On Oct 17, 2005, at 4:56 PM, Piero Fiorentino wrote: > Firstly, where printed lute books > for the Renaissance lute do not specify an instrument, is it > assumed that > the appropriate instrument corresponds to the lowest course called > for in > the book, regardless of the period in which the book was printed?
Probably. It is my sense that Renaissance musicians would use whatever they had and adapt as needed. Witness T. Hume 1605 & 1610(?) (and others) giving his sales pitch that you can play any of many configurations for his music. > Secondly, > if one is playing the 8 course repertoire on a 10 course lute, does > this > mean that when the 8th course is called for you play instead the > 9th course? Yeah, probably. > If a book does not specify the instrument, and the lowest course in > the book > is 8th course, but the piece you are playing only requires up to > the seventh > course, assuming you are playing a 7 course lute, would the seventh > course > need to be tuned up? Huh? I think you will find there is far more music for 7 course than for 8 course. When you play 7 course music that expects the 7th to be a 4th below the 6th, i.e. a D on a G lute, you can play the D on the 8th course and play any notes that are fretted/notated at the 3rd fret on the 7th (the note F) as an open 7th course on your 8 course lute. This actually simplifies some music. Just pay attention to whether the F should ring on or not. When you play 7 course music that expects the 7th to be a 2nd below the 6th, i.e. F, well, there's no problem, is there? You just play it on the 7th and never use the 8th. Hope this helps. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
