psmithltd @ p3 of short paper wrote:
Dr. Richard Henebry deals with the issue extensively: “Persons who are in the habit of referring Irish music to ‘composers’ insist very strongly on having what they call correct versions. They seem to think that there is an absolutely fixed setting which pre-eminently holds the palm beyond all others. … n playing dance music, [all] the good players introduc[e] changes every time the tune came round, and the musician who could not play in that style was not regarded as a master. And as to versions of tunes, whenever a musician heard a note or an accent change in a tune that he considered an improvement, he straightaway incorporated it into his own version.”
In Baroque music, composers expected the musician to bring an element of improvisation to the performance, in some cases significantly and in other cases at the level of ornamentation only.
Indic composition operates with similar expectations. Of course, unlike Baroque compositions, those of the Indic classical tradition are solfa notated for an oral tradition and are fairly skeletal simply recording an original theme within a modal scale marked by a certain distinctive phrase/s. Protocols within the tradition guide how the theme may be developed and presented in the various movements. (I compose in the latter vein).
PC Smith Esq., I am still going through your piece as light reading. Its fun.
