Matt opined: > To me the art of variations stands in great contrast to the omnipresent > medley approach. It is more ecologically sound - recycling and enriching > the tune rather than disposing of it after one or two plays and on to > the next - but then I'm old-fashioned that way.
As a paid-up member of the Anti-Variation Front, I couldn't disagree more. Your Variationalism would have exactly the opposite effect- exhausting our tune stock by grinding each melody into the ground and bringing the Traditional Music Industry to its knees. Collective tune playing would die out, as no one would know when a tune was finished. Different factions would compete, with the RSAMD students becoming drilled in their own sets (all copyrighted by B Mcneill), and competing with the Plocktonite tendency who would slip in Clapton riffs in retaliation. And the fact that it is so popular among Northumbrians simply proves the point. Leave these boring, repetitious wanderings where they belong- in the dusty tomes where even Gore feared to tread. Derek Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
