Since I brought up the reverse engineering thingy, I would simply say that the process can be historical or non historical, just like any other aspect of early music performance. It isn't just a series of specs to solve a musical problem My instrument was based on research into the music as well as the organology. It is not a freely invented instrument. I looked at iconography, bridge holes, lute originals, and so on, and then I looked at a lot of music. I mean, thousands of pages of music. The music is historical, and it is important. I'm completely happy with the result, but I was prepared to be disappointed. If it was a disaster, I could at least say, well, I tried. Now that I have played the C Minor Prelude BWV 999 on it, I feel like I really learned something. It plays perfect. I've tried it on double strung archlute, I've tried it on baroque lute, and on this instrument it just seems right. Maybe that is a delusion. On to late baroque continuo.
This instrument would work perfectly at 370 or even 392, but that isn't the pitch that people play nowadays. I can't change that, maybe someday, with unlimited funding. Most of my work is with modern baroque orchestras. But I can play this instrument at a higher pitch for professional work, and then, when I have time, I can restring it at a seriously low pitch and enjoy the sound. One thing that this instrument does, is it plays perfectly in F Sharp minor as well as B Flat major. C sharp Major sounds great, as a V chord. So I solved this problem that has been bothering me for the last 40 years. Now I can move on to the next experiment. dt Now that I have played At 11:08 AM 7/4/2011, you wrote: >On 4 July 2011 19:49, wikla <wi...@cs.helsinki.fi> wrote: > > > "reverse engineering" > >Reverse engineering an instrument, that is creating a lute with specs >that you think will solve your problems, might give the answers you >were looking for. How convenient. It will most likely not give any >answers about historical instruments and why they didn't work for what >you were trying to do with them. So it will not teach you something >new, surprise you or puzzle you. How boring. Ultimately then, a lute >along your own specs will not help you to get closer to historical >lute playing. But it is convenient. I have a smallish archlute to my >own specs, tailored for 440 jobs and easy transport. Very convenient. > >David > >-- >******************************* >David van Ooijen >davidvanooi...@gmail.com >www.davidvanooijen.nl >******************************* > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
