On a 7 course instrument w/ 7th course a fourth lower than 6, it's the easiest transposition of all for me. With a foundation in classical guitar (good thing or a bad thing, depends...) It's like playing "on a guitar" except that for G lute we are now on a D instrument. The guitar thing helps to read an A instrument- one pretends to have a guitar with a high a string. That major 3rd interval is always the bothersome little wrinkle. Some solos exist in tone-apart versions, at least one fantasia by Holborne and the "Rosamunde" pavan by Danyel to name the first two I can think of. Dan
On Dec 4, 2011, at 2:08 PM, Roman Turovsky wrote: > I would love to see a "down a 4th" transposition on a 6-7course lute. > You could do that on an archlute, but that's a bit anachronistic for > Elisabethan > material, idnit? > RT > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Tayler" <vidan...@sbcglobal.net> > To: "lute" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Cc: <vidan...@sbcglobal.net> > Sent: Sunday, December 04, 2011 1:58 PM > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Transposing lute tablature on sight > > >> I transpose tab all the time, and "nearest neighbor" works fine in >> meantone, particularly the tweaked versions of meantone that I use on >> the lute. >> The repertory that I most transpose, is of course lute songs, >> especially Airs to Cour but also English lute songs, and here down a >> tone is the most common, followed by up a tone. >> Down a fourth I sometimes do as well, and down a third. >> For whatever reason, I find down a tone by far the easiest, maybe >> because singers often ask for it. >> The other repertory that I most transpose is early 17th c. Italian >> music of all kinds, either to suit the voices, or various wind >> instruments. >> Usually the transposition happens in rehearsal, so we just tryout a few >> keys. >> Then I either learn it well enough in the changed key to play it, or I >> write it out in the *decided upon* key. >> And it is handy to bring both versions because sometimes people want to >> switch back before the concert, >> Two things to point out: >> The first is that these are the transpositions required by organists, >> mentioned in numerous treatises, and all those old organs are in >> meantone. >> Second is if you place your pivot sharp *assuming* you may transpose >> down a tone, you won't of course have a perfect temperament, but close >> enough. >> Last thing is programming: if you play a piece in F, and set up in F >> temperament center tone, and transpose a G piece down a tone into F, >> you are then transposing *into* the temperament instead of out of it. >> Similarly, if you have a piece in A major and read it in F major you >> will see a huge improvement. >> Lastly, if you have a mixed program, which is quite common, of pieces >> in F, G and A you can bring the two outriggers into the center. >> Transposition then becomes the fastest and easiest way to improve the >> temperament. >> For those who enjoy musical puzzles, you can combine transposition with >> scordatura to also improve the tuning and the range at the same time. >> dt >> >> -- >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
