SC - Period Recipes

[Greg Lindahl]

> However, the other result has been that a lot of very talented
> performers who have never attempted period performance have been
> *put off* by the new standards.  This is not necessarily due to
> laziness or an unwillingness to do research.  Sometimes they don't
> know how to research, or they find learning a period piece too
> intimidating.  So they don't enter the competitions, with the result
> that the competitions *appear* to many to be composed of/intended
> for only a select few who are *into* period performance.  Which can
> result in an Us vs. Them mentality.

I've observed this as well, in music and dance and cooking. However,
the solution is for those of us who do enjoy research to do it and
make our results widely available to everyone else. Cariadoc does this
with his Miscellany, and there are other good examples. However, I
would never ever imply that the documentation for a piece of music was
only of interest to people entering competitions; I find that
information interesting because it tells me what place and time the
music (or food) comes from, and I think that's neat-o all by itself.
There's no reason to imply that it wouldn't be interesting to
everyone, which again can feed an us vs. them mentality.

Gregory Blount