The meaning of 'acoustic'

Subject: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:35 AM

Well, we've all had to get used to going into what we thought were "folk clubs" and find we had to sit listening to songs written by librarians all night. I realise this is a losing battle, and we are not even allowed to discuss the meaning of "folk" any more.
    How about "acoustic": or indeed, "unplugged"? Am I the only grumpy old git who finds it a bit annoying, when walking into a pub with a notice up saying "acoustic night", to find someone erecting the speaker stand s?

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:43 AM

jOhn Connoly used to be a libarian.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:47 AM

Yes, and do you want to spend all day listening to Fiddlers Green, JOhn?
Has anybody written a song called, Turnham Green, incidentally?

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Hand-Pulled Boy
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:50 AM

You seem to be descibing 'Open mic nights', were most styles are accepted and acoustic instruments are plugged-in. Very popular in Hull and never descibed as folk evenings.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Sooz
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:54 AM

Perhaps John Conolly's new song about grumpy old men is applicable here :-)

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Ernest
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:02 AM

Good point, jOhn!

Still greg has a point too. I wouldn`t mind hearing a good singer/songwriter when I go to a folk-club, pub etc. provided that he knows something about folk music(this is why we need te `cat!), that it shows in his music and that he can play a tune...

The problem these days seems to be that many singer/songwriters are more or less pop/rock-singers gone solo-acoustic. Consequently they just strum along to their songs while their lyrics are just as meaningless and boring as any pop-muzak you hear on the radio.

And yeah... acoustic... all those "unplugged" was a lie: it were amplified acoustic instruments. Pop/Rock musicians seem to depend on them, because they never learned anything else. And often it doesn`t even help understanding the music - in pubs it only causes the people to talk louder...

There are a lot of Grumpies like us, Greg.

Regards
Ernest

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:14 AM

Hand pulled Boy: no, I was not describing "open mic nights". At such events, I would expect microphones, and I would expect that musicians casually dropping in would get a chance to play. And I would not be disappointed as that is exactly what happens. What I was objecting to is pub music being desribed as "acoustic" when it is in fact "amplified". I appreciate that words change their meaning: but it is confusing when words are used by some people in a sense completely opposite to their original meaning, as understood by ordinary right-thinking people, such as myself.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:28 AM

This must be a British Aisles thing. Over here, "acoustic" means an instrument that is not powered by electricity. Unless you're in a very small room, if there's a substantial number of people, you can't hear an acoustic instrument without amplification. If you're outside, forget hearing an acoustic instrument from more than ten feet away.

I'm not sure I understand this discussion at all, greg. Almost all acoustic instruments (and the voice is "acoustic" too, I guess,) are amplified by microphones and sound systems so that they can be heard in all but the smallest rooms. An acoustic guitar with a pick-up doesn't sound that different to an acoustic guitar amplified by a free-standing microphone and sound system. In the smallest coffee house in the 60's, people performed without a sound system, because one wasn't needed. The bigger clubs used microphones and apmlification, though. It's more a matter (to me) of being able to hear the music. That's why it is played.

Clear me up, greg..

Jerry

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:52 AM

Acoustic used to mean listened to naturally with the ears. Amplified meant amplified. They were opposites. An acoustic recording, likewise, meant sticking a mic in front of the singer, or instrument, and recording the noise they were making. Gradually the term "acoustic" has started to be used to mean "not very loud amplified", or "instruments without pickups", Or, nowadays, more commonly, "music from guitars that look as if they havent got pickups, but in fact have, so they still look like acoustic guitars,not solid bodied electrics".

   So you get a conflict of meaning. To me, an "acoustic session" means people sitting around playing fiddles, guitars, banjoes, accordions, whatever, acoustically. ie not amplified. But this is not always the current meaning of the word, it can also mean "not very amplified". Hence the confusion.
The same confusion applies to "unplugged". Which now, of course , means "plugged".

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: IanC
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:56 AM

Jerry

Without amplification, if people are listening, you can hear acoustic instruments in even the largest rooms (orchestras in the Albert Hall do OK). In pubs, which is what I thought we were talking about, the rooms are generally quite small. It's unusual not to be able to hear a guitar in most pubs, even the most crowded, though picking won't be heard from any distance if the pub's noisy. Melodeons, fiddles, banjos, tin whistles can all be heard easily. Flutes are sometimes a bit quiet unless you play them in the upper register.

Must be that pubs in the USA are, like many other things, much bigger.

;-)
Ian

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: redsnapper
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:06 AM

One needs a little help from electronics these days to help one's acoustic instrument and acoustic voice overcome the inevitable hairy heckler so prevalent in some of Mudcat's threads.

