Anthony, I usually have to do quite a few takes before I can get
one that doesn't have any gross mistakes in it. One thing that
helps me is to think that if I make a mistake on this take, I can
just erase it and do another. That seems to take some of the
pressure off. I have only played in public a few times--a
meditation piece after communion in church, for example, and I
found it an absolutely nerve-wracking experience. I'm not cut out
for public performance.
I played Renaissance lute for about four years before taking up the
Baroque lute. I have to say that though there are virtuosic
Renaissance pieces that I shall never be able to play, there are
thousands that are well within my reach. I haven't found that to be
the case with Baroque music. There doesn't seem to be a lot of easy
music for it. Most of it seems pretty advanced to me. For the drums
there are scores of books containing technical, rudimental
exercises aimed at building skill. Playing through them really
works. I don't know of any books like that for the lute, but I
certainly think it would help if I had a series of technical
exercise to play through for an hour a day.
Lutists keep telling me the contrary. They say that the left hand is
so much easier on Baroque lute. I suppose it does depend on what
Renaissance music you want to play. Some of those easier pieces can
be very entertaining when someone else plays them, but can quickly
become quite tiresome when repeated (I am amazed at the courage of
teachers who have to constantly listen to such pieces poorly played);
but if you are drawn to the more "devious" and interweaving melodic
patterns, it soon becomes less simple. That is truly the reason I am
more drawn to French Baroque than to say Weiss (i am not saying that
Weiss is easy to play, of course).
Nevertheless, your experience with French Baroque, along with the
fact that you seem to be using gut strings " I think a new instrument
and gut strings have helped a lot, and I am more satisfied with the
sound I am getting now"
gives me hope.
Of course for the Renaissance lute Andrea Damiani gives some
exercises; and the new Baroque Method by Miguel Serdoura to be
published by the same editor (http://www.utorpheus.com/utorpheus/)
does the same. I have the previous version in French, but I haven't
tried the exercises not having my lute as yet; but I have just seen
that Rob says, it is just what you are looking for.
Translation into English is under progress, and I sometimes receive a
question from the translator. It is not so easy to translate a method
which makes an explicit reference to parts of the fingers to which
the other language never seems to refer. It is strange how we can get
by with all these gaps in our lexical system. Nevertheless, it should
be out fairly soon. You can send an email to Miguel, and he will let
you know when it is ready. I will also send a message to the list as
soon as I hear that it is available.
http://www.miguelserdoura.com/fr/?Publications
http://www.miguelserdoura.com/?&mailform
Regards
Anthony
Le 22 févr. 08 à 06:36, Stephen Arndt a écrit :
To those who kindly took the time to listen to and comment on my
recording:
Rob, thank you for your continuous encouragement. It really means a
lot coming from someone with your level of expertise.
Stuart, to be honest I don't believe I'm at the point yet where I
can worry too much about getting phrases to stand out without
losing the pulse. I'm pretty happy if I can just get my fingers to
the right place at the right time. I guess I would have to say that
I can't really play the lute musically yet, only mechanically. Not
that I'm doing particularly well on that front either. I agree with
your point about razor-sharpness. It is usually notated as a
trilled note followed by two sixteenth notes, though I have heard
it on recordings as two thirty-second notes. I don't have the
rhythmic values very precise yet.
I am looking forward to hearing one of your pieces. When can we
look forward to one?
Martin, I have a facsimile on CD, and the piece is on the Adobe
Acrobat page 66. According to the table of contents at the end,
however, it is on the Barbe Manuscript page 74. I tried playing
through Weiss originally but found a lot of it too difficult. I
especially had trouble making much musical sense of some of the
preludes. (I don't know how Daniel Shoskes does it. He seems to
play it so precisely.) So, I decided to see whether the French
repertoire was any easier, and I picked the Barbe Manuscript
because of the fingering indications.
I got a very metallic sound on my 10-course Renaissance lute and
haven't played it anymore since getting my Baroque lute (I am
waiting for the builder of the latter to make me another 10-course
with the same string spacing to facilitate the transition between
the two instruments). For the longest time I thought the problem
was simply my poor technique, but I think a new instrument and gut
strings have helped a lot, and I am more satisfied with the sound I
am getting now. Background hiss and a metallic sound are precisely
the two things that I am trying most to avoid. I have the mic about
two feet away and a little to the right. I increase the gain and
run a function under the channel blender, which drammatically
improves the sound quality. I would like to add some reverb then,
but nothing seems to sound very good after the channel blender.
Anthony, I usually have to do quite a few takes before I can get
one that doesn't have any gross mistakes in it. One thing that
helps me is to think that if I make a mistake on this take, I can
just erase it and do another. That seems to take some of the
pressure off. I have only played in public a few times--a
meditation piece after communion in church, for example, and I
found it an absolutely nerve-wracking experience. I'm not cut out
for public performance.
I played Renaissance lute for about four years before taking up the
Baroque lute. I have to say that though there are virtuosic
Renaissance pieces that I shall never be able to play, there are
thousands that are well within my reach. I haven't found that to be
the case with Baroque music. There doesn't seem to be a lot of easy
music for it. Most of it seems pretty advanced to me. For the drums
there are scores of books containing technical, rudimental
exercises aimed at building skill. Playing through them really
works. I don't know of any books like that for the lute, but I
certainly think it would help if I had a series of technical
exercise to play through for an hour a day.
Again, my sincere thanks to those who responded. I greatly
appreciate your kind words.
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