I guess my point is that if you can "always take the little finger up" what's it there for? Let's talk about evidence: I have bought and sold many a lute, vihuela, ren. guitar, archlute, etc. over the years and have always seen the "little finger smudge." However, when observing instruments in museums, it is almost universally absent. Do you think the old guys had cleaner fingers? I think you're right about the "traditional" classical right hand, but it's based on the same sort of fallacy that I believe drives the current thumb under pinky down movement - the heroes do it that way. Joseph Mayes
________________________________ From: Howard Posner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue 5/1/2007 1:54 PM To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [LUTE] Re: Another beginner's question On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, at 09:04 America/Los_Angeles, Joseph Mayes wrote: > > 2. "...bend your wrist too much like playing the classical guitar" I > have > heard, and continue to hear this stated - it ain't so! Classical > guitarists > do not - repeat do not - bend their wrists. Playing perpendicular to > the > strings is a sure way to produce a thin, naily tone. It also hurts. We > do > not do it! Haven't for years and years. Really? These seem pretty perpendicular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8d-5gCGlYg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po2uaa0IVes&mode=related&search http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPP0_va2krc > There is no reason > that anyone has explained to me, for having the little finger anywhere > near > the belly It orients the hand. I suppose the theory is that the hand has to be so close to the soundboard anyway that it makes sense to rest it there. I'm pretty lax about my own little finger on the soundboard, but when I find my tone getting nasty, the first thing I do to fix it is put the little finger down. > I think it's a holdover from > books advising complete beginners. The evidence is to the contrary. We know that big-league players rested the little finger on the soundboard, and some of them rested the third finger as well. > There are pretty good reasons against it > - like the fact that it cripples the ring finger. I don't know a lot of lute players with crippled ring fingers. (I suppose if you spend a lot of time playing the Tarrega Estudio Brillante with the pinky on the soundboard, you might develop problems). My unscientific impression is that classical guitarists are more likely to hurt themselves trying to develop independence of motion in third fingers that don't naturally have much independence of motion. The only "good reason against it" would be that it prevents you from doing something you actually want to do. On the whole, it doesn't. If you need to play rapid arpeggios with the thumb and three fingers (in which case you might be approaching the music with anachronistic expectations), you can always pick the little finger up. HP To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
