Talking about "expression" outwith the context of tone, technique and rhythm is like talking about tone as detached from tuning. The most moving performances are always a combination of all three. One may play the greatest expression in the world, but if it is on an instrument the is not well tuned, it ain't music. If the rhythm is pushed -- as dance tunes often are from players with limited technique -- then it ain't music. Tone and technique are pre-requisites for playing good expression.
As someone coming originally from the Highland tradition, all elements of NSP came fairly quickly to me -- except for the silences. I was struck very quickly by how well the clever players can use these to inject rhythm, feeling and humour into their tunes. But this ability is very much dependent on their mastery of technique. Without technique, expression can't get past the fingers and out the chanter. I've always been a believer, with any bagpipe, that if you want to improve your ability to play expressively, you do well to work on your technique. Jim McGillivray MCGILLIVRAY PIPING www.piping.on.ca www.pipetunes.ca On 2010-12-21, at 5:41 AM, <christopher.bi...@ec.europa.eu> wrote: > <There is no more expression in those who can play the detached method with > feeling. > > This seems an odd statement from one such as Adrian. Is there a word missing? > E.g. "than ..." (... in those who can play the detached method with feeling)? > Or shouldn't the word "no" be there? > c > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
