Everything BECOMES easier once you master that doubled first- (speaking only of my own experience, of course). Everything I knew about good tone production had to be enhanced ten fold in order to strike that first course cleanly, solidly, gently-but-firmly (or the other way around?) because I had got very used to hitting a single string with one kind or touch, or feel, and immediately altering the touch however slightly when moving to the second course. There's a reason why that 1st course is named "chanterelle"- there it is, right on top, and when you suddenly have TWO prima donnas having to sing in perfect unison the whole game tightens up. Very well worth it, however- much less "splatting" of carelessly struck strings anywhere on the lute, cleaner general sound. I find that (so far) I can switch between the doubled 1st on one instrument and singles pretty easily now. --Dan
>It is a terrific sound, and in some sense is easier, because you can >strike the courses pretty close to the same way. > >I also think that from a technique point of view, that the double >top course prevents some of the more moderm styles od striking the >string from creeping in. > >dt > > >At 03:24 PM 12/19/2008, you wrote: >>Dear Anthony and All, >> >>The double top course is found on everything from 6c lutes to >>Mace's 12c lute, and everything inbetween. Three of our most >>popular 7c lutes from the Venere workshop, the 44cm C39, the 58.7cm >>lute in Bologna, and the 66.8cm C36, have their original bridges >>and pegboxes and a double top course. The double top course seems >>to have been relatively rare on 6c lutes, and by the late 17th C >>the author of the Burwell tutor explains the single 2nd on the 11c >>course by claiming that they could hardly ever find two strings "to >>agree" - a problem which would have been even more acute for a >>first course. But I think it is fairly certain that the single 2nd >>originated as a conversion feature (from 10c to 11c), and >>iconographic evidence suggests that a double 2nd was also quite >>common on 11c lutes. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
