John wrote:
> The
> fellow on Orchestralist described how he stopped by a vegatable stand
> and started discussing the competition with the vendor, who was very
> aware of it and had very intelligent comments on the different
> competitors, and other citizens who stopped by to check out the
> vegatables jumped right into the conversation.  I can't even imagine
> that happening here in a group of music professors, let alone in a
> group waiting for the cash registers at Wallmart!!

I wouldn't necessarily expect this to happen over here either, but
experience suggests that such assumptions are risky. (Though I wouldn't know
about music professors.) But only last weekend, when I paused in Trafalgar
Square for a cup of coffee, a chance remark from a fellow coffee-quaffer led
to an interesting conversation about the dynamics, repertoire and tuning of
the clavichord. He was, it turned out, a German pianist, with a curiosity
about early keyboard instruments, and so perhaps not quite comparable with
John's stallholder. But I can also recall, three or four years ago, a taxi
journey through the quiet lanes of Dorset, throughout which the taxi driver
gave me quite a detailed account of the development of English organ
building. And about ten years ago, I remember seeing two ladies of riper
years almost come to blows in an electrical shop over their preferred
recordings of 'Messiah' - the one being used for demonstration purposes in
the shop appealed to neither of them.

Paula