Hello Anthony,
Yes I mostly agree, though not on the particular point of the Peacock/
Clough issue. Surely it's the intentionally limited resources of that
repertoire which is so especially demanding on musical intelligence
and nuance. As dots, some of that stuff looks simultaneously difficult
and trivial to the eye , but the ear knows how mistaken that view is
when the music is heard from Chris or Adrian.
Completely in accord with all of your other well said points.
And yes the opening set at the NPS concert did sound good, though
sadly I can't share the credit since that was the Salisbury group.
Francis
On 3 Nov 2009, at 13:53, Anthony Robb wrote:
Dear Francis
I am not against dots per se but rather like pain-killers they have
to be used carefully and with appreciation of their drawbacks/dangers.
• Using dots without lots of prior listening for people with
limited experience and knowledge of the tradition makes it almost
impossible for them to produce a convincing nuance-enriched
rendition of the traditional pieces. This is a bit less critical in
Peacock/Clough type pieces where the inherent intricacy of the
structure/variations makes little space for personal interpretation
in the first place. Interestingly, I recently heard Stewart Hardy
make a similar point re much of the Scott Skinner fiddle material.
• Coming at a tune from the dots makes far more difficult to
memorise the piece. If dots are still needed at the performance
stage a goodly amount of brain capacity goes to responding to the
dots rather than listening to what is happening or controlling the
instrument.
Having said this we’ll be dotting in my class at The Sage Gateshead
this evening but as participants will testify I am doing my best to
wean them off.
Regards
Anthony
P.S. If I may make so bold, the Playford type pieces with which you
opened the second half of the NPS concert last month worked
beautifully with the dots as a faithful rendition of what’s written
fits the smooth elegance of that style of dance.
--- On Tue, 3/11/09, Francis Wood <oatenp...@googlemail.com> wrote:
From: Francis Wood <oatenp...@googlemail.com>
Subject: [NSP] Re: [BULK] Re: [nsp] file - William Darling
To: "Anthony Robb" <anth...@robbpipes.com>
Cc: "NSP group" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 3 November, 2009, 10:15 AM
On 3 Nov 2009, at 10:01, Anthony Robb wrote:
> In my 20+ years playing up north I got to at least a couple of
hundred
> dances, parties, sessions, music evenings & concerts with a fair
few
> established players and never saw a page of dots used once
Perhaps they were saying "Look out, its that Anthony. Quick, hide
the dots, everyone!"
More seriously, Anthony, Margaret & others, I am hugely enjoying
this correspondance which shows this list at its best. Thanks for
some great stuff.
Important that it gets written down, and even if it gets no further
than an email posting, that in itself has some permanence.
Francis
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