HI all, and many thanks to those who answered my query about tab versus staff notation, and also about the left and right hands. So many points have been made, that I will try to answer them all in one letter. Although I appreciate the fact tab makes clear exactly where to place the fingers, which string to use, and the like, it does, as others point out, leave vital aspects of the music unclear, especially the inner voices, and their exact relationship to each other. Sure, I'm a beginner on the lute, but as a professional musician it does seem to me that these aspects are left, at least to some extent, to the taste of the performer. I have no objection to this, quite the contrary, but it does appear to mean that one has to 'guess' what one ought to do rather more than is the case with staff notation.
Another point that seems slightly superfluous is the wide variety of different note values. I must confess that I have all my lute music from Wayne's wonderful website, and there are pieces which seem to have 64th notes, where a 16th note a most would do. There appears to be no consistency about the notation, and I often find myself stuck between dotted 64th notes and 128th notes or whatever, where a few good old 1/4 notes etc. would do the trick just as well. Indeed Art Robb, who built my lute, has just given me some music distributed by the lute society of GB, and there they make use of 1/4 notes and the like, and this makes life a great deal easier. And in view of the fact that so much lute music has been transcribed for the guitar, it seems to me that one could do the same for the lute without losing overmuch. Even the string to be used can be indicated, common in guitar music, and the prospective lutenist could much more easily see and hear what awaits. Of course learning tab is, in the last resort, part of it. My reasons for wondering about tab versus staff are not laziness or inability. I am one of those sad 'anoraks' that can't get enough of music and when I was a student one of my tutors, whom my mother and I met on the way to the opera, actually asked her whether it was possible to get me to work less hard. So I'm enjoying learning tab, it's just that, as others have suggested, those who come from the guitar and are less 'anoraky' than I am, could very easily be put off at the sight of Wayne's wonderful website. Indeed, when I got the lute and saw what awaited me, I had moments of doubt myself, soon dispelled by the thought of all the pleasure involved in discovering this new world and language. But that is the 'anorak's' approach. The more normal musician is far more likely to stick with the guitar and say what the heck! Indeed, had I not been tempted to get a lute because of my tendonitis, that's what I would have done, too. There's plenty of lute music transcribed for the guitar, so why go to the bother of buying an expensive instrument to attempt to play music that one can't even read?! I put it polemically, so that the problem, hinted at by some, emerges more clearly. Then the question of key. I know Jazz musicians and such folk can do just about anything and not be able to read a note of music, and I admire them for it. But I am not one of them, know nothing about Jazz, nor any form of popular music. That was, in my parents' eyes, the work of the Devil when I was a kid and light music for us was Johann Strauss or Franz Lehar. I still remember with astonishment a friend at Oxford telling me he would be rising early the next morning in order to be in time to get a new record by a group known as 'The Beatles' (or 'Beetles'?). I'd never heard of them, and not much has changed. My wife has made valiant efforts to correct this over the 34 years of our marriage, but to no avail. She's learned to live with it… Of particular interest was the information Stewart McCoy and Mathias posted about left-hand fingering. I do find that one tends to use the 4th finger much more on the lute than on the guitar. On the guitar the 4th finger tends to be used, in conjunction with the 2nd, at least in my case, when playing 10ths or certain other chords. The fact that on the lute the third lies between the 3rd and 4th string and not, as with the guitar, between the 2nd and 3rd strings, seems very much to influence the nature of the music. Much more of it takes place on the lower strings than is the case with the guitar, and there appear to be more chords which require the use of 4-2, and the case with many runs also need the 4th. On the guitar shifts of position frequently obviate the kinds of thing that seem fairly common of the lute, and I tend to use fingers 1-2-3 in scales, changing position as required. 4 is by and large used in extremis, i.e. when it's more sensible than hopping around the fingerboard to find the same note somewhere else. The 2-4 pattern that Mathias suggested would not do for do for me, as it would merely exacerbate the tendonitis problem I have in any case. I see the sense of his suggestions, but just the sight of them hurts, as there's no way I could do that over a length of time. So I tend to follow what Stewart suggests, which is nearer the guitar and which suits the hand more. Stewart also warns against using the 4th finger on the lower courses, which I do anyway (avoid it, that is). I tend to use something like guitar fingerings, which are familiar and which I know will be comfortable for my left hand. As regards the business with the thumb, I find myself using thumb and index finger when playing runs, but otherwise I am happy with the thumb-out position, especially when playing more contrapuntal music. To sum up: while I am happy to learn tab, and have enjoyed doing it, I am not convinced that it is really much more than 'a part of the lute world', i.e. one learns the lute and tab with it as part of the lute ambience. Fine, but whether it is actually necessary per se, whether it is indeed preferable in these times to staff notation… I still remain to be persuaded. It may well be that in a while with more experience under my belt, I look back on this discussion and wonder how I could ever have, well, wondered, but at the moment my mind is still not made up. Cheers all, and many thanks for all your comments Tom Beck P.S. Dear Stewart, I've just seen your most helpful comments on tablature. While I follow much of what you say, your point (c) about complex polyphony, doesn't entirely convince me. But I say this with the full confidence of the largely ignorant, as I stil have to play music of the sort I imagine you are referring to (Dowland etc. ?). But as my speciality all my professional life has been the complexities of serial music, I am quite used to dealing with the kind of thing you hint at, and don't really see why tab should make it any easier to read. But, as I've said, I am speaking as a beginner from a different background, and only managed to get anywhere in this world because I was just about clever enough to listen to those who knew far more about things than I did. So I'll wait with any meaningful judgements till I know what I'm talking about. It just interested me to know what the experts think of my naive questions and ideas. Kindest regards and many thanks again Tom
