----- Original Message ----- From: "EUGENE BRAIG IV" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Roger E. Blumberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "bill kilpatrick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "LUTELIST" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 1:32 PM Subject: [LUTE] Re: For Bill -- Small bodied vihuela-viola-guitars come charango? -- was Re: Bad translation
> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Roger E. Blumberg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Saturday, December 3, 2005 4:26 pm > Subject: [LUTE] Re: For Bill -- Small bodied vihuela-viola-guitars come charango? -- was Re: Bad translation > > > Not to worry, taking charango under the wing will not break our > > back ;') > > ..And I sincerely doubt anybody would slight you for it because it is as cool an instrument as any other. However, trying to impose a name for it on everybody else of the world, a name with absolutely no precedent in reference to some speculated conceptual heritage that has had absolutely nothing to do with the mindset of the players and builders of the instrument for generations, strikes me as a little silly, a lot disrespectful, and quite inhibitory to communication with other people familiar with the vocabulary. > > Eugene > I think we're in bigger trouble when "mindset" becomes the key definer of an instrument and family. There is no single mindset that could ever define any musical instrument. Then again, elitism, exclusivity, and snobbery, could be a "mindset" that's currently part and parcel of the allowed definition of what vihuela were and are, and even what lutes were and are, for that matter. There's all kinds of mindsets that are disrespectful and not representative of the persons, places, and times, people would like to believe they currently represent and speak for. What seems silly to me is the notion that one additional course, the 6th, is the only thing that can make you "a man", and a "real" vihuela player. The term "vihuela" was in use for hundreds of years before that 6 course lute-tuned slab-constructed plucker showed up. The definition even then changed many times and applied to many instruments, plucked, plectrumed, and bowed, any number of strings, any number of tunings, many styles of playing. Yet now, today, some people seem to feel they have the market cornered on the word, and concept, some single organological definition, configuration, number of decades in one single century, and now even one "mindset". I think there might be a couple of historical figures who would question who it is you (the collective) think you're representing and protecting from disrespectful and inaccurate representations, who's name you're using in vain. A similar kind of snobbery exists in people who would define and reserve the word "musician" only for people who read music. One style, one way, one mindset, one path, for all, that's the ticket. Fall in line, get with the program. I have no burning need to call charango a vihuela. I won't loose any sleep over it one way or the other. Bill has the right to see all the iconography he wants, and to make whatever connections he believes he sees. We're all prone to seeing and hearing what we want to see and hear, and we all apply a different set of filters. And new filters sometimes reveal the darnedest things, by golly. New adaptations, change, _is_ respectful of tradition, and does accurately reflect history. I think all the New World adaptations of original model vihuela-guitars is admirable, commendable, worthy of respect, and inclusion, in that big diverse family of ours. Get over yourselves, comes to mind, for some reason. I do respect what most people are trying to do here, on this list, generally, whatever kind of historical lute they fancy focusing their attention on, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 courses, bowl-back or flat back, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, or 18th century, seven frets or ten, plucked, plectrumed, or bowed. Right there, that should tell you there is no one way, no one mind-set, no one configuration or style. On one hand, vihuelas of any kind seem to be almost an unwelcomed topic here, grudgingly tolerated, and must be spun-off to a separate and segregated other group and list. And on the other, some are now feeling the need to take up the torch in defense of vihuela, or at least of some three or four decade incarnation of vihuela, an incarnation they might see fit to recognize as being potentially worthy of their consideration and inclusion, yet still a "lesser lute", even at 6 courses -- that apparently magical number where "respect" kicks in, if you're lucky ;'). I'm not looking to make any enemies here, nor insult anyone, nor anyone's love of trying to recreate more authentic period-bubbles to live in and explore. I enjoy the exercise myself. The best bubbles, I think, are usually a little _more_ inclusive, rather than less. That's probably the bottom line, and the thing that's likely to make me react, i.e. any jacket that's just a little too tight, and any club that thinks it's a little too exclusive. Then, I might just be tempted to start playing devils advocate, just for the sport of it. ;') Roger To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
