I want to approach you (baroque) lute players with the following: In 2000 or 2001 I went to a concert in Amsterdam given by Hopkinson Smith (Concertgebouw). Although I was sitting in the third row I could almost hear nothing of what he was playing and the only alternative was to buy a CD in the pause or afterwards, which I did not. During the concert Smith paused several times in between numbers to stick his right hand in the right pocket of his jacket and left it there for about 1 minute. After that he continued playing again. I still do not know what his hand was/is doing there? And I still do not know. Anyhow I started thinking of how and what and I came up with something. At that time I played the baroque lute without nails and I needed something to roughen my finger tops and came up with the following process: First I wash my hands with a detergent and then I use a block of magnesium to cover my finger tops including the thumb. I experienced and think (for myself) that playing then the lute is 'amazing'. Since I am a professional clas! sical guitarist as well I started again using nails. And using the nails playing the lute with the above mentioned 'magnesium' procedure is again amazing! (volume, accurate, stable, etc.)
Has anyone experience with this procedure? And does anyone know what Smith was secretly doing in his pocket? And if someone tries this way of playing, I am curious for his or her findings. Greetings, Henk Pakker The Netherlands -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
