To whom it may concern, Thank you for keeping me entertained so thoroughly when I'm not actually making music or otherwise physically involved in it. I am wondering at this point, however, just how much some contributors know about the tradition and how accurate their informants have been. I am not talking about delving into old manuscripts here, but rather the living tradition.
I am fascinated by all aspects of traditional music and related arts in Northumbria a literally that region north of the Humber - because all aspects, music, song, community dance, ritual dance and, of course, piping, have survived to present day in that region; passed on without written aids from parents to offspring and neighbour to neighbour. The richness of this tradition is inspirational; my work with Jimmy Little makes me realise that my 27 years living and playing amongst such players was barely enough time to scratch the surface. Tidying up recordings of singers such as Jack Beeforth, Nellie Parkin and Mary Price (all from the Whitby area and recorded by my first pipes teacher David Hillery in the mid 70s) gives further insight into tradition and its processes. For me talk of "gold standard" in such traditional arts is out of place. It is a misleading statement in itself quite apart from its application to music of the people. Gold does have superficial appeal for some and intrinsic value for others. It is certainly the metal of choice for most professional microphone diaphragms and in that respect it possibly is the standard but it is not the whole story and is not the metal of choice for top-end microphones. Bruel and Kaejer turned to nickel for the unsurpassed neutral response of their 4006s. Neumann uses gold for their popular U87s (a snip at 1700GBP) but turn to titanium for their M150 (less of a snip at 3999GBP). Gold standard? Only in the sense that it is standard a a good starting place but not the last word by any means. Tom Clough was appreciated in his day but even his most famous protagonist Kennedy North was not totally won over by his playing. In 1929, having brought Tom down to London to play at a lecture on the smallpipes, Kennedy North wrote, "I will now ask Mr Tom Clough to play "Chevy Chase". This tune, as you know, is a very old one. It is simple and elementary, sits very well on the Northumbrian small-pipe, and is often played by Mr James Hall, the duke's piper, at Alnwick Castle. I want to say here that Mr. Hall's rendering is quite different in time and phrasing from that of Mr Clough, and if you would allow me to say so, much more to my likinga|" Kennedy North hit the nail on the head. Making it quite clear that there were very different, equally valid, nay personally preferable, styles of piping in the far north of Northumberland in Tom Clough's day.This is not, of course, an argument about style it's a statement about preference. Neither do I want to argue about style per se. If I was arguing for the "trueness" of one style over another I might have come up with Such Hardened Importunate Technique in reply to GUTS. No, my message is simple a there is room for all opinions in this heart-achingly frustrating activity but there should be no room for bigotry. Imagination leaps when I hear crisply articulated runs and flourishes but, in the words of Mr Kennedy North, "Personally I have got to the stage in the study of this subject when the very complicated and elaborate variations cloy my palate a littlea|" In looking beyond I discover that there is an unbroken tradition which uses all techniques available to the instrument and whose protagonists have the humility to say this is how we do it but you must make your own decisions. For some, titanium and nickel have it over gold. We should be celebrating this knowledge and the diversity it engenders. As aye Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
