--- On Thu, 30/6/11, Francis Wood <oatenp...@googlemail.com> wrote:
Hello again, Anthony, One question arises over the issue of absorbing a regional musical accent: which side of the hill are we talking about? If the hill is big enough, the style will be pretty different. Northumberland is a huge county, where travelling in the old days would not have been that easy. Aren't we talking about a variety of musical accents here? Hello Francis Absolutely. Indeed we are, but the nub of the issue for me is that it is the only unbroken/surviving one and the most distinctive when it comes to dance music. As you rightly pointed out, a strong lilt means that even moderately good players can make musically pleasing attempts at traditional tunes. Modern day players taking on that style of playing can fall back on a couple of hundred years of experience and refinement to show them how to make real music with fairly plain tunes and they'll also be doing their bit to keep the style alive and therefore add to the tradition. As I have said before, it's not everyone's cup of tea but it is very special and is as distinctive as the instrument with which we all do regular battle. Sermon definitely over - promise. Warmest & best Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
