Derek Hoy, of this parish, and I spent Burns night with the other Bella McNabs in the fiddler's byke at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. This was a dance, rather than a supper, although there was a haggis bar, and an outsize version of the dish was duly toasted by Stan Reeves (also of this parish, but uncharacteristically quiet of late....) We attempted one song, but retired defeated by the Assembly Rooms' wholly unhelpful acoustic. It's a magnificent space, but it's not much fun to play because of the difficulty in being heard and getting a good sound.
Which brings me to a question. How did they do it in the old days without amplification? This question is prompted not only by many years of struggling with the Assembly Rooms, but by an experience we had in a small village hall last year, when severe winds knocked out the power lines to the village. We carried on with the gig we were doing, un-powered, but it was not easy to be heard, or to hear each other. I know that the acoustic design of the ballroom at the Assembly Rooms is helpful for concert settings, more so if the amplifying properties of the 'byke' are used, but it still leaves me puzzled about how musicians fared at dances there. In the days before electricity were people much quieter than they are now? You could imagine a certain gentility and politeness in the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, but you would expect other gatherings to be a bit more vigorous and boisterous. Were gatherings smaller? Did fewer people dance at a time? Were the bands bigger (I'm thinking about the pre-accordion era)? Did musicians play louder? Any thoughts? David Francis t/f (44) (0)131 557 1050 (o); (44) (0)131 669 8824 (h) Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
