RE: too loud

["Laughton, Bob" <LaughtonB@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm enjoying this ongoing discussion of music vs. volume. Volume does have it's place, but it's in stadium rock music, not in traditional club-scaled urban blues music. The thing I don't like about volume is that it puts a barrier between the performer and audience - literally a 'wall of sound'. Many on either side of the wall do enjoy the experience - I find that I generally do not.

My favorite music environment is the Irish 'pub session' where the players are essentially having a 'musical conversation' with each other, and often don't really care that much if the 'punters' (the audience of non-musician pub goers) can hear or not. It is 100% acoustic and melody-oriented. Rhythm instruments must mesh with and support the spirit of each tune, and the numbers are minimal - one each at the maximum of guitar, bouzouki/cittern, and/or bodhran (irish frame drum) - and in some instances rhythm instruments are excluded altogether.

Volume for it's own sake is all about power, and power is seductive. At this point the discussion has changed from music to politics.

Vince Cheney wrote:

> I got to admit, I never walked into many 
> juke joint to find the band isn't plugged in.

My sense is that in blues, the guitar and harp were orginally amplified primarily for the tonal qualities that resulted, and secondarily for higher volume - amplification did enable those lead instruments to be heard along with the piano, drums and upright bass. In other cultures and music, this is accomplished with brasses, banjos, bagpipes, and accordians. (Fill in your favorite instrument joke:-) The piano, drums and bass have acoustic volume sufficient for listening in a small club or juke joint, and don't need amps to create their 'sound'. 

> As mentioned in Crossroads, "Muddy Waters
> invented electricity". And he had sense enough 
> to known that quieter is better.

The times I saw Muddy Waters in club gigs, the guitars, harp and vocals were amplified - piano, bass and drums were not. The excitement and high energy came from their artistry, not their wattage.

Bob Laughton
California