>I see the XI as meaning "a note above X" >It would have been immediately obvious to the player what note was >called for. >If that's the case, these aren't typos but shorthand; early notation >always has an element of shorthand.
This makes a lot of sense and resolves the issue to my satisfaction. It accounts for the one spot where 'XI' seems to mean eleventh position (if not fret). It also supports the notion that he did not have actual frets (tied or glued) above the tenth fret, and those using such an aid are committing a horrible violation of historically accurate practice! (just kidding). I found from my compilation that I exaggerated when I said that there were 'many' examples of 'XI'. In the 1566 books I found 6. All five on the first course seem to mean at the octave position. The sole example on the second course seems to signify what would be the eleventh fret. All of the places that this symbols occurs are on this graphic: http://www.yatesguitar.com/misc/Neusidler-XI.jpg The suggestion that the 'XI' is a typo for 'X' does not seem to hold up, particularly since the symbol often occurs adjacent to 'X' where a repeated note does not fit the texture. RY To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
