|
|
Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Marcel Proust and Homemade Music
Have you ever read the essay "Self Reliance" by Ralph Waldo
Emerson? I think that he, and possibly his buddy Henry David Thoreau, would understand and applaud making your
own instruments and making your own music with them. If you haven't read this essay, or haven't read it in a
while, try to find a copy--it says a lot about being your own person (including artistically).
Several years ago I read "In Search of Lost Time" by Marcel Proust (all 4300 pages
of very convoluted language--it took two years). I remember somewhere in these books, probably in "Within
A Budding Grove," that Proust wrote about Beethoven's later string quartets having created and enlarged
an audience for his later string quartets. In other words, art creates its own audience--once a work of art is
in public view, it will affect how the public thinks about other art, and how artists think about their
own work. In a parallel vein, our expectation and hope is that homemade music will fashion and enlarge a public interest
in homemade music.
Why make and
play a homemade traditional instrument?
Not many people have heard of diddley bows or cigar box guitars Fewer have seen one Fewer still have heard one played--very few recordings exist Fewer still have built one and played it
Working with no frets—ear training? Working with different tunings (if more than one string)?
Unusual—attracts attention—what the heck is it??? Audience expectations are low—it is therefore extremely
entertaining to hear one in the hands of a good player.
Lightnin' Hopkins Carl Perkins Jimi Hendrix
Blind Willie Johnson BB King
Very little recording of these primitive instruments Amenable to experimentation
and innovation—number of necks, strings, DIY pickups, playing techniques, etc, etc.
|
