From: yarrowp@mscd.edu
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 1998 08:10:14 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: minstrel: filk, theft, taste and other points of argument
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>From: <mn13189@WCUVAX1.WCU.EDU> (Lord Eogan), on 10/8/98 7:00 PM:
>EwanMacColl did write his own songs, wonderful ones. 

Indeed.  I think most people on this list will be familiar with "The First 
Time Ever I Saw Your Face," recorded by, among others, Roberta Flack.  

>research into period music, which can be made more difficult when
>such changes are made.  In this case, exact reproduction is valued.

Agreed, but with a caveat:
Exact reproduction doesn't necessarily mean playing every note as written.  
Musicians of our period were expected to ornament, and to create 
variations.  It was only at the very end of our period that some composers 
began writing out lines with the ornamentation, and expecting their 
performers to adhere to the lines as written.  If you're playing a given 
line straight up, you're probably *not* playing it as it would have been 
played.

When I'm composing, I try to make clear whether I expect to the performer 
to ornament or adhere to the line.  I've written using both models - having 
a master recorder player ornament my work within the idiom of the culture I 
was emulating was a thrilling experience!  And the two I've heard play my 
"Puck's Dance" have played it completely differently.

Vivien


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