One of the services I provide for wedding couples is a recording of me playing the music from the brides processional. Today I can do the recording at my home thanks to the affordability of the needed equipment. But until a couple of years ago I utilized the services of a friends studio.
On one such evening I recorded my arrangement of "Here Comes the Sun". As I was packing up to leave I reflected on how the music choices seemed to be evolving toward more popular music. I mentioned that it felt a little peculiar to be recording music by the Beatles after a lifetime of studying classical repertoire. His reply was swift, "It's all music!"
Of course it is. But there was something else in that answer. I realized for the first time how much of a music snob I had become. And I didn't like it. So as more requests for pop music came to me I tried to loosen my necktie and approach it more enthusiastically. As I grew into this new attitude I gradually became a better wedding guitarist. I realized that my musical tastes were unimportant. I was hired to play the music that they liked.
A possible criticism might be that I had abandoned "art" to become a simple journeyman. My response to that would be:
1. It ain't that simple and
2. I can do both.
Bach never wrote for the guitar. So anything that I play by him has been transcribed from the original and then interpreted by me. So it is with popular music. And the level of artistry required is determined by me not the original performers.
I find myself evermore obligated to listen to pop music and one of the things I've noticed is that some of it is quite complicated. However it is presented in a fairly simple fashion which can be deceiving. But in the world of classical guitar some of the "standard" pieces are simple folk songs presented in a complicated way.
I was watching a video of a guitarist playing a couple of these folk songs and realized just how severely formal he was. There was nothing enjoyable about it. All of the charm of the music had been smothered. Imagine, if you will, Pete Seegar wearing a tux and introducing "Goodnight Irene" in a classical music station announcers voice. Low, slow, and deliberate. And then singing each syllable of each word so specifically that the meaning starts to evaporate. Like a second-rate operatic diva.
I no longer consider myself a classical musician. I'm just a musician without any qualifiers. If I'm asked to play music from the Renaissance or Baroque periods I treat it the same as any other song. Because I don't try to live up to these false standards I enjoy my efforts more and more. I'll let others expound on proper, historical performance practices. Playing music should be fun - all music.