Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Paganini Caprice #24; Chinese girls playing guitar

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Sun, 23 Jul 2006, Nathan Odle wrote:

> Mike Miller wrote:
> > It looks like some Chinese girls are learning to play rock guitar:
> >
> > http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3671728188155490115&q=guitar
> >
> > For some reason, American girls aren't learning to do that, at least not 
> > that well.  Why not?
>
> I don't know about the others who might have watched this, but color me 
> unimpressed.  Why?  Because that is the most soulless exhibition of 
> guitar playing, especially electric guitar, that I've ever seen.  I am 
> hardly surprised though, considering the other children I've seen play 
> instruments that were trained in Chinese music academies.  Something 
> about the Chinese culture must breed musicians that exceed technically 
> while missing out on a lot of what music is about.

Fine, but the thing I was bringing up there was that a female rock 
guitarist *can* have much stronger technical ability than we almost ever 
see in female guitarists.  Why do female rock guitarists almost always 
stick to rhythm guitar and not play lead?  There have been a few, and 
Bonnie Raitt is a great example of a female lead player (albeit 
bottleneck).  But where are the female shredders?

You may be right about Chinese musicians, but I think the Chinese attitude 
is more pervasive and not just in music.  They are relatively less 
emotional, more reserved and less fun-loving than are peoples of many 
other cultures.  Some would say "the Chinese are boring."  I don't feel 
that I know enough to make such a blanket statement but I have the 
impression that there is something to the idea.  Similarly, at the 
opposite end of the spectrum, black Americans are not likely to be called 
"boring people," as a group, but neither are they likely to be described 
as very reserved and detail-oriented.  It might be all culture or partly 
genetically-influenced.  No one knows.  But my point is that you might be 
seeing something in the music that is also present outside of music in 
other areas of expression among the Chinese.


> Ironically, I saw more feeling in the classical guitar performance you 
> linked.  Still no Segovia though.

Why is that ironic?  Could Segovia play that?  He had a great sound but I 
never heard anything from him that was as technically demanding (fast, 
anyway) as that piece (but that doesn't mean he never did it).  She is a 
great guitarist and she won the 2nd International Guitar Competition in 
Hong Kong in August 1998.

By the way, I guess I found a PDF of a guitar arrangement of Caprice #24:

http://www.delcamp.net/pdf/3_classique/paganini_caprice24.pdf

But it doesn't have fingerings, so it isn't really complete.

Mike

_______________________________________________
discussion mailing list
EMAIL:PROTECTED
http://mlug.missouri.edu/mailman/listinfo/discussion