RS

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:08 AM

Ernest, the same happens here, someone wants to get exposure in a different world & decides Folk Clubs are it.

I can understand why someone who struggles to be heard in a noisy pub would prefer a respectful listening audience in a Folk club, but I want to hear folk music.

I don't want to hear rock'n'roll in my club. Nor was I interested in an offered demo from a singer/songwriter & his slash metal band (a kind of heavy metal). I wonder who he thought he was contacting, but as he did it thru our website, maybe he couldn't read. Anyone who mentions electricity gets a reply that our lease does not allow amplification!

I love traditional songs & music, and also singer/songwriters who write folk songs, people like John Warner (Anderson's Coast) who is a friend & member of my club.   

sandra

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Shiplap Structure3
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:11 AM

Dont you think its a pub trade thing to mangle meanings
What do you expect is going on in a Pub when it has a banner proclaiming live sport, everyone knows it means watching telly and shouting

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:16 AM

One of the funniest scenes I ever saw was backstage at Fox Hollow in the mid 70's when Evelyn & Don Bernstein were explaining that drums were not allowed because Fox Hollow only allowed "acoustic instruments."

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Tequila Sunrise
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:16 AM

Just waiting for Rockhen's onslaught.......

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: IanC
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:18 AM

Well ... to be fair, Acoustic originally just means you can hear it.

acoustic
1605, from Fr. acoustique, from Gk. akoustikos "pertaining to hearing," from akoustos "heard, audible," from akouein "to hear," from copulative prefix a- + koein "to mark, perceive, hear," from PIE base *(s)keu- "to notice, observe" (see caveat). Acoustics is attested from 1683. Acoustic guitars (as opposed to electric) first attested 1966.
Dictionary of Etymology

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:20 AM

" I don't want to hear rock'n'roll in my club."

Then don't get old.... cause to a lot of young people, what you call "Rock & Roll" -IS- 'Folk Music'

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Midchuck
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:22 AM

The plain fact is that my generation - those in their sixties now - were the last not to grow up listening to rock with powerful amplification; and therefore the last to even grasp the concept of shutting up and listening. People who are middle-aged or younger now, in general, consider it perfectly normal to carry on a conversation during a performance, and even to speak quite loudly so they can hear each other over the "interference" of the music.

So amplification becomes a necessity even in a small hall where you should be able to make yourself heard perfectly well without it.

Peter

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: MaineDog
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:28 AM

To me, acoustic means that the sound is produced entirely by the design and construction of the instrument, ie, wood, strings, pipes, bellows, skins, voice, breath, whatever, and not by any electronics.

If such an instrument needs to be amplified to be heard in a large hall or outdoor venue, then the amplification should not modify the sound of the instrument(s) except to make it louder.
MD

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:29 AM

The plain fact is that my generation - those in their sixties now - were the last not to grow up listening to rock with powerful amplification; and therefore the last to even grasp the concept of shutting up and listening.

Anyone under the age of 72 would have been a teenager or younger when the rock and roll era began.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:31 AM

A description I have heard is "unamplified," to mean that not only are acoustic (non-electric) instruments required, but that they also will not be run through a sound system and there will be no mic for voice. I know one venue here that does it that way-- but then their performing space allows for it.

~Susan

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: MaineDog
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:45 AM

I remember how difficult it was at Fox Hollow to get the crowd to understand what it was that they would hear, or would not hear. One year
they almost had riots. A bunch of teens had come expecting a rock concert and were drunk and disappointed, and very disrespectful to the performers. Bernstein held up an electric (lizard-warming) rock from a pet store, saying it was not an apropriate musical instrument for his festival, and it was all downhill from there.
Now we have the Old Songs Festival, where they have learned not to get too excited about splitting hairs, and we all have a good time.
MD

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Northerner
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:46 AM

I was a librarian too orginally. Wasn't June Tabor a librarian originally too? I always take "accoustic" to mean that I'm not going to have my ear drums blasted by amplifiers. Yes, amplifiers are necessary in a large room or a concert situation.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 May 06 - 09:55 AM

"the last to even grasp the concept of shutting up and listening"
What an ignorant and 'age-ist' thing to say.....

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Midchuck
Date: 30 May 06 - 10:08 AM

"the last to even grasp the concept of shutting up and listening"
What an ignorant and 'age-ist' thing to say.....

It isn't ignorant, it's based on empirical experience as a performer - and as a Town Meeting moderator. And my wife's experience as a teacher.

It may well be ageist. So what. I've earned the right.

