I cross-post this from the hurdy gurdy list where there is an interesting discussion going on re: contemporary taste in the sound of a professional built instrument vs. what is imagined as a traditional sound to drive away cats and dogs that can be obtained from a kit-built HG. They are wrangling with the issues of how one determines the 'authentic' past in sound and cultural ambiance. If these gawd awful sounds that have been made by 'traditional instrumentalists' actually were authentic to Medieval England or not, though in Wren Faires staged in Virginia or PA who cares?

"But when an audience comes to a venue like a Renaissance Faire, what they are looking for is an encounter with the exotic. They want to be marvelled by the illusion that they have entered a time so different from their own that it's like going to another country. The performers pull this off with more or less skill, depending. I'll be frank -- the Virginia faire is young, staffed entirely by amateurs, volunteers, and professionals who are working for the hat plus merchandise sales plus exposure. (When I was told I should ask for more money -- due to a typo on my part it's even worse than you thought. The daily take is not $50 *plus* tips, it's tips and sales, and you make around $50 in an average day. But if the audience hates you you might make nothing!) Part of maintaining the illusion is getting the audience to believe that we, the villagers, are creating these unusual sounds, smells, and sights as part of our normal everyday lives. A musical instrument that sounds impossibly strange can add a lot to that kind of illusion."

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