>Now when I play those tunes, whether on tape or live, I play them as a =
jazz
>player might.
>
>What I am wondering is, do you think that in olden times, the musicians
>played these songs "straight" or "jazz" style?
Mike,
This "jazzy" approach is what I've been doing ever since. I had =
jazz-based piano lessons before I started to play the harp, thus I =
felt free to take over some of the piano traditions I had grown up =
with. So, yes, I love playing that solo part in the middle, returning =
to the same tune, jig, whatever, afterwards, or ending up playing =
something completely different (boom!). But I think the ancient harp =
players did it in a different way. The Renaissance tradition of =
improvising suggests that any spontaneous melody is somehow related =
to the original tune - this is not what jazz people usually do. The =
lute players of, say, the 17th century, would have repeated the tune, =
robing it into more and more ornaments, and eventually returning to =
the original. At least this was one way of dealing with it. Another =
way is, as K=E5re pointed out, to have a given bass line onto which =
you apply your own chords and accompanying patterns or melodies.
I must say I like the idea to play with a given melody and returning =
to it afterwards. It's creative, it's fun. It's great. My experience =
with "classical" jazz musicians was that they could play an =
impressive amount of notes in a fraction of a second, but without =
caring much about the timbre, or the atmosphere, of the melody. Well, =
some of them cared, but they quitted their jobs and became folk harp =
players :)
(Please note that I have no negative attitude against jazz musicians. =
The definition of "jazz" that I use is in a more narrow sense of =
"mainstream" jazz, the type I was taught by my piano teacher. It is =
very difficult to deal with the terms "jazz" or "improvisation" in a =
broader sense.)
Yea, I guess that was it.
Ralf
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Ralf Kleemann, Heidelberg, Germany
*** Harfenspieler zum Mieten! ***
http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~rkleeman/
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