Peter

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 30 May 06 - 10:13 AM

Marshall 100watt stacks.... bring it on!

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 30 May 06 - 10:14 AM

To be dismissed as an arrogant cranky old fuck.... yes... yes you have.... Wear it in good.... no..... on second thought..... don't....


"it's based on empirical experience as a performer"
If you're doing you job as a performer (Or as a teacher... there's not a lot of difference.... we use lots of the same tools) you won't HAVE to fight for your audiences attention.... They will WANT to listen to you

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST
Date: 30 May 06 - 10:23 AM

Hmmmm - I have been at a concert where I wanted to listed but could not because the loud-mouthed ignoramus next to me would not shut up - And this was at a concert we had all paid to get in! I asked him to be quite and he told me to f-off!

Was that because the performer was not going his job, Clinton, or because the person sat next to me was a gob-shite?

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: treewind
Date: 30 May 06 - 10:47 AM

Jerry has it about right. Greg is describing the peculiar UK irony that if you see a folk club advertised you usually expect unamplified music, but when you see an "acoustic music" night you almost know there will be a PA system.

It's illogical, but I think it reflects a different approach - what the "acoustic music" people mean is that they are using acoustic guitars (yeah, instead of a normal guitar...?) and more generally that no electric instruments as such are used - which is different from acoustic instruments + sound reinforcement. If you come from a background of rock'n'pop (which I don't), I suppose you need an adjective to make that distinction.

Anahata

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Bill D
Date: 30 May 06 - 11:28 AM

I want singers & musicians with nothing between them & me but air and a few bodies. I will 'make do' with the minimum necessary mics and speakers necessary neutrally amplified to allow me to hear them in the venue. Once the fiddle player reaches for a cord, and the electric keyboard comes out, they will have to be VERY good for me to even remain in the room.

Call me what you will, the music I enjoy most is the older stuff that does not require electronics, and where tune is emphasized over volume.

As to precise definitions, we can quibble forever whether 'acoustic' involves any electricity at all.....I will shrug and be happy if the instruments are acoustic, and made a wee bit louder by simple mics when required.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 30 May 06 - 11:29 AM

Thanks, greg: There is a different meaning here to the word acoustic. I think over here that "acoustic" is about the instrument, not the ears. Pubs are propbably much like the listening rooms in some bars over here, and the smaller coffee houses. I ran a concert series for 27 years in a room with wonderful acoustics. There was no need for a sound system, and I preferred it that way. I had a full sound system stored in the closet of the room which I used for outdoor concerts. I booked plenty of bands through that time and never used a sound system.

For me, the appeal of not using a sound system as a performer is that you don't play the mic. You play the audience. Sometimes it's hard to do both. If you move too far from the mic, the sound drops. That limits the freedom to move which, for me, is part of playing and singing.

I often play in nursing homes with terrible acoustics, where many of the residents have difficulty hearing. Sometimes (but not usually) I use a sound system, kept low, just because I am concerned that the residents won't be able to hear the music.

For me, the test is always .. can the audience hear the music? If they can, I prefer using no amplification. If they can't hear without it, then it makes no sense not to use it.

Jerry

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Leadfingers
Date: 30 May 06 - 12:19 PM

In UK , pubs are usually quite noisy - IF you are doing a whole evening without amplification , you will finish up unable to gig for forty eight hours , or risk serious vocal chord strain ! However , I
much prefer straight UN Amplified stuff , especially if there are a number of possible performers ! Greg has raised a very good point with regard to the terminology used by venues for Unplugged and Acoustic events .

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 01:44 PM

Well, I just had a gig enquiry come in, to play at a garden party. Acoustically. So we contact the rest of the band, and say "Gig offer. Not a lot of money, but it wont be hard work, it's acoustic". We all speak the same language, English, and speak it fairly fluently. We all know what the enquiry means. Acoustically=no PA to carry in,set up, and fiddle with to get the sound right. Simple. And bleeding obvious, till recently, when the new meaning of "acoustic" as "only a bit amplified" started creeping in. I am just registering a protest that is a new meaning that is merely confusing to me. Not to say irritating.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST,P.O.U.M.
Date: 30 May 06 - 02:00 PM

I'm waiting for Victor Meldrew to come in on this one. Perhaps he kicked it off under Greg's alias.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: jojofolkagogo
Date: 30 May 06 - 02:06 PM

And jOhn Connelly is also a "Grumpity grumpy Ol' man"

FAB Song John, loved it at Cleethorpes !!!!!

