The Weekenders wrote:Most of what is perceived as snobbery is the result of two opposing tendencies: the tendency of the newcomer to be hyper-sensitive about their presentation and the tendency of the regulars to have control and hierarchies.
Hiya Weeks,
We also have a third factor: while newbies are hyper-sensitive about their own playing, they often don't notice things about what's going on around them---e.g., how the session is run, how often to start one's own tunes and when, as well as actual musical factors such as whether or not one is in tune, or in key, or off the beat, or too loud.
It happens quite a bit that a newcomer will hijack a pause just before someone else starts to play. Even if it's obvious to everyone else that the session is being run round-robin, or even if the whole group has just spent a minute begging a second newcomer to start a tune, and everybody else is facing that person. People are nervous, and miss these things. I guess it's also a matter of skill to be aware of the group dynamics, as much as being aware of the tempo.
BLAH BLAH BLAH ETC ETC ETC
That being said, I never encountered snobbebobbery at the local session, where people are happy to end a tune set with "shave and a haircut," or play a Boehm flute, or a piano accordion w/ the basses. Recently some guy started coming in with an amplified electric bass. But he's a really good musician with phenomenal listening skills and everything just works.
I suppose that with sufficient musical ability, there is no basis for instrumental snobbery.
Caj
"It might be a bit better to tune to one of my fiddle's open strings, like A, rather than asking me for an F#." - Martin Milner
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