In Harp Digest #49, Julie M. Lehrman wrote :
>In the last few years there have been several books and
>recordings published of the Early Music of Scotland. Did
>anybody choose to compete in the Scottish Harp competition with
>a 16th or 17th century selection? Did that person use a replica
>of an "period" harp? How well was this repetoire recieved by
>the judges? How much leeway is given in what is acceptable as
>an "Air" since the modern distinctions of Airs, reels,
>strathspeys hadn't been invented yet?
While I can't speak for Alexandra Highland Games, I've seen all
sorts of music tried on at the New Hampshire games at Loon; from
modern compositions "in the Scottish style", to Greg Balcewitz
playing something he dredged from an ancient source, with wire
harp on left shoulder and hands reversed (which, arguably, maybe
isn't Scottish style, though historic). That got accepted, I think
the piece was from the Rowallan MS. Nothing done with bray
pins at Loon yet, and no baroquery so far. But the judges have
not been uniform in their attitudes. Some have allowed almost
anything, while others (Billy Jackson, for example) have a very
strict interpretation of what constitutes "Scots Tradition".
Though almost anything seems to have been accepted as an "air".
In the end, it comes down to the fact that in any competition,
you (as the old saying has it) "...don't get justice, but you get
the opinion of a judge".
Ellen Tepper used to tell the story of how she worked very hard
on an O'Carolan piece for an Irish competition, to get the sound
to where you couldn't tell if it was a Baroque or Irish piece,
because she felt it might be true to the original style. In the
competition, the judge marked her low because (you guessed !) he
"couldn't tell if it was a baroque or Irish piece".
>
>I'm hoping to get back to harp in the next year or so when I
>finish this damn dissertation, and I'm trying to figure out
>where to concentrate among the different styles of harp music
>that I love.
>
So play what you believe to be beautiful - if a judge at a
Highland Games doesn't approve, you are in no way diminished
by that opinion !
Peter Mac
peter_macaulay@DGC.ceo.dg.com