Jo-Jo

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 02:15 PM

Sorry, the librarian comment was a little flippancy to startdiscussion rolling. I am very fond of librarians. In fact, anyone who has bought the latest Boat Band CD will have noticed that I thank librarians profusely on the liner notes, for their contribution to the scene.
    Mind you, I was thanking them for their maintaining collections of traditional songs, not for their song-writing abilities. Which are, presumably, much like anyone else's. Some good, some not.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST,Val
Date: 30 May 06 - 02:26 PM

Greg said:
"An acoustic recording, likewise, meant sticking a mic in front of the singer, or instrument, and recording the noise they were making"

OK, so how is this different from sticking a mic in front of a performer & running it through a speaker so the entire audience can hear the noise they are making?

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Anne Lister
Date: 30 May 06 - 03:44 PM

I think, judging by some of the people who use the word "folk" in various permutations in their descriptions on MySpace, that it's not only the word "acoustic" that is somewhat deceptive. But we're never going to agree on what "folk" means, either .... All I know is that there are a lot of different perceptions out there!

And I've always wondered what sort of a different audience would stroll on in if a folk club described itself in its promo as an acoustic music club. I wonder who would be most unsettled by the evening, assuming the folk club behaved in all other ways as a folk club?

Anne

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Rasener
Date: 30 May 06 - 04:12 PM

Blimey this thread is spooky.
I was only thinking to myself the other day, that I would love to know how something can be called Acoustic, when PA was used. But not being very knowledgable on this subject, thought that I might sound a bit stupid asking.

Up till recently, I have shied away from using PA at my club. However, with good sized audiences, it has at times been difficult to hear the voices of some performers, especially if there are 70 in the room.

Of recent PA has been used and has helped this situation. I am not one for loud PA, but have been very happy for the PA.

I would like to come to the defence of John Conolly and Fiddlers Green.
John is one of the nicest persons one could ever wish to meet, very knowledgeable and very humerous when on stage. John has appeared on several occasions at my club, and when he has said that his next song is Fiddlers Green, the audience have genuinly said Yes Yes. You may not like it Greg, but there are an awful lot who do like it. I have to laugh, becuase the last time he appeared at my club, I cocked up my intro for him. I announced that John was the person who wrote that wonderful song called "Fiddler On The Roof" and he immediately started singing "If I was a rich man" and when he stopped singing, he said "I wish I had written it, as I would have made millions". I wish I had a video of it now as it was a treasure, and showed that this man had wonderful ad lib reactions and certainly has wonderful charisma.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Marje
Date: 30 May 06 - 04:48 PM

If I can just add a Grumpy Woman's comments, I'd like to say I agree completely with Grumpy Greg. When I see something described as an "acoustic" night, I would (logically) expect this to mean there's no PA system, no electrics involved at all, but it seems to mean almost the opposite.

But I think I see why there is confusion. I think it may be that whereas folkies are used to unamplified music and song, those who are used to more mainstream pop music are used to backing tracks, sampling, dubbing, and all the other tricksy stuff that goes on. When they say "acoustic", they seem to mean that the sounds you'll hear are actually emanating from the singers or instruments present in the room, as opposed to pre-recorded or pre-set keyboard tracks, recorded backing vocals, etc.

So from the pop point of view, "acoustic" means a more authentic, live performance, whereas to those used to the folk scene, it's not "acoustic" if it's amplified. Maybe we just need to drop the word and find new ways of describing what we mean.

The whole issue of whether amplification is a good idea or not is another matter entirely, and what's accepted as normal seems to be different in the US and UK. I will just add one observation: in my experience, as soon as you get amplification in an informal venue, the audience noise level soars, and they become a lot less engaged with the music - the PA system seems to create a barrier between the audience and the music and make them less attentive.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Rasener
Date: 30 May 06 - 05:00 PM

informal venue is an important point. A pub would suggest that. A village hall is totally different

At my club, the audience is is very attentive and give the performer much respect and listen to their songs. It is held in a village hall.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Mo the caller
Date: 30 May 06 - 05:41 PM

Just been listening to marvellous acoustic music at Chippenham festival.
Yes, we were an attentive audience, it was in a converted chapel and every note could be heard, upstairs and down.
They knew a bit, the people who built chapels (or most of them, I can remember South Harrow Baptist church, where you had a choice of whether to sing in time with the organ or the congregation)

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 May 06 - 05:57 PM

A PA system can actually backfire, because it can encourage people to talk away during the music, Or even bellow, if the sound is turned up. Then, when there's has a quiet bit, and there's nothing coming through the mike, the bellow roars out very noticeably. Quite comic somertimes, but irritating.

