Dear Doctor Oakroot, As you know, Roman numbers are sometimes used to indicate chords, e.g. IV for the sub-dominant, but that is the case here. The tonality at this point is F minor, with a tierce de Picardie where there is a pause marked. If anything, the Roman number would be I, not IV.
By the way, if anyone has the SPES facsimile, they will find the passage concerned six pages from the end, i.e. folio 72r. As Leonard Williams has pointed out, the IV is used to show that two different notes are to be obtained from the third course by stopping just one of the two strings of that course. It happens in one or two places elsewhere in the Capirola Lute Book (e.g. folio 28v), and Bakfark does something similar too. The use of IV is puzzling, because the split course is the 3rd, not the 4th. Perhaps the editor was counting courses from the bass instead of the treble. I have found that the way to make the split-course technique work is to choke (stretch the string along the fret as jazz and rock guitarists do) the stopped string very slightly away from its partner towards the 2nd course. It doesn't matter if your finger touches the 2nd course, because that course is not needed. There will be a slight distortion of pitch - sharp, but negligeable. It's worth it for the sake of getting the two strings to operate independently. To answer your question, I can confirm that it is playable without it sounding not very nice. Your suggestion of playing --- -5- -4- -3- --- --- instead is probably the best solution for Tobiah playing his modern guitar, but it would not be suitable on a 6-course lute, because the octave stringing appropriate for Capirola's time (octaves on the 4th, 5th and 6th courses) would produce extra high notes, in effect sounding like this: --- -5- -4- -3- -3- -2- Best wishes, Stewart. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Doctor Oakroot" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2004 5:35 AM Subject: Re: Odd tablature notation > Doctor Oakroot wrote: > > The IV indicates a IV chord (i.e., F min in the key of C min). Play the > > tab. That's what it's there for. > > Whoops, that's an F major. (Wasn't looking at the score when I wrote that > and missed the natural sign). > > As for the split course stuff, can anyone actually play that without it > sounding like crap? Seems like it would be easier to play this: > > --- > -5- > -4- > -3- > --- > --- > > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> There are a couple of pieces in a book that I > >> have of the lute music of Vincenzo Capirola. > >> Here is an example: > >> > >> http://tobiah.org/measure.jpg > >> > >> It seems to indicate that a half bar should > >> be used at the fourth fret, but I can't figure > >> out any way to get a reasonable sound by playing > >> the measure that way, let alone get the pitches > >> that are indicated on the grand staff. > >> > >> It sounds correct if I just play the grand staff > >> as written, ignoring the IV{ marking, but I feel > >> that I am missing something. > >> > >> Thanks, > >> > >> Tobiah
