I may be looked on as wrong here, but here is something that might help you
get things sorted out in your head. Use the thumb and index finger in
almost the same way you would use a pick if you were playing a guitar with a
plectrum. The strong beat is played with a down stroke on the thumb and the
weak return with an upstroke with the index finger. The real trick here is
to make sure you do not rotate your wrist but keep it parallel to the
strings. As soon as you start rotating you are going to miss notes miss a
string in a course and or pull up on the course causing it to rattle against
the finger board.
The tendency for some is to play the base notes with the thumb only which
makes for some real problems when some of the passages call for rapid notes
in those registers; something difficult to do with the thumb only and not
sound thunky. I have found that a lot of Milano requires this
technique---for me. As to the Earl of Essex, there are some tricky parts in
this piece that require a good deal of right hand fudging. It is one of
those cross-over pieces where things seem to be evolving between strict
thumb index attack and fingered passages more like guitar technique. A lot
of Dowland seems to work this way.
----- Original Message -----
From: <nedma...@aol.com>
To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:18 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Right hand fingerings in Dowland
As I work on The Right Honorable Robert, Earl of Essex, His Galliard
(42a. in Diana Poulton's edition of Dowland's works) - and watch some
players on youtube - it occurs to me that not only do I have to work on
thumb-under technique, but also to rethink the use of fingers in
playing passages that I used to use the thumb in quite a bit. The
question I have is, how much do we know about Dowland's right
hand technique, and how much do we just try to arrive at something that
works? For example, in the fourth measure of the second section of the
Earl of Essex Galliard, are all the notes on the third string and up
covered by the fingers or would the thumb play a part? And in the
final section, four and three measures from the end, how active would
the thumb be, or is it mostly finger work?
Are there editions of Dowland's music where fingerings are more
extensively notated? (I notice in the same Poulton edition in "96. An
Almand", right hand fingerings are much more in evidence - as are
ornaments).
Ned
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