----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Pleijsier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, June 23, 2006 6:35 am Subject: [EARLY-GUIT] Re: Decacorde
> Just a remark: > These "bass guitars" have a weak point: they don't play chromatic > bass > lines. Also true for Costes Heptachorde. That one has a low D, but > it wont > give you a D#, as it's not a fingered string. > Sor didn't approve, the Décacorde came in for some stick. One could make the same argument against any of the myriad incarnations of lute with open diapasons. > you call it "of course", the strange thing is that I never heard > anyone > observe what I just wrote! This famous Heptachorde, and there's no > low D#! It's observed with some frequency, often sited as one reason lutes faded as chromaticism encroached. > My remark stems from the fact that I always think, when looking at > an > instrument: what can you do with it, except for playing what > others have > written? That's fine. We, after all, are dealing with "classical" music. Right or wrong, the bulk of the discipline is focused on playing what others have already committed to paper. Mertz committed a good amount of interesting music to 10-string guitar with sub-bass diapasons. If you like that stuff, I think that's a fair argument to pursue the acquisition of the appropriate instrument. On the other hand, the only dedicated music I know for 6-course mandolino Genovese are three little works by Paganini (that are easily enough played on the common Neapolitin type) and some bits in an obscure method; I thus find less incentive to pursue mandolino Genovese. Every instrument there is comes packaged with a suite of limitations and capabiities. Typical guitars are clumsy around close-voiced chords: e.g., you can't play a chord using F and G without retuning. If intrigued by a Scherzer-style 10-stringer, you could also compose music to exploit what it can do. Best, Eugene To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
