The point about KT's gracenotes isn't that they are there, but they are open-fingered. Not in the traditional manner - indeed 'a grievous error in smallpiping'. Tom Clough had gracenotes - but his style was to play those detached from the notes they decorated.
'There is no arguing with taste - some people like to do things one way, and other people know better' John -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu Sent: 28 May 2009 09:26 To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [NSP] Re: smallpipes >popularised by the media. As is KT. Maybe, but not in my case. I haven't lived in Britain for decade and she has not to my knowledge ever once been mentioned in the local media where I live (and I can't be bothered reading newspapers). I just got to know her through her CDs (after I had taken up nsp - I'd never heard of her before) and was blown away by the sheer musicality of her playing, quite apart from her stunning technique. OK, she chooses to throw in more gracenotes and slides than is to some people's taste, but taste is a matter of, er, taste. (isn't it?) I think it was John Liestman's book among other things that led me to believe than lots of gracenotes was a Good Thing. I think he writes something to the effect that an accomplished player will throw in all sorts of ornamentation that the beginner might miss. I don't have the book at hand. KT has mastered the tradition, internalised it, and built on it. She is a creator rather than a curator. But she seems to have committed the unforgivable crime of being too successful. These are my personal views. I also think Bach, Berg and the Beatles are pretty good. De gustibus etc. chirs -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html