There's the old saying that the best way to quieten a noisy crowd down can be to sing something quiet that people want to hear.

Why the crack against librarians though? Ordinary people doing a valuable job, what's wrong with that?

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: GUEST,Rev
Date: 30 May 06 - 06:52 PM

There's a band here in the states, based in Austin, TX., called the Asylum Street Spankers who play a freakish combination of old time, ragtime, western swing, classic city blues, and even hip hop (reformulated as "hick-hop"), all without the dubious benefit of what they call "demon electricity." Their shows are usually great, and they make a point of getting their audiences, often very young, to shut up and listen and participate. Recently though, due to their growing popularity, they've been playing larger venues, and they've started using amplification. Now they're trying to have it both ways, they use amplification, but keep the volume low so as to try to encourage the same kind of quiet listening. The problem is, every time they ask the audience to be quiet, some bozo in the audience shouts "turn up the PA," or something similar. My point is, I think that there is an interest and market for unamplified music, even amongst young people, but choosing to perform that way requires certain compromises, like only playing fairly small venues.

One other quick point regarding the statement:
"An acoustic recording, likewise, meant sticking a mic in front of the singer, or instrument, and recording the noise they were making"
Actually the term "acoustic recording" is used to describe recordings made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that did not use microphones at all. They used the big cones, like on an old victrola, with a diaphragm that vibrated, and transferred the sound onto a wax disc or cylinder. So acoustic recordings, like acoustic instruments, do not use electricity.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: greg stephens
Date: 30 May 06 - 07:07 PM

Did I say a word against John Connolly or Fiddlers Green? Or librarians? Of course I didnt. I said that a song written by a librarian is not the same thing is a folk song. according to the old definition of folk song. Just as an acoustic song (old definition) is not the same as an amplified song. In point of fact I love Fiddlers Green, love John Connolly's work, and some of my best friends are librarians.
All I'm saying is "acoustic" and "amplified" are opposites, in my book.

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Rockhen
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:31 PM

Hello tequila Sunrise.....!
This is sort-of related to the thread...a tiny bit, at least!... although I am going on about something I have ranted about before...sorry if I bore some of you... as well as my non-electric v traditional accordion...I play the piano....eeeek...shock horror...There aren't many places with a decent piano in them. I have a stage piano which I can use as a keyboard and play nasty loud rock keyboardy stuff. I can also use it through its own speakers to play as though it is a traditional piano...no fancy effects just a very simple plain piano sound. At a volume equal or less than a normal piano. I would love to play piano ballads and similar, sometimes, at local acoustic nights...I don't sing loudly and would only be able to play quite quietly, so as not to drown out my very small voice...unfortunately, unlike a traditional piano ....my piano uses ELECTRICITY to make it work....oh, dear...well you can't play that nasty horrible modern thing at our acoustic night cos it just isn't traditional and proper like our lovely guitars...(that we also plug in and use as electric acoustic at open mics...)
It just isn't fair! :-(
PS Thank you to Villan for being open-minded, in my view and allowing me to play my lovely piano...in a way I hope is tuneful, not plonky and sometimes...dare i say it, almost beautiful...at his club

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:53 PM

Well, Rockhen, I was just about to complain that my old portable reed organ (about 50 years +) which is a single keyboard with a Stradella Bass, that needs a 240V power point to run the electric fan to blow the reeds really is just an 'acoustic instrument'...

It's just a piano accordion without the bellows really... :-)

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 May 06 - 08:59 PM

Come to think of it, "Pipe Organs" are just purely 'acoustic instruments' only too - even though when electricity became readily available, they pensioned off the excess farm labourers who used to have to manually work the bellows...

However, there's not too much danger of one turning up to a 'Folk Music' evening, I suppose, so it's a bit of a moot point!

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Rasener
Date: 31 May 06 - 02:09 AM

Rockhen, no need to thank me. If you play with piano, thats what you do and I have to say that it is always welcome at the club.
Variety is the spice of life. :-)

Subject: RE: The meaning of 'acoustic'
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 31 May 06 - 03:00 AM

I spy a big error here - amplifiers are NOT needed in concert halls if you have the right instrument. I had the honour to listen to the great Segovia in a concert hall with more than 1000 people, and he played unplugged.
In pubs you also don't need amplifiers; you can play louder, and people will listen to good music, especially when and if they came for this occasion.
I'm a strong advocate for unplugged music - as I often tell the colleagues from the electric branch: When the fuse blows, you have to stop in the dark. We shall continue playing by heart.

IanC has said all that is necessary about acoustic = concerned with hearing. As the opposite of amplified I prefer natural.