New tune books and new pianists (was: Two more tune queries)

Anselm Lingnau

June 8, 2009, 3:11 p.m. (Message 56050)

Malcolm Brown wrote:

> "The Peat Inn" is published in "24 Graded & Social Dances", where at the
> front of the book it says that Muriel Johnstone advised on the choice of
> tunes, and that many of them can be found in her books "A Score and More"
> and "Two Score More".

Yes, but these two books contain just Muriel's own tunes, so no »Mrs/Misses 
Gordon«, by Scott Cameron. My suggestion would be to ask George Meikle, who is 
probably putting the e-mail in question together as I type this :^)

Incidentally, the two books in question seem to have been reissued as a one-
volume ring-bound A4-sized collection (similar to Muriel's other, newer 
books), with just the melody lines and chord symbols -- no written-out left 
hand for the piano. Now of course people are in two minds as to whether full 
piano arrangements of SCD tunes are worth the trouble as far as Real Life™ is 
concerned (Muriel's are actually quite nice), but the original two books were 
always among the ones that we recommended to pianists who want to get started 
with Scottish music. Here in Germany, most pianists have received strictly 
classical training and are way out of their depth when it comes to 
extemporising a left hand accompaniment from chord symbols (let alone a both-
handed »vamp« backup with no melody at all), so the apparent move away from 
piano scores to melody+chords, both with Muriel's and the RSCDS's 
publications, while not much of an issue if your instrument is anything except 
the piano, is a bit disconcerting. It certainly doesn't help with getting 
pianists interested in playing for SCD. (There's always »Any Good Tune«, of 
course, and the old-issue numbered RSCDS books.)

Does the same problem exist elsewhere and how do you tackle it on behalf of 
your pianists?

Anselm

PS. I swear that the quote on this message was randomly selected.
-- 
Anselm Lingnau, Friedberg, Germany ..................... xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx
We must beware of needless innovations, especially when guided by logic.
                                                          -- Winston Churchill