It's not difficult to play from lute tablature at a keyboard. I have played
at sight from Italian tablature at a keyboard without ever having practicing
the technique. I've never tried
German, but it would be even easier because there is one distinct note for
each tablature cipher. I'm limited by my modest keyboard skills. I've
witnessed Daniel
Heartz, a piano virtuoso, when he ripped through a lute tablature at tempo.
I wonder historically how often Renaissance keyboard players turned to lute
tablature. There was relatively so little printed keyboard
music from those days. Printing keyboard notation must have been very
difficult, and that may account _*in part*_ for its scarcity. And playing
from lute tablature would be an easy way for keyboard players to augment
their repertory. And lute music sounds very nice when played on a portative
organ, for example.
Roman added that historic harpist played from lute tablature. I know of one
piece of evidence for this. Ms Rès 429 at the Bibliothèque nationale in
Paris has on its cover the ex-libris of Orazio Michi dell'Arpa (1594-1649),
perhaps the most famous harpist of his day. This is the fascicle manuscript
with music by Melchior Newsidler (autograph)
and Francesco (copied from the Naples print of 1536). More information:
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzepq31c/id30.html (scroll down).
Arthur.
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Samson" <willsam...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Stuart Walsh" <s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
Cc: <baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2011 4:13 AM
Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Transposing lute tablature on sight [was Re:
A=392]
Hi Stuart,
<<SNIP>>
Having said that, I can't remember if you were at the Lute Soc Summer
School when Eugen Dombois was giving master classes? He was having
some injury problems and couldn't play his lute, so he borrowed a
clavichord and sight read from lute tablature flawlessly. Not the same
skill, of course, but I wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't
seen it.
Bill
From: Stuart Walsh <s.wa...@ntlworld.com>
To: David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com>
Cc: Baroque Lute List (E-mail) <baroque-lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 22:10
Subject: [BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Transposing lute tablature on sight [was
Re: A=392]
On 30/11/2011 16:37, David van Ooijen wrote:
> On 30 November 2011 17:28, howard posner<[1]howardpos...@ca.rr.com>
wrote:
>> On Nov 30, 2011, at 7:39 AM, David van Ooijen wrote:
>>
>>> Ask your colleagues if they can
>>> transpose a lute song.
>> What evidence do you have that he has colleagues?
> ROTFLOL!
Not sure I am.
Professionals on this list don't often 'pull rank', or make a very,
very big deal of showing off their professional skills to the majority
of us who are just enthusiastic amateurs.
Firstly, I'll say I haven't looked at a lute song accompaniment in a
very, very long time. Yet, although I'd feel quite confident in having
a go at sight reading lute duets and other lute parts (depending on
difficulty, of course), I'd be far less sure about sight reading lute
song accompaniments, let alone transposing at sight! The parts are just
too difficult to sight read, let alone, transpose. Can you do this,
Howard?
On the other hand, of course, players of other instruments do
transpose at sight as a matter of course. Many pianists (and other
keyboard players) can transpose at sight, though I've always assumed
they were transposing fairly simple music, not Bartok piano concertos.
Do your colleagues, do this sort of thing, David?
I have an amateur musician colleague, another teacher - of physics. He
plays trombone. Trombone players play in different clefs and in ways
which mean calculating things on the spot. In short, capaple,
experienced musicians can do all sorts of things that amateur pluckers
find amazing.
But transposing lute song tablatures at sight really does seem quite a
feat. And just a bit improbable (But, to acknowledge the fact again,
some musicians can really do extraordinary things, seen from the
perspective of amateur pluckers). I can quite easily imagine a very
experienced lute player bodging ('bricolage'?) something together in a
different key from that of the tablature. But a literal transposition
on spot really is pushing it.
I'm always happy to have be proved wrong. (One of my students did so
conclusively today about something. It amused me and I learned
something - and it made his day). So could you be tested on this feat.
Have you got a webcam? I send you some tablature and you transpose it
sight?
(I'll be first with the thunderous applause!!)
Stuart
>
> And I thought I was the one giving comic relieve. You just made my
> wife wonder why I start laughing behind my computer (she's in the
> other room), _and_ you kept me from my job!
>
> Thanks for both. :-)
>
> David
>
>
>
>
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References
1. mailto:howardpos...@ca.rr.com
2. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
