On Jan 3, 2009, at 8:47 AM, Anthony Hind wrote:
I agree with you, being able to damp strings does not mean that
you have to damp them all the time.
It is something to be kept in the panoply of the lute player. If
you don't know how to do so, however,
you have no choice.
I add that I would prefer this was not true, as I am new to Baroque
lute, and it is something I need to learn.
and:
I think there is often a tendance to overuse a technique, vibrato
or whatever, that the player has just mastered, or likes to use.
It is not specific to damping. The performance can then become far
too mannered.
Your newness may render you innocent about the horrible, unspeakable
Baroque lute past, in which damping the bass strings was taught as
part of the basic technique, considered to be necessary to avoid
having the bass strings ring like gongs and fog the music. Indeed,
the Pyramid strings in common use 20 years ago tend to do this,
because they sustain for a long time, which is what they were
designed for; sustain was considered the hallmark of excellence in
instruments and strings. So damping was not a matter of taste, but
necessity.
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
