither will be present. Alexander Mac Donald Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
