benhall.1 wrote:
... a friend of mine is a good musician, and, after a few years, he still needs a bit of a steer every now and then, not so much as to what to listen to, as to what not to listen to ... he'll come up with some accomplished sounding musician on YouTube, who is playing with beautiful, classical tone, with some but not all of the idiomatic phrasing, and who, on inspection, turns out to be playing an exact replica of an incorrect version of the tune from the session.org.
Ah. Good point. If the expression comes discernibly from classical influence, it's probably not a good fit in a Trad context. More like usually, actually. In fact, I can't think of a time where it ever worked. That stuff's really more suited for the orchestra pit.
Not that there's anything wrong with classical training; it can give you a lot of technical advantages if you can shed its aesthetic clutches.
Sounding classical (what a friend calls "sexy") is the problem, in ITM particularly. I know a Trad fiddler who's classically trained, but you'd never know it, which is pretty brilliant. The only way his training comes out is in his command of technical skills; he makes astute and appropriate use of them in dedicated service to the Trad sound - and which any trained ear would say he certainly has. What you hear is pure, natural Trad with very good and sure technique. It's a winning combination.
I have to say though, Ben, that after a few years you must be starting to despair for your friend. Does he not listen to Trad's lions?