Re: [microsound] good instruments vs good music

[Michal Seta <mis@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 8 Nov 2002 10:42:00 -0800
Soren wrote:

> You can't have a good instrument without good music because why would
> anybody bother to build them?  It's evolution, the bad instruments stop
> being built and the good ones get improved upon.  What defines them is
> good has always been how they are used.

Well, I don't think that the lute or the viola da gamba or the theorbo stopped being built because they were bad instruments or that the music that was written for them was bad...  While you could argue that a guitar is "an improvement" over a lute, I'd disagree (not here, not now.  Ask me if you want).  And there's still good music being written for the renaissance and baroque instruments and there are still _a few_ instrument makers that build them (mostly out of love for those) but they're too expensive (hence, less popular.  Anyone can buy a guitar now, even for less than a 100$...).  Those instruments were pushed away by louder instruments, whenver louder instruments were needed for larger concert halls.  I guess we're getting back into marketing/business side of music with this...

Also, while many instruments were being improved the western culture was calling for standards: equal temperament, major & minor mode etc.  There's a lot flavour in the music that has been lost.  On the viola da gamba (and the old lute) the frets were made of gut (the same gut as the strings) and wrapped around the neck (no, not the player's neck, the instrument's).  You could move the frets to accomodate different tunings!  If you want to play Just intonation guitar you have to rip your frets away!.  Also, if you look at the music, there was much greater variety of tuning systems (in terms of which string tunes to what pitch) which also provided a greater variety of possibilities.  Times have changed, things got standardised and I'm not so sure if they actually improved.

And while we're at it, I don't think it's about the instrument...  It's how you use it.  Composers are to be blamed for bad music, not instruments.

I think I'll go do some Dowland covers now...

-- 
../MiS

Michal Seta		http://creazone.eworldmusic.com/doc/mis
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