I second Thomas' comment: I've seen and heard Bream play lute, I've seen
and with some trouble heard something of Hoppy's playing, and I have
only _seen_ Rooley accompanying his song ensemble, not heard the lute
(it was in 70's...)
Arto
On 18/10/10 11:26, Thomas Schall wrote:
I can follow your comment about Hoppy because he is playing at a
*very* low volume. I have heard him both in a large church playing as
well as in a small salon. The first has been disappointing - the
second has been a nice experience.
I've heard Julian Bream in a larger room - volume has not been a
problem at all .
Thomas
Am 18.10.2010 10:06, schrieb Gary Digman:
Two of the lute players I was referring to were Julian Bream and
Hopkinson Smith. Both playing to audiences of over 250 people and
neither could be heard past the seventh row no matter how much focus
one brought to the event. Fortunately in the Julian Bream concert I
was able to sneak down to an empty seat in the first row. Not so in
the Hoppy concert, the first eight rows were reserved for season
ticket holders. However, I was able to hear Hoppy play in a library
concert later where the conditions were ideal for the lute. The
audience was limited to eighty people and the stage was an elevated
platform affording everyone in the room the opportunity to both hear
and see Hoppy play.
Gary
----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Wilke"
<chriswi...@yahoo.com>
To: <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>; "Gary Digman" <magg...@sonic.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Lute volume
Gary,
--- On Sun, 10/17/10, Gary Digman <magg...@sonic.net> wrote:
That being said, I have to admit that I have attended lute
concerts given by some of the leading lights of the lute
world for audiences numbering in the hundreds where the lute
literally could not be heard at all past the seventh or
eighth row. Very frustating to pay $35-$80 for a ticket only
to find out you will not be able to hear the lute no matter
how focused you are. I think if we're going to play for
audiences this large, some sound reinforcement may become
necessary even though it is a compromise. Other instruments
have had to deal with this problem. Jazz bassists amplify
the double bass, even though the best and purest sound of
the double bass is thereby compromised, in order to be
heard.
Back when I got my Master's in classical guitar, projection was a
major focus of our training. While the ability to produce a
dynamically nuanced performance was assumed and formed a major part
of our grades, we were also expected to understand the
practicalities of performing in less than ideal circumstances. We
were told repeatedly: get to the hall early; have someone listen to
you as you test the dynamic threshold; be prepared to let go of some
of the precious dynamic or phrasing ideas you worked out alone in
the practice room; you might want to consider moving your right hand
position a little closer to the bridge as a general position for
this concert; descend to really low volume as a special effect only
were dramatically appropriate - maybe once or twice in a program;
above all, HAVE REGARD FOR YOUR LISTENERS.
I've never encountered this in my lute training, where the emphasis
has been decidedly on working out even more subtle gradations. This
is all well and good - professionals should have total control over
the instrument - but what about the people on the other side of the
lute? There's no reason a lute can't feature in the same size halls
as classical guitar. Although the overall volume is slightly less,
it carries far better than the comparatively bass-heavy, mellow
modern guitar.
The real problem comes down to two culprits: the myth of the lute as
"mystical window to another era," and the strong-weak articulation.
I'm prepared dismiss the former, a view which embraces the idea of
the lute as some sort of delicate magical device whose spell will be
broken if its voice rises above a hush, because this is a fairly
tale modernism. The latter is more difficult. We all know that
good-bad, strong-weak alternation was part of early music. In
practical terms, however, if you're playing in a large hall and no
one can hear your weak notes, the audience is literally missing half
of what you're playing. A player might have to settle for
strong-less strong or REALLY STRONG-strong or even strong-strong in
some cases. Sorry, you might just have to eschew showing off what
an erudite, HIP musician you are in lieu of showing off the music.
I once took a large group of my classical guitar students to hear a
big name lutenist who was performing in a not-especially-large
venue. My students all said that the concert was boring because the
performer only played simple little pieces. When I actually showed
them the sheet music to some of the pieces played, they couldn't
believe the degree of musical sophistication involved. They left
with the impression that the lute had some great music written for
you, but its really a weak little instrument. I had to sympathize
with their position because I too felt that many of the subtleties
of the music never got to the audience due to the incredibly
intimate, sensitive touch of the performer. As a lute fan, I could
appreciate the performer's awesome control, but I could not actually
experience it. Ultimately, despite great artistry, this person was
really a poor ambassador for the instrument.
Chris
Gary
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Andrico"
<praelu...@hotmail.com>
To: <nedma...@aol.com>;
<lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 11:29 AM
Subject: [LUTE] Lute volume
> To All:
> We have a new post on our blog that
may be of general lute interest,
> concerning volume in performance.
>
http://mignarda.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/sound-check-is-it-loud-enough/
> Best wishes,
> Ron & Donna
> www.mignarda.com
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
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