in the 1st part of joseph baldassare's "playing the lute in medieval europe" article (lute news 69 - 2004) he states:
"... predominating evidence shows late-medieval european luters standing without a strap on their lutes. this is especially true prior to the 15th cent. in the 15th cent., iconography suggests that most players stood, but some leaned on supports such as walls, posts or sat on stools or chairs ... "when a player stood, the lute was often held with the head tilted slightly down. when the player was seated, the lute could be in a 'neck down' position, or parallel to the ground... it should be also noted, especially with larger lutes, that the belly of the lute should be tilting slightly towards the floor. this allows the weight of the outside of the right hand to stabilize the lute even while picking, while the left hand adds what little extra support is necessary. "it is commonly taught, with reasonable support and logic, that the early 'thumb-under' right hand technique ... came from the general 'down-up' motion of the plectrum technique employed by medieval lutists. in much of the iconography, this right-hand position locates the hand below the strings with the arm located near the bottom of the instrument or even under the lower bout or curve... even though this latter position may seem unreasonable, it may be interpreted as representing how large lutes were supported while standing. iconography often shows renaissance lutists standing or walking with their lutes, with their right hand placed decidedly below the strings. the tradition of renaissance lute players placing their little finger on the belly of the lute may perhaps have originated from the necessity of medieval lutists holding their instruments in standing positions or while walking." joseph baldassarre's article is just about the only lute related document i have - i hope he won't mind me quoting from it. i think for those who are more into recreating early performance practices as opposed to those who pick and choose from relevant historical information as they will, strapless discomfiture is a necessary part of the process. i wrote a haiku poem, relevant to the discussion, which may describe the trials strapless lute players must endure for their art: playing my oud nude while waiting for the shower red welts, ribs and thigh - bill --- Katherine Davies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There are lots of renaissance pictures of people > playing lutes while standing up without any sign of > a > strap. Does anyone do this? Any ideas on how - or if > - > it could be done? > > I'm not having a go at strap-users; I'm just a bit > puzzled - I have enough trouble keeping the thing in > place when I'm sitting down. > > thanks, > Katherine Davies > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > early music charango ... http://groups.google.com/group/charango ___________________________________________________________ Switch an email account to Yahoo! Mail, you could win FIFA World Cup tickets. http://uk.mail.yahoo.com
