Joshua,
There's a lifetime's worth of music in 16th century. If you put on one
more course to accomodate Dowland more power to you. Me? I guess I've
been shedding courses over my years at it having discovered the
renaissance guitar lately. (Mrs Smith, who doesn't share our love of
nuance, would prefer I simply shed lutes.) Except for the guitar
everything I pick up now has 6 courses. The variety in size while
keeping the same rigging is curiously reassuring and does wonders for
my hand work. I don't have to deal with the thumb in/out question,
either. Yay!
It's an interesting concept that as lute time moved forward they added
more courses to get the music they wanted but the composers/
intabulators previous were no less ingenious in getting more out of
less --and called on their players to reflect as much diversity.
You'll find that your talents are no less taxed! It's fascinating to
see what you can bring back to the lute in your chosen period by
moving laterally around a particular year rather than moving forward
and backward in time. Personally, I have a hard time of jumping around
in time periods. There are so many here on this list that do that much
better.
I've seen some folks that like to give a concert that goes from 1500
to 1700. Some prefer a snapshot of a particular period or even one
book. To each his own said the farmer as he kissed the cow.
Sean
On May 2, 2012, at 10:41 AM, Joshua Burkholder wrote:
Dear Bruno,
Well, I didn't really want to start a 7C vs 8c debate, since I get the
impression this fairly well-trodden ground for you guys on this list.
I have considered an 8-course, in fact it was my initial plan, and can
see the attractiveness of its flexibility. But I really feel most
attracted to the 16th century repertoire, and it seems to me a 7-
course is the best fit to explore it, that is, all the (vast and
wonderful) 6-course stuff to Dowland and his contemporaries. I realize
that I'll perhaps miss out on some good later stuff, but it's not like
I can never ever buy another lute for the rest of my life! I am just
getting started, and the 16th century boasts enough great music to
repay several lifetimes of study, and I think will satisfy me for some
years to come while I learn the instrument. Then perhaps in 5 years or
so, when I've advanced to respectable level and will have had plenty
of time to expand my tastes, meet other players, try other
instruments, etc. I can always in!
vest in another instrument if I want to expand my repertoire. If I'm
planning to spend time 1) in Dowland's era, and then 2) much more time
in the era before Dowland than in the one after him, the trade-offs
between 7 and 8 courses seem to come down in favor of 7. At least for
me.
I appreciate your advice nonetheless, and indeed I'm in general very
impressed in general with how welcoming and kind everyone in the lute
world has been to me so far.
All the best,
Joshua
On May 2, 2012, at 6:49 PM, Bruno Fournier wrote:
Hello
A
If you haven't yet ordered a lute, I would consider an 8 course,
which
in my opinion is more versatile.A It even allows you to cheat and
play
10 course music...A
A
Bruno
On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 11:48 AM, Braig, Eugene <[1]brai...@osu.edu>
wrote:
It's beginning to sound like an 8-course might actually better suit
your needs. A While short lived in period, they seem pretty
ubiquitous today.
Best,
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: [2]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
[mailto:[3]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Joshua Burkholder
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 11:40 AM
To: [4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re-tuning the diapason of a 7c
Dear lute-listers,
A question from a beginner:
First to introduce myself, my name is Joshua and I've been playing
the
lute for several months now; I have been on the list for a couple
weeks
and am really enjoying following your discussions. I have a rental
7-course and I am now in the process of taking the plunge and
buying a
lute of my own. After much reading, pondering and agonizing over the
best number of courses to start with, I've come to the conclusion
that
a 7-course best suits my needs. So onto to my question:
I know that some people re-tune the 7th course from D to F as needed,
but on my rental lute this seems quite impossible. The diapason is
stung to F and if I drop it down to D it becomes far too wobbly and
flabby. From this I assume that if I were to restring it to D, which
I'd prefer on the whole, it would likewise be impossible to raise
it to
F. Currently the lute is strung with Pyramid strings so the basses
are
metal wound. Is it only possible to change from D to F on the same
string if one uses gut strings (Poulton remarks to this effect in her
tutor that if it's strung to be tuned at D "it will only be
possible to
raise it to F if gut strings are used")? Otherwise I have to re-
string?
Or does someone use some other stringing solution, besides just
keeping
it D and fingering the third fret for F (or buying an 8-course
lute...)? I've read enough about stringing lutes to understand that
it
will be a while before I understand anything about stringing lutes...
Thank you for taking the time to help out a newcomer.
Best wishes,
Joshua
To get on or off this list see list information at
[5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
A
Bruno Cognyl-Fournier
A
[6]www.estavel.org
A
--
References
1. mailto:brai...@osu.edu
2. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
3. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
6. http://www.estavel.org/
