On Thu, Mar 12, 2009, angevin...@att.net said: > While I'm fluent reading mensural notation for > singing or other instruments, I've never mastered it with the lute.
The ability to play at sight is a professional skill that some never aquire. It is valued, and orchestral practice recognizes that by providing pitch-transposed parts for certain instruments (eg, clarinet) so their players dont have to do the mental twists when changing instruments. Frankly, I began with Guitar as so many of us do, I also sang and played other instruments (winds), so the notation itself was easy; but reading for guitar, especially chords, was something I just found challenging, and that over more than a decade; not intensive effort, but enough to decide it wasnt going to happen for me. Tablature was much easier, and I was willing to do the transcriptions. Then I joined a COllegium Musicum, and discovered how hard it was to read even single-line staff at tempo. Many dropped notes followed. Thankfully it was enough for the director to whittle down the possibles into a semesters program; and also to decide on orchestrations. Plenty of time later to work out fingerings and get up to speed, time enough to get the pieces into my head where I could then play from rote and do some artful improv. You are not alone in finding this a challenge, I say pick one instrument and concentrate on it; consider what role you want to pursue in ensemble, then focus on that instrument for staff-notation reading skills. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
