Re: new tunes

[Todd Pafford <calenlas@gmail.com>]

Paul,

First, let me say that I'm excited to get back home so I can check out
your tunes.  I've long loved the hammered dulcimer and have played it
a bit years ago.  Wouldn't mind finding one again some day.

Regarding performance venues, one of the reasons I have (for the time
being) given up performing is due to the lack of suitable venues.  As
a performer, you've got to ask yourself what sort of performance is
expected/desired.  Are the audience there specifically to see/hear
music?  If so, great!  Go ahead and challenge them.  Presumably
they're there to listen.  If, on the other hand, they're there for
some other reason and the music is incidental, then a more
subdued/comfortable show is called for and you've got to play that
role.  Then, there are all of those occasions that fall in the grey
area in between which are harder to balance.  For me, there were too
few venues available with a listening audience and supportive
atmosphere.

Good luck to you and welcome to the community. :)
Todd

On 10/27/05, paul <phaslem@wightman.ca> wrote:
> Perhaps if you take a fairly obscure instrument like the hammered 
>dulcimer,
> tie it to another fairly obscure performance technique like looping, you
> certainly have something that's unique but maybe not accessible enough to
> most listeners? But then, that is also a common thread here, I recall a 
>few
> weeks back Kris having difficulty with venues that will let him explore 
>the
> sounds that he's interested in. There's a question there that has
> interested me for quite a few years. As an artist, do I provide 
>comfortable
> entertainment, or do I challenge people to listen to new things.