Dear Greet and All,
I forgot to mention that I'm playing a 66.5 cm lute based on the 1582
Venere, with 9 courses (8th to Eb, 9th to Bb). It is normally tuned to
F but because of the double top string I ended up tuning it down to E.
I think the pitch is interesting - these nylgut trebles are thinner than
any gut string which anyone could have made in the 17th C, yet I still
need to tune to a low pitch. The implication, of course, is that the
pitch of (for example, Dowland's 9c lute in 1610) would have been even
lower. I don't know how to resolve this issue any other way - we know
they (sometimes) used a double top string, we know they could not make
very thin strings - say, for the sake of argument, less than .40mm - so
unless they could manage a very high tension, they must have been
operating at a very low pitch. Remember they were playing close to the
bridge as well - I'm playing about 50-60mm from the bridge.
I'm glad you liked the pieces - there are plenty more where they came
from. I recently looked at a tab supplement which John Robinson did for
Lute News some time ago, which I remembered contained a handful of
pieces by Jacques Gaultier in the old tuning, and was amazed by his list
of works which amounts to 49 pieces.
Best wishes,
Martin
Greet Schamp wrote:
Dear Martin,
Thank you very much for these nice lute pieces, do you play on a lute in F
or E? it sounds lower to my ears than the G tuning.
All the best,
Greet
-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Martin Shepherd [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Verzonden: dinsdag 11 november 2008 13:48
Aan: Lute Net
Onderwerp: [LUTE] New piece of the month
Dear All,
As part of my continuing effort to catch up, here is the latest offering:
www.luteshop.co.uk/month/pieceofthemonth.htm
Those interested in technical matters might like to know that I'm using
gut basses, a double top string, and I'm trying to play thumb-out and
near the bridge. It's work in progress....
All comments welcome.
Best wishes,
Martin
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