Re: [Harp-L] OB's/Intonation

["Dave Murray" <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Since I'm a poor excuse beginner at the harp my opinion my not mean much but 
I'll opine away anyway. I don't think that any musician does not strive to 
make all of the technical aspects of their playing as good as they can make 
them. I certainly believe that the better it is, the better it is, but 
having said that I must ask, who is the listener? Years ago I was an amateur 
magician. Within the community of magicians there was a sub-community that 
specialized in performing for other magicians. Often the lay audience didn't 
get it with them, but other musicians loved them. Perhaps musicians 
sometimes get carried away with stuff to impress their peers that has 
nothing to do with the music for the general audience.

I sent the link to Iceman's "Summertime" to some non-musician music lovers 
at work. They all loved it. Interestingly a common theme, especially from 
the ladies, was "I loved the feeling/emotion". As a man who makes his living 
analyzing and using logical thought, hearing "feeling" drives me a little 
crazy since I can't define it, tell you why I think it's there, etc., but 
people, including me, do hear it, feel it, respond to it. I think that we 
must acknowledge that it is a musical quality, just like pitch and timing. 
Does it rule? I don't know. I do know that I can take a computer music 
program and create technically accurate music the I don't enjoy as much as a 
human musician who has deep feeling for what they are playing, even it the 
music has technical flaws. I suspect that most people feel the same way.

Peace and music,
Dave