Derek Hoy wrote: > As a paid-up member of the Anti-Variation Front, I couldn't disagree more. > Your Variationalism would have exactly the opposite effect- exhausting our > tune stock by grinding each melody into the ground and bringing the > Traditional Music Industry to its knees.
Lovely post, Derek. I detect a tongue in the cheek, but there are some serious points there, so - the Traditional Music Industry, eh? Yes of course there is a commercial element to trad music, but when the values of the market place are supreme, art dies. I am something of an enthusiast for variations because of my personal perceptions and experiences. I know they are not popular - they are of course deeply unpopular. I would not try to convince anyone, but I would mention that as a younger person I found jazz boring, and as an older person I realised it was because I didn't understand any of it. When I understood some of it I found that some jazz is indeed boring, and some isn't, with all the shades in between. Same with variations. Some of the best minds in traditional music have occupied themselves with variations and some of the best players have played them. I mentioned David Greenberg's Black Jock - if you don't like it, fair enough, but I'm surprised. To me the reason for variations is simple - if a tune is good, let's have more of it. > Collective tune playing would die out, Collective tune playing is only one aspect of the traditional music experience - enjoyable, but not the only way to fly. And of course it's not the best vehicle for variations. > And the fact that it is so popular among Northumbrians simply proves the > point. Please explain > Leave these boring, repetitious wanderings where they belong- in the dusty > tomes where even Gore feared to tread. Yes, but not the exciting, creative, challenging, and heart-melting ones. Cheers Matt Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
