Tud - In complete agreement with every word you wrote! How did you do
it?
Agreeablemann
On Jan 5, 2010, at 7:31 PM, Tud Jones wrote:
Since this topic seems to be (d)evolving into a bit of a comparison
of BG and OT styles, traditions, vitality etc, I thought I'd toss my
nickel into the kitty...To me, the main thing that impacts how a
musician will interpret a traditional music is what that player thinks
is most important about that tradition or what touches them the most
about it. This could be a variety of many things...technique,
politics, gender, popular culture, class, religion, ego, need/want to
make a living, soul, sound, what is going to attract that nice
lookin' boy or girl in the corner, etc etc...Folks will preserve the
things most important to them or the things that satisfy their
preconceived notion about a music or culture is all about. A few
opinions and thoughts...
While I highly respect the technique of Bruce Molsky, to me as a
listener, technique is the part of old time fiddling that he found to
be most important. He's obviously done his homework on the complex
bowing involved in some Southern styles. He also has wonderful
intonation. I think that his bow technique and great intonation has
been inspiring to lots of younger musicians like Alex, Tatiana and
others who come to OT music from a classical background. To me, the
new tradition being focused on is based on impeccable chops and that
is one of the points emphasized in the initial post in this thread. I
think contemporary bluegrass has the same priorities. Bluegrass has
always been about outstanding picking and singing but recent
generations focus more and more on flawless skills. It makes me wonder
if bluegrass could go down the same road that jazz did. Jazz began as
a vernacular music and became a new form of American classical music.
In the beginning you learned jazz on the streets, brothels and
speakeasy night clubs. Now you learn it in college. Bluegrass still
has some street credibility as hillbilly music (I use that term with
the utmost respect) but it too is beginning to show up in college.
Topher mentions in his post a workshop leader who mentioned that
"Old-time music was primarily music for dancing to and for
participating in, and that bluegrass was primarily a musical form that
showcased the musicians in a concert setting". I'll agree with
portions of that statement and argue for some other perspectives. I
think that nowadays OT music is primarily for dancing and
participating in but that approach to the music and culture of OT
music is dates to the 1960's and '70s rather than the 1860's-'70s. Tom
Carter (formerly of the Fuzzy Mountain String Band) has a wonderful
essay called "Looking for Henry Reed" that describes the new approach
and aesthetic that the Hollow Rock String Band had. They started the
"everybody play the melody" approach so common now. Alan Jabbour
himself wrote that the focus is on the music and the social
integration of the players and dancers as a group and not the
musicians as individuals. No individual would take a solo. This
"festival style" approach to playing OT music is what dominates the
scene today in my opinion. There are few folks out and about playing
OT music as you might have heard on a pre-war commercial recording.
Those records had lots of variety in instruments and
approaches...Wonderful singing instead of the current OT approach of
bellowing the tune out in unison. The older bands were also
polyrythmic (African influence) in their band styles rather than the
current unison (European influence) approach.
As to bluegrass, it was definitely an elite-level, performance based
music played by professionals at the beginning. Today, any stroll into
the campground at the fester will show bluegrass alive as a true folk
music with lots of non professional pickers at all levels from rank
beginner to powerful.
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