Denys, I think most people would find Besard's tolerant attitude appealing. Historical technique is not the only thing that matters. I am happy to listen to fine playing by a good musician, even if he/she has made some perfectly reasonable practical compromises about technique. I certainly don't want the authenticity police to start to range the lute world-though at times in the recent past, the attitude of the "thumb under rules" school has had a rather Victorian complacency to it. I remember a student returning form a course with a Famous Lutenist around 1994, who had told him that he found it hard to believe that that people were still playing thumb out!
Remember, however that Besard's instructions date from 1603 or earlier-right in the middle of the technique changeover. For most of the music in Varietie of Lute Lessons, or Thesaurus Harmonicus, I'd be fairly happy to play either thumb out or thumb under-though of course Besard does actually argue for thumb out. Later writers, for example Vallet and Stobeus are not so tolerant. Perhaps the reason for this is that musical styles began to change to make use of the particular attributes of the newer technique. I have in mind works like the Robert Johnson Fantasia, or the wonderful Fantasias of Cuthbert Hely, which make great use of the contrasted registers of the lute, and containing many passages of two note chords on courses 4,5,and 6, together with a note on the diapason strings. I find that thumb out on gut strings gives much greater clarity in such passages because the fingers are striking the lower strings much closer to the bridge. Thumb under seems to me to favour an equal balance between treble and bass-the thumb is closer to the bridge relative to the fingers. Thumb out seems to give more contrast between the registers of the lute-brighter treble strings with warm basses. Good for dance music, and remember that dance music seems to be at the core of the English lute repertory in Dowland's time. If I am right about the move towards greater contrast between registers, then this change would also have been accentuated by the move away from octave bass stringing, which Dowland documents. Best wishes Martin On 15/12/07 18:00, "Denys Stephens" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dear All, > A word of advice from one of the 'old ones:' > > > 'Neither would I have thee thinke that in this that I detract > from the other differing ways, which other men do use, not > unfitly, so that there be reason for them, and an easy gracefulnesse > in them. For a man may come to the same place divers ways, and that > sweet Harmony of the Lute (the habit whereof wee doe daily affect with so > great travaile) may strike our eares with an elegant delighte, though the > hand be diversly applied.' > > From 'Necessarie observations belonging to the lute, and lute playing' > John Baptisto Besardo, translated by John Dowland, A Varietie of lute > lessons, > London, 1610. > > Best wishes, > > Denys > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: David Rastall [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 15 December 2007 15:51 > To: Martin Eastwell > Cc: Martyn Hodgson; Martin Shepherd; Lute Net > Subject: [LUTE] Re: RH on the bridge? > > On Dec 15, 2007, at 10:19 AM, Martin Eastwell wrote: > >> I >> make a point of talking about historical RH techniques at some point, >> and have quite often encountered surprise and even hostility from >> students because what I was suggesting flew in the face of the >> teachings or performing practice of their favourite lute "guru". > > Then the "guru's" are wrong. The teachings and performance practices of the > Old Ones are what we should be studying, and alas, this goes against what we > learn from the "gurus" who have invented this hybrid thumb-in / thumb-out > thing because they themselves can't handle the way the lute was played in > the old days. Yes, we are going to have to drastically re-evaluate our > ideas of what kind of sound the Old Ones were actually going for! > > My $0.02 > > DR > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > >
