[LUTE] Re: Left hand technique

[Caroline Usher]

Leonard,
If you rotate the lute along the axis of the strings so that the top edge of 
the soundboard is somewhat closer to your body, the effect is to bring the 
fingerboard a little closer to horizontal.  That will help.

I remember years ago having a long-distance phone conversation with Pat about 
this.  I told him that I simply couldn't play chords without using some 
pressure from my thumb.  Single notes, ok, but not chords.  He asked me a bunch 
of questions about how I was holding the lute, how I was doing it, etc.  
Nothing stood out as the answer to the problem.

Finally he said, "You know, I have to remind myself that my arm probably weighs 
3 times as much as yours."

:)  

This was not the only time I got instruction from a male teacher that presumed 
having a body like theirs, but it was the only time that the teacher caught 
himself in the act.

And yes, I know that female teachers also can make unfounded assumptions about 
their students' experience.  In our world there are so many more male teachers. 
. . .
Caroline

Caroline Usher
Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.
613-8155 / fax 660-7293
Box 90338

Beauty is the enemy of expression.
Christian Tetzlaff, violinist


-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu  On Behalf Of 
guy_and_liz Smith
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 12:22 PM
To: r.turov...@gmail.com; Elliott Chapin 
Cc: Leonard Williams ; lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Left hand technique

One of the exercises Pat recommended to understand this principle (and to help 
break the habit of pinching the neck with your thumb) was playing without using 
your thumb at all. You can't play as well as you do with the thumb, but it does 
work.

Guy

-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
r.turov...@gmail.com
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 4:28 AM
To: Elliott Chapin
Cc: Leonard Williams; lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Left hand technique

That was the cornerstone of Pat’s teaching.
RT

> 
> 
>> On 04/25/2018 10:05 PM, Leonard Williams wrote:
>>   I have frequently read in various lute tutors an admonishment not
>>   to grip the neck between thumb and fingers, but to allow the weight of
>>   the arm to press the strings.  I can never quite get this: the table of
>>   the lute is near perpendicular to the floor; how does the weight of the
>>   arm press the strings?  It rather pulls at the strings while sliding
>>   off.  Is there another way to explain this technical point?
>> 
>>   Thanks and regards,
>> 
>>   Leonard Williams
>> 
>>   --
>> 
>> 
>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.cs.dartmouth.edu_-7Ewbc_lute-2Dadmin_index.html&d=DwIDaQ&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=UUZLabKEylgnLyY6PCFo0A&m=YT_twiHfv17FC3Q-C4f6xUslUoHIBIcQI1yfFhEcCsI&s=2c6n_vU_2KpZjMf9511UxBextAKI_K9V9pTHlhIK_ok&e=
>> 
> 
> -- 
> clients.teksavvy.com/~echapin
> 
> 

[LUTE] Re: What If A Day lyrics

[Caroline Usher]

Total Perspective Vortex!!

Caroline Usher 
Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
Box 90338

There be many men that are by others taken to be serious and grave men, whom we 
contemn and pity.  …  Money-getting men, men that spend all their time, first 
in getting, and next, in anxious care to keep it; men that are condemned to be 
rich, and then always busy or discontented.—Izaak Walton

-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
Jim Dunn
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 5:42 AM
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: What If A Day lyrics

I read it as  a ‘the earth is tiny in the heavens, and a man is tiny compared 
to the earth, so get over yourself’ type of statement…

Jim


> On 10 Sep 2015, at 10:28, Rob MacKillop  wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have any idea what the following excerpt from What If A Day Or A 
> Month Or A Year means? It has left me scratching my head...
> 
> "Earthes but a point to the world, and a man Is but a point to the 
> worlds compared centure:
> Shall then a point of a point be so vaine As to triumph in a seely 
> points adventure?"
> 
> Rob
> 
> www.robmackillop.net
> 
> 
> 
> To get on or off this list see list information at 
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

[LUTE] Re: Grant Tomlinson and Jan Rooks: Nepal Avalanche

[Caroline Usher]

I am so sad for my friend Grant.  He was so happy with Jan.
Caroline

Caroline Usher 
Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
Box 90338

"Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: 
Study the science of art. Study the art of science. 
Develop your senses--especially learn how to see. 
Realize that everything connects to everything else." --Leonardo da Vinci

-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
Dick Hoban
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2014 5:24 PM
To: BENJAMIN NARVEY
Cc: lute-cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Grant Tomlinson and Jan Rooks: Nepal Avalanche

Oh my! I was talking with Grant a couple of weeks ago about this trip. He and 
Jan had trekked in Nepal before and were anxious to get back. He was a little 
concerned, but said they were going with another couple that were close to. Any 
word about them?
This is such terrible news! Please send any updates. I am so sad for my friend.

Dick


Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 17, 2014, at 2:20 PM, BENJAMIN NARVEY  wrote:

>   Dear All,
> 
>   Tragic news coming out of Nepal. It would seem our dear friendA Grant
>   Tomlinson and his lovely wife Jan were caught in that monster avalanche
>   in Nepal that has killed about 30 people. Grant has survived, but alas,
>   Jan was not so fortunate. Grant is currently taking part in the
>   recovery operation to help find Jan.
> 
>   I am utterly shocked by this news. I just saw Grant a few short weeks
>   ago in Vancouver and he was so excited about this trip.A
> 
>   Here is a link to some of the news coming out of Nepal:
> 
>   [1]http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-avalanche-survivor-describes-d
>   eath-trap-in-nepal-1.2058180#
> 
>   Our thoughts are with him.
> 
>   Benjamin Narvey
> 
>   --
> 
>   [2]www.luthiste.com
>   t +33 (0) 6 71 79 98 98
> 
>   --
> 
> References
> 
>   1. 
> http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian-avalanche-survivor-describes-death-trap-in-nepal-1.2058180
>   2. http://www.luthiste.com/
> 
> 
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

[LUTE] Re: Initiating finger movement.

[Caroline Usher]

Dan,
The injury happened decades ago (although concern and sympathy is always 
welcome!)  It doesn't bother me now, except that I sometimes feel it when the 
weather is very cold.

As for your other questions, that's exactly what I wanted to know about what 
Herbert is doing.  I couldn't tell if he was just picking fingers up and 
putting them back down in the same place, simultaneously or successively, or 
something else.

The exercise I know entails starting on the 6th course with 4 on the last fret 
on the neck, and "walking" the fingers across to the treble side and back.  
Then you move one fret toward the nut and repeat.  All the way to the nut and 
back.  You then do the same thing with all the other finger combinations.  I do 
them using 4 fingers btw.  And I pluck the notes with the right hand.

The purpose of the exercise is manifold:  to develop independence of the 
fingers, to practice putting them straight down, to practice putting them right 
behind the fret, to practice using only the minimum amount of force needed, to 
work on relaxing the arm and shoulder while playing, etc., etc., etc.  I did 
learn it from Pat O'Brien.  And it was entirely my own fault that I did not 
retain the importance of moving from fret to fret up and down the neck.  I got 
lazy and just did it at one fret.  -> overuse injury.
Caroline    


Caroline Usher 
Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
Box 90338

"Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: 
Study the science of art. Study the art of science. 
Develop your senses--especially learn how to see. 
Realize that everything connects to everything else." --Leonardo da Vinci

-Original Message-
From: Dan Winheld [mailto:dwinh...@lmi.net] 
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 4:19 PM
To: Caroline Usher; Herbert Ward; lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: Re: [LUTE] Re: Initiating finger movement.

Caroline-

What exactly are you doing with these combinations? Simply specifying 
finger combos is not telling what you are doing with them- could be 
anything at all. Stretching exercises? Legato exercises? Speed 
exercises? Strengthening exercises? Independence exercises? Sensitivity 
exercises? Chords? Intervals? All you've said is that you're moving 
across the neck in one position. How exactly are you moving from course 
to course? Articulated in combination with right hand, or all LH legato? 
Fingers down all the time except to move to new position, or fingers 
stiffly held up by the extensor muscles on top/outside of the forearm? 
Are you doing barre with index finger & trying to do too much with the 
others going from course to course?

And what kind of injury? Strained tendon, muscle? Inflammation? Sudden 
traumatic event, or gradual onset? Carpal tunnel involvement? Insult to 
the nerves in the finger end pads from pressing/hammering on too hard, 
or strain from holding a note on one course with one finger and reaching 
too far with another, without proper preparation or warm up? Are you 
tense? A seemingly perfectly safe exercise can be deadly if the hand- or 
even other body parts- or even your mind is in a state of tension.

First thing is to be cleared by a doctor- but only a doctor who 
specializes in this sort of thing, maybe a good sports/PT oriented 
(orthopedist?) Physician BEFORE you take advice off the internet. Then 
someone like the late Pat O'Brien (come on over, I can help-:-) ) In any 
case, you, your hand, and the lute you are working with must be seen 
live & in action before anything at all can be diagnosed or recommended 
as a specific course of action. And if it's a real injury, THAT must be 
diagnosed & treated first before you mess with the lute again. If 
interested, I have more detailed stuff I could send you off-list, but 
first you must be diagnosed properly.

Best of luck to you, injuries suck.

Dan

On 10/13/2014 12:39 PM, Caroline Usher wrote:
> Are there not additional possibilities?
>
> 21, 31, 32, 41, 42, 43.
>
> When you move your fingers, do you move from the 2nd to the 3rd course, to 
> the 4th course, and so forth.  Do you start at a particular fret and move up 
> or down the fingerboard?
>
> I ask because I injured myself by doing this sort of exercise back and forth 
> across the neck staying always on the same fret.  (And then I aggravated the 
> injury by carrying several things at once in such a way that a lot of strain 
> was put on the injured finger--it wouldn't have been too bad without that.)
> Caroline
>
> Caroline Usher
> Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
> 613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
> Box 90338
>
> "Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind:
> Study the science of art. Study the art of science.
> Develop your senses--especially learn how to see.
&g

[LUTE] Re: Initiating finger movement.

[Caroline Usher]

Are there not additional possibilities?

21, 31, 32, 41, 42, 43.

When you move your fingers, do you move from the 2nd to the 3rd course, to the 
4th course, and so forth.  Do you start at a particular fret and move up or 
down the fingerboard?

I ask because I injured myself by doing this sort of exercise back and forth 
across the neck staying always on the same fret.  (And then I aggravated the 
injury by carrying several things at once in such a way that a lot of strain 
was put on the injured finger--it wouldn't have been too bad without that.)
Caroline

Caroline Usher 
Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
Box 90338

"Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: 
Study the science of art. Study the art of science. 
Develop your senses--especially learn how to see. 
Realize that everything connects to everything else." --Leonardo da Vinci

-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
Herbert Ward
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2014 1:06 AM
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Initiating finger movement.

One of my exercises is this:  place all
four fingers of the LH on the 2nd course.
Then, select one pair of fingers at a time, and move them in a pattern while 
keeping the other pair of fingers fixed.*

In doing this exercise, I find that after movement is initiated, I seldom get 
con- fused about which fingers should be moving and which should be stationary.

It is only during initiation of movement that I accidentally move a wrong 
finger.

I also find that having recently moved
a pair of fingers is quite conducive to
initiating them again.

I wonder whether anyone can describe a
physiological basis for these two phenomena.

* There are six possible pairs, 12, 23, 34,
   13, 24, and 14.



To get on or off this list see list information at 
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

[LUTE] Re: lute sighting

[Caroline Usher]

I think I saw that same lute in a Robin Hood film starring Richard Greene and 
Peter Cushing.

Caroline Usher 
Admin. Coordinator, Biology Dept.
613-8155, 660-7293 (fax)
Box 90338

"Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: 
Study the science of art. Study the art of science. 
Develop your senses--especially learn how to see. 
Realize that everything connects to everything else." --Leonardo da Vinci

-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
Christopher Stetson
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2014 3:56 PM
To: lutelist Net
Subject: [LUTE] Re: lute sighting

   Mean? A I'd say downright antagonistic, verging on sociopathic. A Or
   would that be musicopathic?

   On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 11:21 AM, David van Ooijen
   <[1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com> wrote:

 A  A Extremely mean fretting scheme, by the looks of it.
 A  A David
 A  A ***
 A  A David van Ooijen
 A  A [1][2]davidvanooi...@gmail.com
 A  A [2][3]www.davidvanooijen.nl
 A  A ***
 A  A On 13 September 2014 17:02, Bernd Haegemann
 <[3][4]b...@symbol4.de> wrote:
 A  A  A sorry, corrected link:
 A  A
 A [1][4][5]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A  A On 13.09.2014 16:52, Bernd Haegemann wrote:
 A  A  A > In the film "The High Crusade"AA  - a complete shipwreck
 of some
 A  A  A wannabe
 A  A  A > Monty Python imitators - you can see this lute
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A >
 [2][5][6]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A > Needless to say that the film plays in the 12th century,
 making
 A  A  A this
 A  A  A > kind of lute a little bit of an anachronism..
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A > Have a nice weekend!
 A  A  A > Bernd
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A > To get on or off this list see list information at
 A  A  A >
 [3][6][7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A >
 A  A  A AA  A --
 A  A  A References
 A  A  A AA  A 1.
 [7][8]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A  A AA  A 2.
 [8][9]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A  A AA  A 3.
 [9][10]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
 A  A --
 References
 A  A 1. mailto:[11]davidvanooi...@gmail.com
 A  A 2. [12]http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
 A  A 3. mailto:[13]b...@symbol4.de
 A  A 4. [14]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A 5. [15]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A 6. [16]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
 A  A 7. [17]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A 8. [18]http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
 A  A 9. [19]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

   --

References

   1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
   2. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
   3. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
   4. mailto:b...@symbol4.de
   5. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
   6. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
   7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
   8. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
   9. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
  10. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
  11. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
  12. http://www.davidvanooijen.nl/
  13. mailto:b...@symbol4.de
  14. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
  15. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
  16. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
  17. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/temp/highcrusade.jpg
  18. http://www.lute-academy.be/docstore/highcrusade.jpg
  19. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

[LUTE] Re: Lute, Harp and Voice in Umbria (Italy)

[Caroline Usher]

I understand the problem, and I'm truly fortunate to be able to afford the 
trans-Atlantic travel.  

But what about the Europeans???  
Caroline

Caroline Usher
Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.
613-8155 / fax 660-7293
Box 90338


-Original Message-
From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of 
Bruno Correia
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2011 6:38 PM
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Lute, Harp and Voice in Umbria (Italy)

   True... with 1.500 plus a 1.200 air ticket I could buy another lute
   or have fun with my family in Buenos Aires, tasting the best meat and
   wine of South America, not a bad idea!!



   Regards from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

   2011/6/27 Laura Maschi <[1]lmas...@gmail.com>

   Hi Caroline,...I thought about attending when it was
 announced...It
   will be certainly wonderful!
   ...but in addition to the course fees there is also the travel
 cost,
   and Italy is no less than 1500 usd apart (at least from here)...so
   total would be around 3K...
   Perhaps that's the reason!
   Laura
   2011/6/24 Caroline Usher <[1][2]c...@duke.edu>

 Friends, Crawford Young et al. are giving a workshop in Spello,
   Italy
 July 25th through 30th.

   [1][2][3]http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274

 For some reason the workshop has had difficulty attracting
 participants, even though it is
 a) given by a FABULOUS group of people;
 b) in a FABULOUSLY beautiful part of the world;
 c) where they eat FABULOUS food;
 d) you get to stay in a FABULOUS medieval hilltop town;
 d) there will be bus trips to neighboring cities to study
   FABULOUS
 medieval art works depicting music;
 e) the whole week, room, board AND tuition is offered for the
 FABULOUSLY low price of US $1600!!
 !
 Not to mention that you will have the oppurtunity to rub
   shoulders
   with
 some of the most FABULOUS Glitterati of the Known Lute World, Her
 Imperial Highnessness *ME* as well as El Ex-Presidente (US
   Province)
 Dick Hoban.
 How can any lutenist in their right mind pass this opportunity
 up?!?!?!?  Hie thee to the website and register, post-haste!
 (It says you have to sign up by the end of May, but I'm sure they
   will
 welcome you with open arms.)
 Ciao!
 Caroline
 Caroline Usher
 Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.
 613-8155 / fax 660-7293
 Box 90338
 --
   References

   1. [3][4]http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274

   To get on or off this list see list information at

 [4][5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
   --
 References
   1. mailto:[6]c...@duke.edu
   2. [7]http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274
   3. [8]http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274
   4. [9]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

   --

[LUTE] Lute, Harp and Voice in Umbria (Italy)

[Caroline Usher]

   Friends, Crawford Young et al. are giving a workshop in Spello, Italy
   July 25th through 30th.


   [1]http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274


   For some reason the workshop has had difficulty attracting
   participants, even though it is

   a) given by a FABULOUS group of people;

   b) in a FABULOUSLY beautiful part of the world;

   c) where they eat FABULOUS food;

   d) you get to stay in a FABULOUS medieval hilltop town;

   d) there will be bus trips to neighboring cities to study FABULOUS
   medieval art works depicting music;

   e) the whole week, room, board AND tuition is offered for the
   FABULOUSLY low price of US $1600!!


   !


   Not to mention that you will have the oppurtunity to rub shoulders with
   some of the most FABULOUS Glitterati of the Known Lute World, Her
   Imperial Highnessness *ME* as well as El Ex-Presidente (US Province)
   Dick Hoban.


   How can any lutenist in their right mind pass this opportunity
   up?!?!?!?  Hie thee to the website and register, post-haste!


   (It says you have to sign up by the end of May, but I'm sure they will
   welcome you with open arms.)


   Ciao!

   Caroline


   Caroline Usher

   Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.

   613-8155 / fax 660-7293

   Box 90338


   --

References

   1. http://www.centrostudiadolfobroegg.it/archives/1274


To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html

[LUTE] Re: Disney World call for lutenist and singer

[Caroline Usher]

   Caroline Usher

   Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.

   613-8155 / fax 660-7293

   Box 90338


   From: Nelson, Jocelyn [mailto:nels...@ecu.edu]
   Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:13 AM
   To: Nelson, Jocelyn; jocelynnel...@suddenlink.net
   Subject: Disney World call for lutenist and singer


   Dear Friends,

   I'm sending this in case you have any students or colleagues looking
   for employment. (I've blind-copied the addressees for everyone's
   privacy.)

   Mr. Andres Roca is accepting applications for a lutenist and a
   countertenor or soprano to perform regularly at the Italian Pavilion at
   Epcot in Disney World in Orlando, Florida for $1200 per week. In our
   phone conversation Mr. Roca indicated interest in a versatile
   instrumentalist who can also play guitar, and also a singer who is
   either a countertenor or soprano.

   See information below my signature. Interested parties should contact
   Mr. Roca directly (note his contact information, below).

   Thank you,
   Jocelyn Nelson
   --
   Jocelyn Nelson, DMA
   Teaching Assistant Professor
   Early Guitar, Music History
   336 Fletcher Music Center
   School of Music
   East Carolina University
   252.328.1255 office
   252.328.6258 fax
   [1]nels...@ecu.edu
   Casting for:
   Lutenist and or Female Vocalist to perform music of the Italian
   Renaissance in Venice.
   Musicians will be accompanied by a Period Jester performing the
   Commedia Dell' Arte: The Italian comedy. This character will perform
   Magic tricks, improvised drama and humorously clever pantomimic acting.
   He will also interact with the Musician and Vocalist inducing the
   audience into laughter and gleeful merry-making.
   Salary: $1,200/ week.
   The Job would require relocating to the Central Florida area. Musician
   and or Vocalist would be required to perform daily aprox. ( 5) 20
   minute performance sets. The lutenist must be able to perform
   underscore music while the Jester is performing to guests. Vocalist
   would most likely perform 3 - 4 Short period Vocal pieces per set.

   applicants should be able to supply a short 1 - 2 minute web video
   (such as a youtube video). Music genre: Italian Renaissance/early
   baroque. Video quality does not have to be great. I'm mainly looking
   for playing ability and presence.
   The job does require that the troupe be mobile, so the applicant video
   should feature him or her standing while playing.

   In addition: 1 Photo and a short Bio.

   Disney does want to proceed with the concept. I should also let you
   know that the performances are meant to be lively and cheerful... so
   happy, easy-going personalities are welcome.

   Performance schedule will not exceed 5 (20 -30 minute sets) daily. 5
   days a week.

   See Below for a video link to the concept presentation
   I recently made to Disney.
[2]http://novaeramusic.com/Italian_Comedia_Dell_Arte.html


   Kind Regards,
   Andres Roca
   (407) 414-4020
   www.novaeramusic.com

   --

References

   1. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/nels...@ecu.edu
   2. http://novaeramusic.com/Italian_Comedia_Dell_Arte.html


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[LUTE] Our friend David Nelson

[Caroline Usher]

   Dear lute-friends,

   You are probably already aware that long-time Lute Society of America
   member, stalwart LSA Seminar participant, and firm friend David Nelson
   passed away earlier this year.


   At the recent Seminar in Cleveland we passed around a small book for
   people to write their condolences and memories for David's family.  If
   anyone who wasn't able to attend would like to write something, I'd be
   happy to add it to the book.  If you have pictures of David at LSA
   events, that would also be nice to include.


   Thank you, all.

   Caroline


   Caroline Usher

   Admin. Coordinator / Biology Dept.

   613-8155 / fax 660-7293

   Box 90338


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[LUTE] Transposed Dowland songs??

[Caroline Usher]

   A singer has asked me to accompany her on "Come heavy sleep" and "Time
   stands still."  The problem is, she wants to sing them in F (down a
   whole step) because it's a better range for her voice.  Has anyone
   tried transposing them down?  Any thoughts on how well (or not) this
   works?
   I could tune down to 415 but I'm not sure she'll go for that.
   thanks,
   Caroline
--
*
Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology
Box 90338
Durham NC 27708
919-613-8155, fax 660-7293

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[LUTE] Re: El Gordo

[Caroline Usher]

Clearly, the box is for Gorilla Snot.
Caroline

David Tayler wrote:
> This is kind of a cool lute.
> Renaissance, circa Capirola,  very, very large. Table position
> The thumb is in the very popular "thumb middle", neither particularly 
> inside the hand nor stretched out.
> Left hand in "cruiser" position.
> Box for spare strings?
> http://www.nga.gov/cgi-bin/tdimage?object=90793
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
>   

-- 
*
Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology
Box 90338
Durham NC 27708
919-613-8155, fax 660-7293


--

[LUTE] Re: Lute iconographic project - a proposal]

[Caroline Usher]

There is a long-standing effort to do for musical iconography what RILM 
and RIMM do for musicology and music manuscripts, respectively:
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/rcmi/index.htm

They don't seem to be very web-oriented.  Possibly they are concerned 
about copyright issues in putting their images online (a 400-year-old 
work of art is in the public domain, but the museum slide or 
reproduction in a published volume is not.)

They tried to develop a cataloguing system for images of musical 
instruments.  Unfortunately they kept revising the rules as they went 
along and discovered that the [1-page] [10-page] [25-page] rule sets 
were inadequate.  I had some correspondence with them a couple of 
decades ago, which broke down because they wanted a set of clearly 
distinguished types of lute. each with its own distinct name.  I kept 
trying to explain that the lute family was not standardized and that you 
would need to specify, insofar as possible, the number of strings, 
number of nuts/pegboxes, etc.  They would write back and say, "Yes, but 
we need /one name/ for each type."  They didn't get that the lute is 
polymorphously perverse.

I also wrote my master's thesis for the School of Information and 
Library Science at UNC on the history of their cataloguing rules.  Short 
summary:  They shoulda asked a librarian.
Caroline

 Original Message 
Subject:[LUTE] Re: Lute iconographic project - a proposal
Date:   Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:59:18 +0100
From:   G. Crona <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
CC: Susanne Herre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>



Good idea Susanne!

It would be most convenient to have a site where as much as possible of the 
iconography could be found. Well catalogisized and in both tumbnails and 
bigger versions. A sort of mini Wikipedia like, where we could go in and add 
information if available. I believe Alfonso reads the list, perhaps he has 
some ideas of how to go about to do this?

B.R.
G.

- Original Message - 
From: "Susanne Herre" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 4:25 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Lute iconographic project - a proposal


> Dear all,
>
> I liked very much the website of Alfonso Marin about the Lute iconography. 
> Thank you very much for this work!
>
> Woulnd't it be good if this could get a more official character und could 
> be enlarged by the help of us all (I guess nearly every body has digital 
> photographs of lute angels, pictures, instruments in museums a.s.o. which 
> would be interesting for everyone and which we could send to Alfonso 
> Marin)?
>
> Then it would be helpful if the pictures could be organized in groups, 
> e.g. 1) paintings, several periods of time 2) sculptures 3) instruments in 
> museums (different types a.s.o.)
>
> The information could also be added by everyone.
>
> I think the medium "Internet" is really good to combine information, to 
> share with many people. It could be a really good basis for research.
>
> What do you think about this idea?
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Susanne
> --
>
> 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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[LUTE] Hexachords

[Caroline Usher]

Supposing one wanted to learn the fundamentals of music as it was taught 
in the 16th century, starting with the gamut and hexachords.  Are there 
any sources which approach this pedagogically?  There is an admirably 
thorough explanation of the theory at 
http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/harmony/hex.html, but how would one put it 
into practice?

Much thanks for any suggestions,
Caroline

P.S.  Who's going to Vancouver next week?  I'm arriving at 10:58pm on 
Saturday evening--anyone want to share a cab to Green College?

-- 
Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology
Box 90338
Durham NC 27708
613-8155, fax 660-7293
"So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the 
daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for who among 
them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a 
manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained." - Machiavelli



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[LUTE] Re: Rép : [LUTE] Re: str ap + glasses

[Caroline Usher, Empress of the Known Lute World]

Anthony Hind wrote:
[big snips]
> perhaps your breathing, if you sing at the same time. Catherine Usher  
> also points out that this position may be less easy for women.
Actually, Catherine was a rather different empress. . . .

-- 
Caroline Caroline I, Empress of the Known Lute World, Queen of North American 
Lutopia, Duchess of Elaborate Divisions and Defender of the Authentick Faith




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[LUTE] Re: cleaning a soundboard + Strap

[Caroline Usher]

Anthony Hind wrote:
> On two slightly different topics.
> I have seen lutists using a wooden tool to turn pegs. I wouldn't mind  
> buying one of these myself; however, is there not a risk of breaking  
> a peg or even the peg-box?
>   
Not if you know when to cease and desist.  It should be pretty obvious 
when a peg is really jammed and needs to be tapped out, or allowed to 
dry out in lower humidity.  If your pegs are in good working condition 
there should be no danger.

The peg-turner helps you to turn the peg more smoothly.
> I have not noticed any paintings of lute players showing them with a  
> lute strap, and yet most players use a strap today. Might these be  
> absent from paintings, but nevertheless have been used when the  
> lutist actually played? Are there any signs on the old lutes  
> themselves that straps were indeed used?
>   
Search the archives of this list.
> There seem to be many ways of wearing these straps. 
Yes.  Remember that the clothing worn in the heyday of the lute was very 
different from ours.  That makes a big difference.
>  Would either of these  
> methods be beneficial or tend to inhibit resonance?
>
> I have noticed that the lute remains most stable when the strap is  
> tied nearer the extremity of the peg-box.
>   
That works for you and probably most men.  I find that since my 
shoulders are narrower and more rounded, I have to attach the strap 
close to the neck or it slips off my shoulder.
> Furthermore, some people use colourful cloth material, while others  
> use a very solid guitar-strap. Is it just the case of 'use what works  
> for you", or are there serious reasons for adopting a particular  
> method? 
De gustibus non disputandum.  Wider is better, as is non-slippery.  You 
want something that will grip your back.

Remember that how you look does affect how people perceive you.  A 
psychedelic strap may remind you of your hard-rockin' college days and 
comment ironically the instrument you now favor, but would be out of 
place in the Collegium concert.  Black or natural leather is never out 
of place.

When I play in costume I have a strap that matches my dress.  BTW my 
costume is in subdued colors with low contrast--in other words it's not 
a "stage" costume with lots of stripes, gold braid etc.  The idea is to 
focus on the music after all.  The costume helps set the mood.
Caroline

-- 
Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology
Box 90338
Durham NC 27708
613-8155, fax 660-7293
"So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the 
daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for who among 
them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a 
manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained." - Machiavelli



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[LUTE] Empress going on Progress

[Caroline Usher]

Dear mostly loyal subjects,
WE, Caroline I, Empress of the Known Lute World, Queen of North American 
Lutopia, Duchess of Elaborate Divisions and Defender of the Authentick 
Faith, are planning to go on progress to the vicinity of Boston (USA) 
for the Early Music Festival, June 12 - 16.  As is normally the case, 
we  plan to  allow our Bostonian subjects the privilege of offering Us 
their hospitality on this occasion. . . .  Have no fear, We shall not be 
traveling with Our full retinue (the dogs are staying home) and it is 
not necessary to provide banquets or feather beds (I'm allergic to 
feathers anyway). 

Now, don't all stampede to be the first to offer. 
Looking forward to Gracing you all with Our Presence,
We Are,
By the Grace of God (and a lot of hard work, dammit),
Caroline I, Empress of the Known Lute World, Queen of North American 
Lutopia, Duchess of Elaborate Divisions and Defender of the Authentick Faith

-- 
Caroline Usher, Dept. of Biology
Box 90338
Durham NC 27708
613-8155, fax 660-7293
"So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the 
daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for who among 
them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a 
manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained." - Machiavelli



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[LUTE] Spaces left in Ronn McFarlane Seminar in DC (March 23-5)

[Caroline Usher]

Please reply to Betsy Small, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Hi, lutenists --

Do you have a boring weekend coming up? Well, here's just the thing for 
you! We've had two last-minute cancellations for this wonderful workshop 
this weekend and have spaces left. If interested, contact Betsy Small at 
202- 244-4765.

Ronn McFarlane Annual Weekend Lute Seminar in DC  -  March 23-5 '07
At the home of Betsy and Hal Small -3220 44th St. NW, Washington DC 20016 - 
Betsy's phone: 202-244-4765

Cost for full-time participants: $130
Cost for part-time participant: to be determined case-to-case
Cost for dinner: split the cost with others

Activities included in cost for full-time participants:
Ronn McFarlane's concert (Saturday, 8:00 PM)
Ronn McFarlane's private lesson (25 minutes)
Ronn McFarlane's master class Sat. & Sun. PM (15-20 minutes)
Susan Cohen's Alexander Technique master class (Friday 8:00-9:30 PM )
Haskell Small's mini-concert, mini-lecture and master class
Betsy Small, organized ensembles (Sat. and/or Sun. AM)
Informal Student concert.
Q&A etc. session with Ronn McFarlane (Sunday PM)
Saturday and Sunday lunches
Activities not included in the cost for full-time participants:
   David Jernigan's private lessons ($30 for one half hour)
   Saturday night dinner at a restaurant

 Descriptions of activites/classes
Ronn McFarlane's solo concert: (open to the public - admission $15 for 
non-seminar participants)
Ronn McFarlane's private lessons (25 minutes per student)
Ron McFarlane's master classes (15-20 minutes per student)
Alexander workshop and master class for lutenist/singer duos and/or solo
lutenists. with instructor Susan Cohen.  (Friday 8:00 PM)  NEW THIS YEAR
Alexander Technique private lessons with David Jernigan (Not included in 
seminar cost -- $30 for one half hour)
Concert, lecture/discussion, & master classes with Haskell (Hal) Small. 
(Late Sat.PM)
10-15 minute concert with Bach included, short lecture, and 30-60 
minutes of master classes
Improvisation session (Caroline Usher)
Organized ensembles (Betsy, Sat and/or Sun. AM) NEW THIS YEAR
informal student concert (Sunday later AM)
Q&A/roundtable discussion with Ronn (Sun. before lunch)




**
AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from 
AOL at http://www.aol.com.
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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[LUTE] Ronn McFarlane in Durham April 7-8

[Caroline Usher]

Noted lutenist and composer Ronn McFarlane will give a workshop and recital in 
Durham on April 7 and 8.  Come one, come all!  If you are in the vicinity of 
35.59N, 78.54W this is your chance for to experience one of our living masters 
in an intimate setting.

Please contact Caroline Usher at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 919-477-8319 for more 
information.  

"McFarlane, for his part, is a master lutenist who's seemingly distilled 
countless influences and yet maintained the uniqueness of his instrument. He 
played 450-year old John Dowland pieces as well as his own compositions with a 
casual intensity that belies his rythmic style. And anyone impressed with the 
dexterity required by speed rock ought to see what Mr. McFarlane does when he 
flashes his fingers across the fretboard of a stout lute. Little wonder his 
performance received a standing ovation."
The Wall Street Journal

"Ronn truly has a gift for taking a student at any level whatever and drawing 
the best from him. And then on top of that he gave an unbelievable amount of 
information about the instrument, its construction, its history, the music 
written for it, etc. Most in the audience were guitarists, not lutenists, and 
even they were saying that it was the best master class they had ever 
attended." 
Anne Nash  - participant in the La Guitarra California Festival 2003
Format of the workshop will depend on the interests of the participants.  In 
the past, Ronn has taught private lessons in the morning and master class in 
the afternoon.  During private lessons, the remaining participants are free to 
play ensemble music, have instrument show-and-tell, or do whatever takes their 
fancy.  Depending on demand, Ronn can teach more lessons or discuss the lute 
and its technique on Saturday evening.  I personally own 4 different lutes and 
a Renaissance guitar, as well as a large library of lute facsimiles, so this is 
an opportunity for guitarists to get "up close and personal" with the 
instrument and its enormous repertoire.

You can find more information about Ronn at http://www.ronnmcfarlane.com/ 
including several recent columns on technique written by Ronn for the Lute 
Society of America Quarterly, and samples of several original compositions.

Caroline Usher  
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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[LUTE] Re: Eyeglasses

[Caroline Usher]

Piecing together a Tusculum Sammelsurium from several posts:

At 06:48 AM 11/26/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>  Dear Stephen,
>no - you are not, although Eco admitted after the publication of "Il
>nome della rosa" that he had smuggled some rather recent ideas (he named
>Wittgenstein) into his character's mouths. But with respect to
>eyeglasses - I suspect in future years I like many other elderly people
>will need one to read music, tablature a.s.o.,

Who you callin elderly

>so there is something
>like a justification for the topic here, ;) - he stayed with the truth.
>One finds eyglasses quite similar in construction to the
>"Ockeghem"-thing in Italian art of the fourteenth century as in german -
>erm - rubble heaps

"middens" the word you're looking for?

>  from the same century. Very nice are the ones from
>the Wienhausen convent (situated in Lower Saxonia), which are on display
>in the museum rooms of the convent. They were found as part of an
>enourmous "Tusculum Sammelsurium" (sorry, can't think of an English term
>here)

As you said, Tusculum is the name of an ancient Latin city.  I can't find 
any explanation of why it is named in this expression, unless it was noted 
for archaeological discoveries.  Enc. Britannica says that excavation began 
there in 1806.  "Sammelsurium" seems to be a polyglot word from the German 
root "sammel" meaning collect or gather, fitted with a Latin ending.

I can't think of an exact English equivalent for the phrase 
offhand.  "Archaeological miscellany?"

>I once found it written on a little box meant to hold
>things you don't find a better place for

Perhaps "a useful pot to put things in?"  (See Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore's 
birthday party.)

>I think you are both right in pointing to these aspects of stigmatism
>(the german word for "four eyes" during my school days was
>"Brillenschlange" ="spectacled cobra").

Heh.  When I was young it was the fashion to wear spectacles with very 
large round lenses.  My Russian teacher called them "lyagushki ochki," i.e. 
frog eyes, as in--addressing myself and my girlfriend--"Why do you wear 
these lyagushki ochki?  You look like a frog."

;-)
Caroline


Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: Learning different tunings

[Caroline Usher]

At 12:22 PM 11/14/2006, Are Vidar Boye Hansen wrote:
>I know the fingerboards of my renaissance lute in G, baroque lute in
>d-minor, archlute in G and fender stratocaster in E. I honestly don't
>understand why many lutensits find this so difficult.
>
>
>mvh
>Are Vidar Hansen

Hmmm.  Of course I can't read Are's mind, but this sounds to me like a 
comment from someone who has a talent for picking this up quickly.  I say 
this as one who has a talent for picking up some things quickly, but not 
reading staff notation or knowing where the notes are in a bunch of 
different tunings.

E.g. in my youth I couldn't understand why other students in language 
classes couldn't hear and reproduce the sounds of a foreign language, or 
why others had so much trouble with spelling.

That's why I like French tab, it has letters!
Caroline


Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: Thomas Campion and underlights

[Caroline Usher]

At 09:42 AM 11/7/2006, Stewart McCoy wrote:
>In Thomas Campion's song, "Author of light", there is the line
>
>"Sunne and Moone, Starres and underlights I see".
>
>What are "underlights"? I can't find the word in any of the
>dictionaries I have at home.

Hmmm.  My first thought was that this is a reference to the planets, whose 
sphere is under that of the stars.

Consulting the OED, there is one citation for underlight:
1876 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-g.html#gladstone>G<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-g.html#gladstone>LADSTONE
 in Morley Life (1903) II. 550, I see that eastward sky of storm and of 
underlight.

It points to the prefix under-, definition I. 5. c.:
Denoting position below a surface or covering, or at a depth. Examples of this 
occur from the 17th century, but are not common until the 19th.
1892 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-m3.html#meredith>M<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-m3.html#meredith>EREDITH
 Poet. Wks. (1912) 325 There chimed a bubbled *underbrew With witch~wild spray 
of vocal dew.
1913 Love Poems & Others 27 And even in the watery shells that lie Alive within 
the oozy *under-mire, A grain of this same fire I can descry.
Many more quotations.

I actually think the quotes under meaning II. "Denoting inferiority in rank or 
importance" fit better with this lyric.  The underlights are the lesser lights 
of the sky.

6. b. With other nouns, in the sense of ‘subordinate, subsidiary, minor'. An 
early instance of this is underhelp (1579); others, such as underaccident, 
-action, -cause, -ministry, etc., occur in the 17th cent.
1598 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-f.html#florio>F<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-f.html#florio>LORIO,
 Sottodistintione, an *vnder-distinction, or subdistinction.
1691 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-n.html#norris>N<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-n.html#norris>ORRIS
 Pract. Disc. 205 The Desire of Happiness..governs all the *under~motions of 
the Man.
1711 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-s5.html#swift>S<http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-s5.html#swift>WIFT
 Jrnl. Stella 28 Apr. (1901) 203 All the *under-hints there are mine too.

Or, he could simply mean the lights both lower and lesser of human making which 
are visible at night on the earth's surface.
Caroline 

Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708

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[LUTE] Re: Sting and his CD

[Caroline Usher]

At 04:24 PM 10/17/2006, Howard Posner wrote:

>Might we try an experiment, listers?
>
>go to
>http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Labyrinth-Sting/dp/B000HXDESU
>
>click on the sample for track 19 and try to write down the words he 
>sings.  There aren't that many, since it's only a 30-second sample.  No 
>fair if you already know what they are.

  that's gotta smart.

****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: too soft?

[Caroline Usher]

At 01:36 PM 10/11/2006, David Rastall wrote:
>On Oct 11, 2006, at 11:47 AM, Caroline Usher wrote:
>
>>...to me, the difference in timbre is more important than the difference in 
>>volume.  

[snip]

>I agree with Caroline completely.  

We thank you for your kind and loyal support, much valued in these troublous 
times.  As a mark of Our gracious favour, We grant you sole and exclusive 
Privilege for the printing of lute tablature from movable type within our 
realm.  Let no one infringe upon this right, upon peril of peine forte (NOT 
douce) et dure (NOT moll.)
HIH
CAROLINE
****


Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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[LUTE] Re: too soft?

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:51 AM 10/10/2006, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

>In a message dated 10/10/06 8:22:13 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>>But the guitar survived, and it did not become a concert-hall instrument 
>>until the 20th century.  There's a massive amount of chamber music from the 
>>19th century.  Why couldn't the lute have continued equally with the guitar 
>>in that setting?
>
>Giuliani performed his Concerto with full orchestra, (including 2 oboes, 2 
>bassoons, & flutes) on April 3, 1808 in Vienna's Redoutensaal (sp?). There are 
>many accounts of guitarists playing in concerts halls in the 19th century.

Obviously, I am misunderinformed.  ;-)  I truly don't know much about 19th 
cent. guitar, I am really reacting to the oft-heard canard about the lute being 
{too} soft, which is often accompanied implicitly by the idea that early 
instruments are inferior to modern ones.  It seems possible that it arose from 
from experiences with heavy, unHIP lutars.  

But, there's no doubt that a lute is softer than an orchestra playing Mahler, 
or even Mozart.  I've heard concert-touring pros say that it's not just volume, 
it's projection and the lute carries well in a good acoustic environment.  

>  I think that much of this has to do with the punctuation of single strings, 
> whether the player used nails. Note that Sor (an advocate of playing without 
> nails) composed very little chamber & orchestral music with guitar although 
> he was an exceptionally good orchestral composer (I have discovered a number 
> of these pieces). Fernando Ferrandiere (who advocated nails on a 6 double 
> course guitar) composed  lots of chamber music and works for guitar and 
> orchestra. (1790's).  The hall also makes a a big difference.

I think that these points about the technical adaptability of the guitar to the 
new musical style, and Eugene's about the number of frets available, are much 
more persuasive than the rather simplistic "it wasn't loud enough for concert 
halls."  Any concert-going afficionado of the 17th-century could tell you that 
the solution to this problem is to have so many lutes that "the audience can 
hardly see the stage because of the forest of theorbo necks sticking up."  ;-)

I would add to this that to me, the difference in timbre is more important than 
the difference in volume.  In the few concert performances I've heard an early 
19th-century guitar wasn't significantly louder than a lute.  A fortepiano 
isn't significantly louder than a harpsichord.  The difference in timbre is 
much greater.

I see it as a change in taste and style.  Knee breeches and powdered wigs are 
out, long pants and natural hair are in.  Neoclassicism - out, Sturm und Drang 
- in.  Galante style - out, Romanticism - in.

>By the way, at the risk of being accused of self promotion (which is what this 
>clearly is!) Koch International has just released vol. 1 my multi cd project 
>titled "The Essential Giuliani." This is a double cd and features reknowned 
>violinist Monica Huggett, soprano Jennifer Ellis (a finalist in last year's 
>Early Music America competition), cellist William Skeen and the Portland 
>Baroque Orchestra.

Bravo!
Caroline


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[LUTE] Re: The last word goes to Sting

[Caroline Usher]

At 06:36 AM 10/10/2006, Francesco Tribioli wrote:
>I've decided: I'll remove all my octaves, and double strings, and gut
>strings. I'll get an archlute and will try the pop lutenist career. Perhaps
>Mark and me could found a new group named "The HIP Police" and the
>repertoire will be Sting music arranged for two archlutes. RT, if you are
>clever we might even allow you to play the bass line on your own axe ;^)))

Actually, our lamented friend Dawn Culbertson, who passed away far too young, 
used to do Iggy Pop songs and other such on the lute.  It wasn't a schtick, she 
loved the music and she loved the lute.

Well, she knew it had a funny side, clearly, but she was also deeply serious 
about it.
Caroline


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[LUTE] Too soft to live, was The last word goes to Sting

[Caroline Usher]

At 06:24 AM 10/10/2006, gary digman wrote:
>I think the lute died for the same reason all the soft voiced insturments
>died, i.e. the plucked keyboards (spinets, clavichords, harpsichords, etc),
>the violas da gamba, and at the same time. When the concert hall was
>invented in the early 18th century, the idea was to put as many rear ends in
>as many seats as possible. Thus the loud voiced instruments fell into favor.

But the guitar survived, and it did not become a concert-hall instrument until 
the 20th century.  There's a massive amount of chamber music from the 19th 
century.  Why couldn't the lute have continued equally with the guitar in that 
setting?

I don't know the answer but I am pretty sure that it's not lack of volume.
Caroline

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[LUTE] Re: Sting? - Lute awareness?- Fantasy instrument - 30 Years of EM

[Caroline Usher]

At 03:15 PM 9/25/2006, Jason Yoshida wrote:
>Here is a little perspective, 
>This is something I had by chance recorded from a radio show (a FM rock music 
>station) here in LA very early this morning. They were talking about Sting's 
>new recording.
>I uploaded it because it is just too hilarious.

Ignorance is bliss.

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[LUTE] Re: Lute stand??? P.S.

[Caroline Usher]

>From: "Craig Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

>[snip]

>And Katherine added.

Actually she said that a few months ago, I had sorted my mail by subject and 
didn't realize I was into another era.
Caroline

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[LUTE] Re: Lute stand???

[Caroline Usher]

>From: "Craig Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

>That all having been said I still don't know why the player would leave the 
>dagger where it is and if this was just license on the part of the artist. If 
>it were me I would move the dagger out of the way so as not to damage the 
>lute. I do this with belts just so the buckle won't scratch it. Daggers 
>weren't always worn in front (if you've ever worn a long dagger or sword you 
>know that this can be rather cumbersome). Sometimes, and you'll see this in 
>much art of the period (a scene from the Tres Riche Heurs du Duc d'Berri comes 
>to mind), a dagger is worn at the back, or between the loops of a belt pouch 
>on the side or at the back.

And Katherine added.
>There are lots of renaissance pictures of people
>playing lutes while standing up without any sign of a
>strap. Does anyone do this? Any ideas on how - or if -
>it could be done? 
>
>I'm not having a go at strap-users; I'm just a bit
>puzzled - I have enough trouble keeping the thing in
>place when I'm sitting down.

Folks, let's remember that these are art works, not photographs.  And, there 
are times when even a photograph isn't a photograph.

The painting does not necessarily give you an accurate depiction of how people 
held their instruments / positioned themselves and their clothing / combined 
instruments in performance etc. etc.

It's quite possible that Israel van Mechenem put the dagger where it is because 
he was making an explicit point (no pun intended) about the relationship 
between the man and the woman.  Yes, it's an accurate depiction of a bollocks 
dagger.  It is also potentially a visual symbol which contemporaries would have 
recognized immediately, *especially* if that was not the position the dagger 
would have normally been placed in when sitting down to play.

There are plenty of pictures which show situations that are obviously not 
realistic.  Brueghel's "The Hay Wain" does not tell us that hay rides were a 
popular custom in the 16th century.  In this case the interplay of realism and 
symbolism is subtler.

As to photographs not being photographs:  A campaign photo is not a news photo. 
 A historical movie is not a history.  I once got and published in the LSA 
Newsletter a publicity photograph of the London Serpent Trio posed in galoshes 
and sitting ankle-deep in a little stream.  500 years from now, will someone 
look at that picture to determine how the Trio performed in reality?  
Caroline


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[LUTE] Re: OT shoes was Lute stand???

[Caroline Usher]

>love the shoes ...
Heh.  On several occasions my retired, only partially-reconstructed native 
Southerner neighbor has complained to me about the clothing styles (and music, 
and names) of young persons of the African-American persuasion.

I finally loaned him my History of Costume picturebook and invited him to find 
an era in which people did *not* wear ridiculous fashions.

He hasn't mentioned low-hanging baggy pants to me since then.
Caroline

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[LUTE] Re: Francesco da Milano

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:26 PM 8/10/2006, Ron Fletcher wrote:
>Caroline wrote...
>Francesco's birthday is coming up - Aug. 18.  What will you be doing?

>Oh, - Francesco da Milano...In that case, a world-wide lute fest? Count me
>in.  Any suggestions?  Do we all play the same piece. Or, do we each play
>our favorite?

Serenading oneself under the stars, celebrating one's own birthday, playing the 
Ripper (the gall!), even going fishing. . . .  What, is no one going to spread 
the Gospel of Francesco to a needy world?  Do I have to do everything myself
Caroline

Caroline Usher
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[LUTE] Francesco da Milano

[Caroline Usher]

Francesco's birthday is coming up - Aug. 18.  What will you be doing?

Caroline

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[LUTE] Re: Castiglione and the lute

[Caroline Usher]

At 04:32 PM 8/3/2006, you wrote:
>Dear List:
>
>In a previous post, David van Ooijen provided the passage in Italian, which
>I paste below.  He also provided us with a link to the following
>
>Sono ancor armoniosi tutti gli instrumenti da tasti, perche hanno le
>consonanzie molto perfette e con facilit=E0 vi si possono far molte cose
>che empiono l'animo di musicale dolcezza. (Second Book, XIII)
>
>The troublesome word is "tasti," which both Mathias and Bernd have already
>pointed out means either keys or frets in Italian.  This double duty is
>also found in other languages...take for example the word "tecla" in
>Spanish.  
>
>Although there is a tendency for us to want to believe that Castiglione
>meant the lute, we must also consider the importance of other instruments
>with =B3tasti,=B2 most notably, viols and keyboards.  

I thought that the clue to resolving this was Castiglione's mention of 
"consonanzie molto perfette."  I have taken this to mean the perfect 
consonances which can be achieved on the lute by adjusting the frets in 
meantone tuning, whereas keyboard instruments are stuck with the pitch a given 
string or pipe was tuned to.  The lutenist (or viol player) has more than one 
option for producing a given pitch, and can choose the one that is more in 
tune. 

It's not an original idea of mine, I just can't remember where I heard it.
Caroline 

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[LUTE] Re: Lute and Iconography (was XXX Adult Lute)

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:55 AM 7/26/2006, LGS-Europe wrote:
>So much passion without facts on an innocent subject. 

 From an earlier post:
>As far as I know the lute in 17th century paintings is a symbol of 
>love and/or lust. 

I was wondering why it is that people seem so determined to find one single 
meaning and cram the lute into that niche.  Not to single out David, I observe 
this need to categorize in a number of the posts.

>I think this was one of the reasons why lutes were thought 
>not to be appropriate for church music. 

What about all the psalm settings in this period?  I don't know much about 
musical performance in churches at this time, but the lute certainly was used 
in private or family devotions.  Vallet, Reusner et al. 
Tailour, Robert: Sacred Hymns (London: T. Snodham, 1615) (RISM T54). 136 pp.; 
50 psalms in 5 parts with lute and viol.
Morlaye, Guillaume: Premier livre de psalmes mis en musique par maistre Pierre 
Certon (Paris: M. Fezandat, 1554)  24 ff.; 13 psalm settings of Certon arr. 
voice and lute by Morlaye. 
There's an English one too that I can't recall or find in Grove at the 
moment

>But, like any musical instrument, it 
>was also a symbol of harmony in a marriage. A lute with a broken string 
>would be discord, obviously.

So, then, the lute in the 17th century really isn't "a symbol of love and/or 
lust."  It has multiple meanings, depending on the context.  As Roman points 
out,  probably in most of these art works there are layers of meaning, as when 
the lute that sits on the lap of a prim burgher's wife is seen in the hands of 
a bawd.

If you're interested in this symbology go to the sources: the emblem books, 
starting with Alciato.  Which, as already noted, is on the web in English 
translation.
http://www.mun.ca/alciato/index.html  
Later books of emblems get bigger and bigger.  And bigger.

Alciati uses the lute to represent political harmony (and concordia is 
represented by two soldiers shaking hands, 39.)  There's a whole section on 
Amor with nary a musical instrument.  Hey, look, the dog appears in the emblem 
of marital fidelity (191).
Emblem 10 
Treaties  
Take, O Duke, this lute whose form is said to come from a fishing boat, and 
which the Latin Muse claims as her own. May our gift be pleasing to you at this 
time, as you prepare to undertake new treaties with your allies. It is 
difficult, unless the man is skilled, to tune so many strings, and if one 
string is not well stretched, or breaks (which happens easily), all the 
pleasure of the shell is lost, and the splendid song becomes absurd. So the 
princes of Italy join together in alliances: there is nothing for you to fear 
if your love remains harmonious. But if anyone withdraws, then, as we often 
see, all that harmony diminishes into nothing. 
Gosh, there's a whole world out there if you want to discover it.  Another 
interesting place to look is insignia and mottos, such as the ones on the title 
pages of the great printers like Gardane and Petrucci.
Caroline


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[LUTE] Re: lute, flute, stone (fwd)

[Caroline Usher]

At 02:20 PM 7/20/2006, LGS-Europe wrote:
>The Dutch text on the website tells us a little, but not much:
>
>The current front with all the terra cotta images is from 1669. The three 
>images at the top are Religion, Hope and Love. There are more ornaments: 
>voluten and festoenen (curly things with or without flowers) and heads of 
>angels. The six [sic] terra cotta images above the entrance represent the 
>senses. 
>Apart from the house-theme of the flying deer all works of art show how man 
>is presented, through his senses senses, with the choice between good and 
>evil.

Aha.  So, the ample lady with urn of food is Taste and the ape would be 
Gluttony.  The lady reaching out for a bird to light on her finger is Touch and 
to the right of the lutenist is Smell, snifing a bunch of flowers.  To the left 
is a lady with a torch, for Sight.  Can't tell what the bad choice is for them; 
it looks in the main photo like there's a dog jumping up on Smell.  There's 
something I can't make out at Sight's feet.  Bernd, you have to go back and 
take some more pictures!  The lutenist is Hearing and the evil temptation is . 
. . playing the bagpipes???  

Hey, Alciato's Book of Emblems (1531) is on the web.  
http://www.mun.ca/alciato/index.html  

The Society for Emblem Studies has a brief explanation of the concept.  
http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/SES/

Caroline 

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[LUTE] Re: lute, flute, stone (fwd)

[Caroline Usher]

At 01:38 PM 7/20/2006, Mathias Rösel wrote:
>>  From this perspective it doesn't matter if the lutenist is male or female.
>
>Agreed, it doesn't matter from that perspective. That notwithstanding,
>what would you say, is the figure male or female?

I would say it's ambiguous.  Apparently making the figure clearly one or the 
other gender wasn't that important to the artist.  Which leads one to wonder, 
why is it important to us?
Caroline

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[LUTE] Re: lute, flute, stone (fwd)

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:45 AM 7/20/2006, LGS-Europe wrote:
>My mistake, it's the house next door, called Den Vliegenden Hert (The Flying
>Deer), after the main stone depicting (you guessed it already) a flying deer 

I've never seen one of those before, very curious!  I wonder if it could be a 
family emblem.

>http://www.belgiumview.com/belgiumview/tl3/view0004283.php4
Fascinating pictures.  One of the plaques looks like a depiction of Ceres, or 
Plenty, but the ape could bring in a different aspect, Folly.  The other plaque 
shown in detail is hard to read.  Is that a bird alighting on the woman's hand? 
 There's a boat-shaped something to her left, partly swathed and resting on a 
wave? some vegetation?  I'm stumped.
Caroline 
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[LUTE] Re: lute, flute, stone (fwd)

[Caroline Usher]

>At 03:39 PM 7/19/2006, Mathias Rösel wrote:
>I had the same reaction when I took a second look.  It is hard to tell,
>though.  Does anyone know the likelihood of a depiction of a woman
>playing the lute from the appropriate period/culture?

Whether the player is male, female or androgynous:
It would be helpful to be able to see the other reliefs more clearly, as the 
lute player seems to be a part of a series that makes a complete statement.  
The name of the house, "House of the 6 Good Works," is also intriguing.  Does 
it relate to the decoration of the facade?  Or vice versa?

On its own the relief of the lute player appears to represent music, or 
harmony, or the power of music, or Musica (a feminine personification), or all 
of the above.  There are various other instruments scattered around.  The lute 
gets pride of place because it alludes to Orpheus, Apollo, and possibly King 
David; as a polyphonic instrument it is particularly apt for representing 
harmony; and not least, it was one of the most prominent instruments in 
contemporary culture.

 From this perspective it doesn't matter if the lutenist is male or female.
Caroline


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[LUTE] Re: people with too much time on their hands (mathematician division)

[Caroline Usher]

At 07:15 AM 6/15/2006, Robert Clair wrote:
>Mathematicians discover the false string!
>
>http://www.acoustics.org/press/151st/Leger.html


Paging Harry Partch . . . Paging Harry Partch . . . please call your party in 
Moncton. . . .


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[LUTE] Re: Der Juden Tanz - Neusiedler

[Caroline Usher]

At 02:42 PM 6/12/2006, Sandy Hackney wrote:
> 
>An organist friend of mine mentioned the above named piece in the context of 
>early transcriptions, claiming that Willi Apel had made various statements 
>about it that were later shown to be "incorrect" due to scordatura errors.

Yes, many years ago Michael Morrow published an article in which he argued 
convincingly that the typesetter, a non-lutenist, had misread the handwriting 
of the person who wrote the piece out.  Apparently in German script of the time 
the 2 letters (t and r?) were very similar.  Changing that one tablature letter 
resolved all the problems and caused the "early exercise in bitonality" to 
vanish from history.

Some of us think the printed German tablature letters are hard to tell apart. . 
. .
Caroline

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[LUTE] Seating for luting

[Caroline Usher]

I spent a lovely weekend at a workshop with Ronn McFarlane at Betsy Small's 
house in Washington D.C.  Saw old friends, heard some good music, learned the 
secret of the quick stroke with shallow follow-through, and ate delicious 
home-made chocolate cookies generously supplied by Bobbie Rastall!  Yum.

One perennial topic is finding an appropriate seating arrangement for playing 
the lute.  Betsy had just acquired a plastic gardening stool with tractor-style 
seat and adjustable in height for experimentation.  The problem was that the 
bottom rocked in every direction, which could be dangerous if the lutenist 
emotes too passionately!  http://www.blueskydesigns.us/prod_g_rocker.htm

Here's another gardening stool that offers the ultimate in portability.  
However it might look a little funny when you take your bows:
http://www.cleanairgardening.com/ulefgastsati.html

I was very interested in Betsy's computer chair, which is a large exercise ball 
on a ring with a small backrest.
http://www.sitincomfort.com/palbalchair.html  I'm seriously thinking about 
buying one--the only problem is my computer sits on a 19th-century wooden desk 
and I have to sit at my pneumatic office chair's highest setting to use it.  I 
could only use the ball chair for the lute.

This very interesting store offers a wide range of ergonomic seating besides 
the ball chair.  I'm wondering if these portable stools would work for luting:
http://www.sitincomfort.com/postwipabagc.html

It would be nice if you could adjust the height, but that's probably difficult 
to do with a folding portable stool.

How about you--what seating arrangements have you experimented with?

Caroline
Caroline Usher
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[LUTE] Re: HBO Movie Elizabeth I, P.S.

[Caroline Usher]

>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> I'm not fully convinced that Elizabeth really "knew what she was doing." 

[GASP!]  You traitorous . . .
;-)

I did like it very much when she said, "My dogs wear my collars!" (after being 
insulted by Essex).  I'll have to remember that one.

>For 
>example, she castigated the heads of the English fleet for not boarding the 
>Spanish Armada and engaging them hand-to-hand -- the only thing that could 
>have 
>saved the Spaniards and a likely route to disaster for the English. Her 
>parsimony at failing to provision English ships just a mile offshore also 
>nearly 
>led to disaster.
> Add to that the deplorable treatment of English ex-soldiers and sailors, and 
>it paints and not-so-favorable picture of her mental state.

Absolutely, she made mistakes.  My point was not that "she knew what she was 
doing" in that sense, but that she was wily and manipulative and more than a 
match intellectually for most of her council, and had a good idea what they 
were up to "behind her back."
Caroline 

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[LUTE] HBO Movie Elizabeth I, P.S.

[Caroline Usher]

Oh, yeah.  I forgot to say what I really didn't like:
They showed a meeting between Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scots, which I don't 
think actually happened, and in which Mary promised she would not seek to 
overthrow Elizabeth.  But then Walsingham et al. persisted in setting up a 
sting to entrap Mary and force Elizabeth to execute her, which made it seem 
like Elizabeth was not in control of her own council.

And at Tilbury they showed her dithering about what to say to the troops, "I'm 
just a weak woman, what can I say," and then Leicester gave her the keynotes of 
the famous speech.  Which caused me to sit up and cry, "oh, NO," and wake my 
poor slumbering greyhound.

In general they seemed to be suggesting that Leicester provided the necessary 
steel for her spine on occasion--which I don't believe for a minute.
Caroline 
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[LUTE] HBO Movie Elizabeth I

[Caroline Usher]

Did anyone else watch part I of this miniseries "event" starring Helen Mirren 
and Jeremy Irons?  Part II is on tonight.  What did you think?

My thoughts: beautifully acted (of course), costumes mouth-watering, the music 
was very good and the instruments shown historically appropriate - no lutars -  
but only glancing visuals of the players (boo), the dancing was real 
Renaissance dancing but so simple as to be boring.  (Great Scott, is there not 
a male dancer in Britain who can kick the tassel???)

Most of all, I am curious as to who the musical performers were, both onstage 
and off.  The official website has no info save the name of the soundtrack 
composer.  Any of you Brits better informed?

thanks,
Caroline
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[LUTE] Re: What the ....

[Caroline Usher]

At 06:56 PM 4/22/2006, Daniel F Heiman wrote:
>Has anyone seen this in person?
>
>http://www.currier.org/browse/?gallery=nh&art=osgood
>
>Daniel Heiman

This was featured in either Fine Woodworking or Woodwork some time ago.  It was 
in fact inspired by the body of a lute; and the top does roll back to reveal 
the writing surface a storage space.

I didn't care much for the figure of the wood he chose; not nearly as pretty as 
your average lute.
Caroline 
****
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Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: 1733 ebay lute for a mere ...

[Caroline Usher]

At 12:01 PM 4/7/2006, Rob Dorsey wrote:
> 
>All,
>
>I have brightened, enhanced and enlarged the pictures and made them
>available at http://RobDorsey.com/Lutes/Hoffmann.htm . My comments are at
>the bottom of that page. If interested, take a look and draw your own
>conclusions.

The scrap of paper above the label looks like black notation to me, not 
tablature.
Caroline

****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: Christ's Cross

[Caroline Usher]

At 04:30 AM 4/6/2006, Ed Durbrow wrote:

>On Apr 6, 2006, at 5:05 AM, Lex Eisenhardt wrote:
>> What I don't understand is why Alfabeto would need another chord  
>> before the
>> A, and why that should be E minor.
>
>Most people in Europe at that time were heavy duty Christians and so  
>they deemed that it was right and proper to begin with the cross.  
>That is why it is first. 

Sort of, but there's an intermediate step.  Children learned their letters from 
a hornbook
http://www.iupui.edu/~engwft/hornbook.html
which had the letters of the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer.  Early hornbooks 
always had a cross at the beginning of the alphabet.  Typically hornbooks were 
a wooden paddle with a printed sheet fixed to it and covered by a transparent 
piece of horn, whence the name.  Easy for kids to hold with and protected from 
their sticky little hands.

At some point in late Antiquity/the early Middle Ages knowledge of reading and 
writing in the west passed into the hands of the Church.  At the end of the 
Roman Empire the government relied more and more on the Church infrastructure 
to handle the bureaucracy.  This was an outgrowth of the Church's social 
service mission, which had been an important aspect from the earliest days.  
(St. Lawrence, when ordered by a pagan judge to produce the treasure of the 
Church for confiscation, brought the widows and orphans and destitute to court, 
saying "These are the treasure of the Church."  The judge was not amused.)  

In addition, the majority of the population of western Europe was composed of 
"barbarian" peoples such as Gauls, Britons, Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, 
Alemanni, Helvetii et al. whose traditions were oral and tribal.  Christianity, 
a religion of the book, preserved literacy as the administrative and 
educational system of ancient Rome and Greece withered.  Thus clerics became 
clerks and monasteries became the asylums of learning; often the parish or 
"secular" (out in the world as opposed to cloistered) clergy had little or no 
learning.  

In this way the role of teaching reading and writing came into the hands of the 
Church where it remained for a thousand years or more.  As literacy became more 
common children learned their first letters in the parish school from the 
parish priest, along with the catechism.  And the alphabet always started with 
a cross.

The paperback Penguin Atlas historical series is a wonderful and inexpensive 
way to get a grip on the major trends and conflicts of European history from 
antiquity to the present.  And the author Colin McEvedy has quite a wicked wit!

>The reason the choose Em is: no reason, just  
>perhaps that it is one of the easiest and most used chords. No logic  
>in any of the alfabeto names that I can see. 

The logic is to start with the easiest chords and get folks playing I-IV-V-I as 
quickly as possible.

>I think they should have  
>done like Phoebe on Friends, she had funny names for the few chords  
>she knew on guitar. I forget what they were but they were kind of funny.

Hmmm, I like this idea!  Could also use it for chord shapes that can be moved 
up and down the neck.
Caroline


Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: The lute builder as woodworker.

[Caroline Usher]

>From: Herbert Ward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Aplogies to those who find this slightly off topic.  
>
>Does a good lute builder know everything about fine woodworking?
>
>Or are there areas of cabinetmaking, carving, modeling, etc which
>require interesting knowledge that a lute builder doesn't need?

Yes.  The only joint used on a lute is a butt joint.  I.e. the 2 pieces of wood 
simply (ha) butt up against each other.  Cabinet makers use many other types of 
joints, most notably dovetails but also mortise-and-tenon and all its 
variations.  Oriental furniture can have amazingly complicated "puzzle" joints.

Lute builders don't ordinarily carve high relief or in the round.  Fine 
furniture makers may carve reliefs as well as ball-and-claw feet etc., 
depending on the style.

Lute builders do turn pegs but furniture makers may turn table legs on more 
than one axis, plus design or copy balustrades with complicated profiles and so 
forth.

Except for the pegs lutes don't have moving wooden parts.  Furniture makers 
have to make drawers and doors that fit well but move easily and freely.

Of course, lute builders and fine furniture makes are alike in that they NEVER 
USE BRADS to hold a joint together.
Caroline


Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Room B343 LSRC
Mailing address:  Box 91000, Duke University, Durham NC 27708



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[LUTE] Re: Surviving in Eliz. England.

[Caroline Usher]

You can find recordings of varius English regional dialects here:
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/dialects/

I keep hearing that bit about people who still speak "Elizabethan English" in 
North Carolina, or remote mountains of Appalachia, or somewhere. . .  But 
there's never a source for the assertion (how would they know?)

I don't recall _my_ source, but I remember reading in a volume of history that 
Sir Walter Raleigh spoke with a strong Devon accent all his life, and that 
there was no standard "court" accent.
Caroline
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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[LUTE] Cool historical calligraphy supplies!

[Caroline Usher]

Including ink guaranteed for 300 years!

http://www.exaclair.com/calligraphy.html
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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[LUTE] Re: Humidity Woes

[Caroline Usher]

>I think the item Pat mentioned is a little green rubber tube with holes in it 
>called a Dampit.  It has a sponge inside, which you wet with distilled water.  

Or you can easily make your own case humidifier by punching holes in a plastic 
film case and cutting a little piece of sponge to fit inside.  (Ray Nurse's 
idea, not mine.)

The humidifier doesn't have to go inside the instrument.  But it's better to 
have it near the body than the pegbox, where it might make the pegs swell.
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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[LUTE] Hoppy Smith at Duke, Durham NC

[Caroline Usher]

Nov. 6 (Sun), 3 pm
Nelson Music Room, East Duke Bldg., (Duke East Campus)
Hopkinson Smith, lutenist, `The Winds of Change'
www.hopkinsonsmith.com
$15 general public, $5 Duke students

One of the world's foremost lutenists, Hopkinson Smith will present an intimate 
program that reveals the burst of musical creativity in different parts of 
Europe at the dawn of the baroque era. Performing music by Robert Ballard, 
Giovanni Girolamo Kapsperger, and John Dowland, Smith's carefully chosen 
repertory will illustrate the beginning of national styles that were to 
continue into the eighteenth century. 

Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC 
--

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[LUTE] McFarlane Workshop in Durham NC (USA)

[Caroline Usher]

Noted lutenist and composer Ronn McFarlane will give a workshop and recital in 
Durham on Oct. 1-2.  Both will take place at 3775 Guess Road, #37.  
Workshop:  Saturday, Oct. 1, 9AM to whenever we fall out, Sunday, 9AM to 12 
noon.
Recital:  Sunday, Oct. 2, 1PM

Contact Caroline Usher at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 919-477-8319 for more 
information.  Come one!  Come all!  But PLEASE RSVP; space is limited and if 
turnout is big enough I will need to find a bigger location. 

"McFarlane, for his part, is a master lutenist who's seemingly distilled 
countless influences and yet maintained the uniqueness of his instrument. He 
played 450-year old John Dowland pieces as well as his own compositions with a 
casual intensity that belies his rythmic style. And anyone impressed with the 
dexterity required by speed rock ought to see what Mr. McFarlane does when he 
flashes his fingers across the fretboard of a stout lute. Little wonder his 
performance received a standing ovation."
The Wall Street Journal

"Ronn truly has a gift for taking a student at any level whatever and drawing 
the best from him. And then on top of that he gave an unbelievable amount of 
information about the instrument, its construction, its history, the music 
written for it, etc. Most in the audience were guitarists, not lutenists, and 
even they were saying that it was the best master class they had ever 
attended." 
Anne Nash  - participant in the La Guitarra California Festival 2003

Format of the workshop will depend on the interests of the participants.  In 
the past, Ronn has taught private lessons in the morning and master class in 
the afternoon.  During private lessons, the remaining participants are free to 
play ensemble music, have instrument show-and-tell, or do whatever takes their 
fancy.  Depending on demand, Ronn can teach more lessons or discuss the lute 
and its technique on Saturday evening.  I personally own 4 different lutes and 
a Renaissance guitar, as well as a large library of lute facsimiles, so this is 
an opportunity for guitarists to get "up close and personal" with the 
instrument and its enormous repertoire.

Ronn's recital will take place on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 1PM.

Fees:  
Lesson:  $50
Auditor:  $20
Recital:  $10

You can find more information about Ronn at http://www.ronnmcfarlane.com/ 
including several recent columns on technique written by Ronn for the Lute 
Society of America Quarterly, and samples of several original compositions.

Caroline Usher  
***
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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[LUTE] Re: What the ... ?

[Caroline Usher]

At 07:00 AM 8/8/2005, Roman Turovsky wrote:

>One piece from that LP, A "canzona by Francesco da Milano" became a
>veritable hit, and a number of poets have written texts to its melody, and
>not only in Russian. One version became known and loved nationwide, and by
>now has attained a status of a true folksong. Can you imagine a lute piece
>known to and/or loved by 100,000,000 people This was lute's greatest
>moment of glory ever.

Fascinating indeed.  I would love to see/hear this canzona--any chance you 
could post it in some form?
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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Fwd: Last Chance for Naxos at ArkivMusic

[Caroline Usher]

For US and Canadian residents only, unfortunately. . . .


>This is just a quick reminder that the 
>ArkivMusic sale on the
>complete Naxos Catalog ends on June 27 at 11:59 pm EDT.*
>
>New titles released this week have been added to our 
>Featured New
>Releases, including:
>
>- A blockbuster of Stokowski Transcriptions of Mussorgsky orchestral works. 
>
>- The Oxford Camerata's new recording of Thomas Tallis's Renaissance
>Masterpiece "Spem in Alium"
>
>- Jacob Weinberg's dazzling Piano 
>Concerto, the latest from the
>Milken Archive of American Jewish 
>Music
>
>- "The Geese Book" , German 
>Medieval Chant from the 14th and 15c. -
>Another ClassicsToday 10/10 CD.
>
>The American Classics 
>Sampler would also make a timely purchase.
>For $1.99, it gives an irresistible overview of the monumental
>Naxos American Classics 
>Series!
>
>The Entire Naxos Catalog provides 
>such a diverse wealth of music,
>I do hope you have the chance to browse through some of the over
>3,000 recordings available at just $5.99 per disc.
>
>As always, we thank you for your support and love of Classical Music.
>
>Eric Feidner
>President, ArkivMusic.com
>www.ArkivMusic.com
>
>*Sale ends at 11:59pm EDT on June 27, 2005. SACD, DVD Audio, and
>ArkivCDs are not included.

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Re: Opium-smoking vocal composers ? [was:Judentanz Neusidler etc.]

[Caroline Usher]

A little research produces this:


Who were the fumeurs?

The context of this question is the 
<http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/fumeurs.html../cds/na021.htm>Ars Subtilior 
music from the end of the 14th century in France. Several songs from that 
repertory include references to fumeurs & fumeux which we would translate today 
as "smokers" & "smoking." However, at the time, the connotation of these words 
was different and the answer to the question "Did the fumeurs intentionally 
inhale smoke?" is a difficult one.

There are a couple of ways to deal with the question. First, it must be noted 
that "smoking" as it is currently understood did not exist at the time. There 
is no record of any kind of smoking as a social activity in Europe until 
shortly after Columbus. When it was introduced, it caused quite a stir. 
Long-time Old World drugs such as hashish & opium were originally eaten. So one 
might conclude that the fumeurs could not have been smoking (as we understand 
it).

However, one has to ask, even if the vast majority of people in France at the 
time had never heard of "smoking" (i.e. the intentional inhalation of smoke), 
what about people called fumeurs? That is a natural question, because 
historians cannot say with certainly what every living person did or did not 
do, especially in his private moments. Indeed, "smoking" presents no 
technological barriers, as all it requires is something to burn and a way to 
light it on fire. The ubiquitousness of fire as a source of heat and frequent 
lack of ventilation almost seem to make this "discovery" inevitable. In fact, 
archaeologists have discovered traces of burnt drugs in pipe-like objects in 
the Old World.

So we are left with not much of a case either way, and must look at the 
question in a different light. Just what was meant by fumeux? To begin to 
answer that question, it must be noted that this period saw a sort of 
"lobbying" for a fifth humor to be added to the traditional Greek set of four 
(blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy). And that humor was "smoke." So perhaps 
fumeux should be understood entirely metaphorically. Well, perhaps not. After 
all, humors were supposed to be balanced in the body and might need either to 
be increased or decreased (i.e. leeches), and let us not forget that the 
original humors were real substances (the latter two being forms of bile). So 
it is possible that the use of smoke as a humor could have either inspired or 
been inspired by "smoking" of some sort.

It seems that this "humor" definition was more pervasive than previously 
imagined, and indeed that fumeux would be better translated as "fuming" where 
an excess of that humor caused it to leave the body in a particular sort of way 
(emotionally speaking). The fumeur songs can be understood in this way, 
although there do seem to be some rather pointed double-meanings left dangling. 
The exotic harmonies of these songs have also been suggestive of drug use to 
many listeners.

Perhaps more significantly, the texts of these songs are all linked to the poet 
Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406) who left enough writing to fill 11 modern 
volumes. Deschamps is also known to have written the text set by Andrieu on the 
death of 
<http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/fumeurs.html../composers/machaut.html>Machaut
 in 1377, for instance. Deschamps' use of the terms fumeur & fumeux is 
apparently in a satirical vein, and suggests the answer to what the "double 
meanings" in the songs might have been. Indeed, this piece of the puzzle allows 
us to understand the songs without positing that there was "smoking" going on 
at all. 

The current consensus among musicologists is that there was no physical 
smoking, although proving such a conclusion will likely remain difficult. At 
present, the argument is essentially an invocation of Occam's Razor.
Todd McComb
http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/fumeurs.html 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC 
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Re: VERY OFF TOPIC: God speaks on murder

[Caroline Usher]

Copyright 2001 Onion, Inc., All rights reserved. http://www.theonion.com/  26 
September 2001   
NEW YORK  ”Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient 
creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more 
than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing 
each other Monday.

"Look, I don't know, maybe I haven't made myself completely clear, so for the 
record, here it is again," said the Lord, His divine face betraying visible 
emotion during a press conference near the site of the fallen Twin Towers. 
"Somehow, people keep coming up with the idea that I want them to kill their 
neighbor. Well, I don't. And to be honest, I'm really getting sick and tired of 
it. Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I 
specifically commanded  you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought 
to be able to understand."   

Worshipped by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, God said His name has been 
invoked countless times over the centuries as a reason to kill in what He 
called "an unending cycle of violence."  
 
"I don't care how holy somebody claims to be," God said. "If a person tells you 
it's My will that they kill someone, they're wrong. Got it? I don't care what 
religion you are, or who you think your enemy is, here it is one more time: No 
killing, in My name or anyone else's, ever again."   

The press conference came as a surprise to humankind, as God rarely intervenes 
in earthly affairs. As a matter of longstanding policy, He has traditionally 
left the task of interpreting His message and divine will to clerics, rabbis, 
priests, imams, and Biblical scholars. Theologians and laymen alike have been 
given the task of pondering His ineffable mysteries, deciding for themselves 
what to do as a matter of faith. His decision to manifest on the material plane 
was motivated by the deep sense of shock, outrage, and sorrow He felt over the 
Sept. 11 violence carried out in His name, and over its dire potential 
ramifications around the globe.   
"I tried to put it in the simplest possible terms for you people, so you'd get 
it straight, because I thought it was pretty important," said God, called 
Yahweh and Allah respectively in the Judaic and Muslim traditions. "I guess I 
figured I'd left no real room for confusion after putting it in a four-word 
sentence with one-syllable words, on the tablets I gave to Moses. How much more 
clear can I get?"  
 
"But somehow, it all gets twisted around and, next thing you know, somebody's 
spouting off some nonsense about, 'God says I have to kill this guy, God wants 
me to kill that guy, it's God's will,'" God continued. "It's not  God's will, 
all right? News flash: 'God's will' equals 'Don't murder people.'"  
 
Worse yet, many of the worst violators claim that their actions are justified 
by passages in the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an.   

"To be honest, there's some contradictory stuff in there, okay?" God said. "So 
I can see how it could be pretty misleading. I admit it--My bad. I did My best 
to inspire them, but a lot of imperfect human agents have misinterpreted My 
message over the millennia. Frankly, much of the material that got in there is 
dogmatic, doctrinal bullshit. I turn My head for a second and, suddenly, all 
this stuff about homosexuality gets into Leviticus, and everybody thinks it's 
God's will to kill gays. It absolutely drives Me up the wall."   

God praised the overwhelming majority of His Muslim followers as "wonderful, 
pious people," calling the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks rare 
exceptions.   

"This whole medieval concept of the jihad, or holy war, had all but vanished 
from the Muslim world in, like, the 10th century, and with good reason," God 
said. "There's no such thing as a holy war, only unholy ones. The vast majority 
of Muslims in this world reject the murderous actions of these radical 
extremists, just like the vast majority of Christians in America are pissed off 
over those two bigots on The 700 Club."   

Continued God, "Read the book: 'Allah is kind, Allah is beautiful, Allah is 
merciful.' It goes on and on that way, page after page. But, no, some a$$holes 
have to come along and revive this stupid holy-war crap just to further their 
own hateful agenda. So now, everybody thinks Muslims are all murderous 
barbarians. Thanks, Taliban: 1,000 years of pan-Islamic cultural progress down 
the drain."   

God stressed that His remarks were not directed exclusively at Islamic 
extremists, but rather at anyone whose ideological zealotry overrides his or 
her ability to comprehend the core message of all world religions. 

"I don't care what faith you are, everybody's been making this same mistake 
since the dawn of time," God said. "The Muslims massacre the Hindus, the Hindus 
massacre the Muslims. The Buddhists, everybody massacres the Buddhists. The 
Jews, don't even get m

Re: medieval lutes?

[Caroline Usher]

At 10:57 AM 5/6/2005, Mathias Rösel wrote:
>saw Kindom of Heaven in the movies, yesterday. Knights, fluently
>speaking Arabic with their attendants, Arabs speaking with an accent.
>Music by and large tolerable (hardly any medieval pieces).

Did you have to bore holes in the floor to let all the blood run out?
;-)

>Made me wonder what became of the medieval song project, and of medieval
>lute players in general.

Good question.
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC




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Re: 'Tastini' - lack of evidence

[Caroline Usher]

At 06:48 AM 4/5/2005, Daniel Shoskes wrote:

>> - hardly, I suggest, a convincing case for 
>>their adoption in modern times.  
>
>No, the case for their adoption in modern times is getting an F# instead
>of a Gb and a C# instead of a Db in meantone tuning! For that, I am
>willing to have Gallilei's ghost stare dissaprovingly at me.

Precisely.  Galilei was advocating the use of equal temperament and disparaging 
lutenists who used tastini to avoid "some of the sharpness from the thirds and 
major tenths," using typical 16th-century invective.  Actually rather mild by 
their standards.
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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Re: Newbie Question #2

[Caroline Usher]

At 03:22 PM 4/4/2005, Vance Wood wrote:
>Dear Caroline:
>
>In the context this was written--Yes.  When it comes to understanding
>the instrument, the music and the player/authors--No.   In answered to
>the question we?  If that means you wish to exclude yourself from that
>painting with a broad brush I would like to hear your thoughts.

I was simply commenting on your assumption that you were speaking for all of 
us.  (I assume most people got the reference to the old Bill Cosby routine 
about the Lone Ranger and Tonto???  There was a smiley in my message.)

Personally, I don't feel that there is an imbalance in my practice between 
historical accuracy and being a 21st-century lute player.
Caroline

Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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Re: Newbie Question #2

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:29 AM 4/3/2005, Vance Wood wrote:
>I think sometimes we get too caught up in the historical accuracy of what it
>is we do.  

What you mean we, white man?










;-)
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000
B343 LSRC



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Re: Re: Printing and Binding

[Caroline Usher]

At 01:35 PM 3/29/2005, you wrote:
>So, more than a hundred visits in two days and just a single comment...shall
>I think everybody is busy building their own folders on my design or that
>they are awful?  Sometimes one should need some feedback when spending half
>a day to put something online, just to get complete silence in response...

Very, very nice work Donatella.  I don't have time to read all the messages and 
just skim the lutenet every few days, so just saw this.  I think the English 
name for the kind of tape you describe is "bias tape," found in stores that 
carry sewing materials.

Perhaps you'd be willing to write up your method for publication in the LSA 
Quarterly?  At least that way your authorship would be recorded in print.  ;-)
Caroline 



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Re: Music stands

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:36 AM 2/8/2005 -0500, James A Stimson wrote:

>Dear Martin, Wayne and All,
> I believe there are some music stands depicted in paintings of the Baroque
>era, but I've never seen one in a Renaissance painting -- only music laying
>on tables as Wayne described. So when exactly did music stands enter the
>picture? Sometime after the development of printed music? And what was the
>trend that drove their development?

Let us beware of treating paintings af they were photographs.  In fact, 
photographs aren't always photographs.  Photos of ensembles often show them 
without music stands, holding their instruments in odd ways, etc., but on stage 
they play from music stands.
Caroline 
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000



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Not getting it

[Caroline Usher]

>On 27.01.2005, at 22:16, Roman Turovsky wrote:
>
>>
>>> Please stop.
>>> *******
>>> Caroline Usher
>>> Dowager Empress,
>> I am reminded of an old children's poem by the great Mayakovsky who 
>> wrote in
>> his "Zoo":
>> "I'll show you a Lion,
>> Here, take a look:
>> No longer a Czar of animals
>> he is just a Chairman."

My title is a SPOOF, Roman.  A joke.  A running gag.

And unlike others who got titles by inheriting them, I EARNED my status.  
Though I chose my title myself, the LSA Board was pleased to confirm it.

As for people having the freedom to talk about whatever they want, sure, go 
down to the park and stand on a soapbox.  This forum exists for discussing the 
lute. 

Caroline 
***
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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non-lute messages

[Caroline Usher]

Please stop.
***
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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RE: Renaissance America - a little more lute related, maybe

[Caroline Usher]

>>=20
>> How come "pas de passacalle" is in Feuillet's  Choregraphie from 1713?

Evidently by that time the French had created a dance for it, possibly an=
 outgrowth of its use in stage and/or chamber music:

"In France the Hispanic-Italian passacaglia, like the chaconne, was=
 transformed during the mid-17th century into a distinctive native genre,=
 although before that the genre had already had some impact as an exotic=
 Spanish import. A passacalle(in the earlier sense of ritornello) occurs in=
 an air to a Spanish text by De Bailly (1614), and in 1623 the Spanish=
 expatriate Luis de Bri=E7e=F1o published in Paris a guitar method that=
 included in chord tablature brief chaconnes and passacaglias similar to the=
 early Italian examples. During the 1640s the promotion of Italian music and=
 musicians by Cardinal Mazarin brought wider familiarity with the two genres=
 in their newer incarnations. A harpsichord passacaglia by Luigi Rossi (who=
 visited Paris in 1646 and whose Orfeo was performed there the following=
 year) enjoyed wide manuscript circulation. Francesco Corbetta, who settled=
 in Paris around 1648 and became guitar teacher to the future Louis XIV, was=
 perhaps the greatest Italian guitar virtuoso of his time, and the composer=
 of numerous chaconnes and passacaglias.

By the late 1650s the French passacaglia tradition was firmly in place,=
 already showing many of the characteristics that would mark the genre=
 during the later 17th century and the 18th. Like the chaconne, the=
 passacaglia was cultivated both in chamber music, especially by guitarists,=
 lutenists and keyboard players, and on the musical stage."   (New Grove)

This page from Kellom Tomlinson's dance treatise shows the steps for a=
 passacaille.  the accompanying music is not the bass line but a melody.
Caroline
http://www.bllearning.co.uk/live-extracts/108337/=20
*****
Caroline Usher, DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000

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RE: Renaissance America - a little more lute related, maybe

[Caroline Usher]

At 10:41 AM 12/10/2004 -0500, you wrote:

>Obviously as a musical form Ciacona and Passacaglia are different. I
>think the website is calling them similar as respect to the dance steps.
>I would like to know the source as well for " F.A. Ciacone"

The passacaglia is not a dance.  From the New Grove:

"The passacaglia appears to have originated in early 17th-century Spain as the 
pasacalle, a brief improvisation (usually barely more than a few rhythmically 
strummed cadential chords) that guitarists played between the strophes of a 
song, somewhat in the nature of a vamp. The term comes from pasar (to walk) and 
calle (street), possibly deriving from outdoor performances or from a practice 
of popular musicians to take a few steps during these interludes. The first 
references to pasacalles appear in Spanish literature in about 1605; in certain 
contexts the term seems to have been used interchangeably with Paseo."

Caroline 
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613-8155, Box 91000

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RE: Renaissance america - a little more lute related, maybe

[Caroline Usher]

At 09:21 AM 12/10/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Some interesting stuff regarding the origin of Chaconne and Passacaglia
>and the new world.
>
>http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3chacna.htm

 From this website:  "The Chacona (a.k.a. Passacaglia), is considered a Spanish 
Folk dance but originally came from Italy, created by F. Alfonso Ciacone 
(1540-1599), a blind Italian composer from about 1560."

Sgr. Ciacone is unknown to the authors of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and 
Musicians, the premier reference work in English.  Does anyone have any 
evidence for his existence?  The Ciacona and the Passacaglia are not the same.
Caroline

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613-8155, Box 91000

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Re: McFarlane Workshop in Durham NC

[Caroline Usher]

At 09:38 AM 11/15/2004 -0500, you wrote:
>Is there any info on this workshop anywhere? What I found in the archives
>wasn't very useful.

Dear Dr. Oakroot,
I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.  The workshop will be very 
informal.  You can have a private lesson or play in master class, as you wish.  
While Ronn teaches privately we can do some ensemble playing (Pacoloni 
trios!!), instrument show-and-tell, I can talk a little about lute 
construction--whatever the group wants.  We could ask Ronn to demonstrate the 
things he's talking about in his "Beyond the Basics" column in the Quarterly 
(aka "Occult and Hidden Secrets of the Lute").  Sunday afternoon he will play a 
recital.

>I hate to travel to the benighted and fascist city of Durham, but might if
>I could learn something useful, lol.

I can't let this slur on my home, not to mention my own modest efforts, pass 
unanswered.  Between July 1 and September 17, we registered 11,508 new voters, 
of whom 62% were Democrats. In the recent election, the Durham County vote was: 

President:  68% for Kerry, 32% for Bush [in 200 Gore took 63%] 
US Senator  70% for Bowles (Dem), 29% for Burr (Rep)
US Representative   76% for Price (Dem), 24% for no-name Rep
Governor73% for Easley (Dem), 25% for Balantine (Rep).

NC Democrats took back control of both houses of the state legislature.

Who's your daddy?
Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher, DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155, Box 91000



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McFarlane Workshop in Durham NC

[Caroline Usher]

Noted lutenist and composer Ronn McFarlane will give a workshop and recital in 
Durham on Dec. 11 and 12.  Both will take place at 3775 Guess Road, #37.  
Workshop:  Saturday, Dec. 11, 9AM to ??? (when we fall out), Sunday, 9AM to 12 
noon.
Recital:  Sunday, Dec 12, 2PM

Contact Caroline Usher at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 919-477-8319 for more 
information.  PLEASE RSVP; space is limited and if turnout is big enough I will 
need to find a bigger location. 

"McFarlane, for his part, is a master lutenist who's seemingly distilled 
countless influences and yet maintained the uniqueness of his instrument. He 
played 450-year old John Dowland pieces as well as his own compositions with a 
casual intensity that belies his rythmic style. And anyone impressed with the 
dexterity required by speed rock ought to see what Mr. McFarlane does when he 
flashes his fingers across the fretboard of a stout lute. Little wonder his 
performance received a standing ovation."
The Wall Street Journal

"Ronn truly has a gift for taking a student at any level whatever and drawing 
the best from him. And then on top of that he gave an unbelievable amount of 
information about the instrument, its construction, its history, the music 
written for it, etc. Most in the audience were guitarists, not lutenists, and 
even they were saying that it was the best master class they had ever 
attended." 
Anne Nash  - participant in the La Guitarra California Festival 2003

Format of the workshop will depend on the interests of the participants.  In 
the past, Ronn has taught private lessons in the morning and master class in 
the afternoon.  During private lessons, the remaining participants are free to 
play ensemble music, have instrument show-and-tell, or do whatever takes their 
fancy.  Depending on demand, Ronn can teach more lessons or discuss the lute 
and its technique on Saturday evening.  I personally own 4 different lutes and 
a Renaissance guitar, as well as a large library of lute facsimiles, so this is 
an opportunity for guitarists to get "up close and personal" with the 
instrument and its enormous repertoire.

Ronn's recital will take place on Sunday, Dec. 12, at 2PM.

Fees:  
Lesson:  $50
Auditor:  $20
Recital:  $10

You can find more information about Ronn at http://www.ronnmcfarlane.com/ 
including several recent columns on technique written by Ronn for the Lute 
Society of America Quarterly, and samples of several original compositions.

Caroline Usher  
***
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Weekend workshop in Durham NC (USA)

[Caroline Usher]

Ronn McFarlane will be holding a workshop at my abode in scenic Durham, North 
Carolina, in the scenic, rolling Piedmont country of the scenic Old North State, on 
Dec. 11 -12.  At this time I have no set agenda, we can adapt to what participants 
would like to do.  Last time he came, he mostly taught private lessons, plus a few 
lessons in master class, and played a recital.

If you are interested in attending please let me know asap.  

Caroline
***
Caroline Usher
Dowager Empress, Lute Society of America
Please refer all queries to the current President, Dick Hoban [EMAIL PROTECTED]



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Re: Old religious paintings.

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:47 PM 9/18/2004 -0500, you wrote:

>Many old paintings (of skill and sensitivity) depict a young woman holding
>a nude Christ, with the baby wearing an adult-like face and making a
>religious hand symbol.

Could you cite an example or two so I can see what you are talking about?  

There are certainly many paintings showing Mary and the infant Christ, sometimes with 
St. Joseph, St. Ann, et al..  Their popularity in the late Middle Ages has to do with 
interest in Mary and the incarnation and the promise of salvation, in contrast to 
earlier emphasis on Christ as Lord of All or Judge.  It goes along with emphasis on 
Jesus' suffering on the cross; they all relate to the more human, emotional side of 
the Christian story.  Jesus was born as a babe, just like us; Jesus suffered 
temptation and pain, just like us.

The musicians seen in this genre are typically those of the bas or soft consort, like 
lute and harp, representing the quiet intimacy of the family setting (and drawing the 
viewer therein).
Caroline 
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DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000



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Re: Church authority in the Renaissance.

[Caroline Usher]

At 08:00 PM 1/30/2004 -0800, Vance Wood wrote:
>Dear Caroline:
>
>I could be wrong but it seems to me this exchange between you and I is
>personal with you.  

Only if you wish to take it thus.  I note that although you think it is personal you 
continue to post to the whole list.

>You say you are concerned about the newbies on this list
>but you remain silent while a certain somebody continues to post information
>about his bogus Lute composer.  

I killfiled a certain person long ago and don't see his postings.  In the issue of the 
LSA Quarterly that I guest-edited, I pointed out that the Sautschek was not a real 
composer, and even published a point-counterpoint between the 2 chief antagonists.  In 
any case, a person exercising a bit of due diligence, i.e. research, should notice 
some fairly obvious clues on the Sautschek website--though not on all the others that 
have put up related material.

>However about the corruption of the church.  Luther posted his thesis in
>protest to the corrupt practices of the church such as the selling of
>indulgences etc.  His intent was to reform the Church not to start a new
>church or movement.  

Yes, so?  He still ended up founding a movement.

>King Henry was interested in only one thing having a
>male heir to the thrown of England which Catharine of Aragon could not give
>him.  He wanted a divorce which the Church would not grant him, so that he
>could take Ann Bolin as his new wife and hopefully, father a son.  His
>choice was political in that he was not going to be dictated to by Rome.  He
>did not wish to start a new Church either but once he found he could plunder
>the Church in England and get away with it there was no stopping him.

True, and how does this relate to my earlier point?  Since you have continued to 
dispense additional detail in response to my criticism, I have to assume that you see 
that your original post was a bit too black-and-white.

>I might add that it is said of this period that there were enough pieces of
>the Original Cross of Christ found in England to make Noah's Ark.

An excellent example which shows that while some people were ignorant and credulous, 
and others were corrupt and unscrupulous enough to sell fakes to the ignorant ones, 
still others recognized that the trade in relics was a scam.  Precisely my point:  the 
Church was not universally corrupt, the people were not universally held in its thrall.

And now I'm sure everyone else on the list is quite bored with this.  I only want 
people to take history seriously, take playing the lute seriously, and enjoy all the 
fascinating subjects that come up when one does serious research in this area.  Rather 
than disposing of huge tracts of history with a sweep of the pen (or electron, as the 
case may be).
Caroline

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Church authority in the Renaissance.

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:55 PM 1/30/2004 -0800, Howard Posner wrote:
>Caroline Usher wrote:
>
>> As the essay that I pointed to yesterday puts it,
>> From a historical point of view, the idea that the medieval church was corrupt
>> is based on a couple of methodological fallacies, such as disrespect for the
>> peculiarities of medieval religion, arbitrary use of historical evidence, and
>> ignorance of the situation in the medieval church.
>> http://www.the-orb.net/non_spec/missteps/ch11.html
>
>The essay in question, "Was the Medieval Church Corrupt?" by Frans van
>Liere, does indeed make precisely these assertions, but van Liere doesn't
>really deny any of the factual premises on which the conclusion of
>corruption is based.  Indeed, he catalogs rather a lot of the abuses and
>tries to explain them away, or excuses them, or says that they were
>eventually abolished. 

I take his point to be that, over the 1000 years in question, in various places, the 
Church was repeatedly corrupted and reformed, and then re-corrupted and re-reformed.  
The history of the monastic orders being a case in point.  People give and bequeath 
land and money to the Benedictines to pray for their family's souls, eventually many 
Benedictines are living the life.  Dissatisfied monks who are serious about the 
Christian religion found the Cistercians to get back to original principles, vow of 
poverty and all that.  (Point: not all Benedictines are corrupt.)  A century or so of 
being given lands etc. corrupts much of the Cistercian order, and the Fourth Lateran 
Council institutes reforms for all the monastic orders. . . .  People aren't satisfied 
with the cloistered life, so they join mendicant orders like the Franciscans and 
Dominicans.

> He acknowledges, for example, that selling
>indulgences was "commercial exploitation" to finance papal overspending, but
>points out that the church abolished selling indulgences in 1567.  Whether
>we conclude that the Church was corrupt for selling indulgences for
>centuries and taking half a century after Luther's 95 Theses to abolish
>indulgences, or that the church was clearly in good moral health because it
>sold indulgences for only a few centuries and took only half a century after
>the 95 Theses to abolish them, has little to do with "methodological
>fallacies" or "arbitrary use of historical evidence," and more to do with
>our preconceptions and innate moral sense.

No one questions that the papacy in the sixteenth century was supremely corrupt, in 
the unscrupulous sale of indulgences to fund the building of St. Peter's--what really 
got Luther wound up--as well as nepotism, sale of offices, etc.  You are citing the 
worst period from the entire history of the Church to cast doubt on van Liere's thesis 
that there was corruption at particular times and places, but there were also parallel 
movements for reform.  I submit that this is an example of what van Liere calls 
arbitrary use of historical evidence, and your view that the abuses should have been 
corrected more quickly a projection of modern expectations onto the past and ignorance 
of the situation.  

Hey, it took Lincoln two years to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and then he only 
freed the slaves in Confederate-held territory, not the ones in Union states or Union 
Army-controlled areas.  Was he really committed to abolition?  You, of course, know 
that he was limited by the Constitution and exercised his war powers to begin a 
process he hoped would end in complete emancipation.  Less scrupulous and more 
ignorant critics have used the "simple facts" to tar Lincoln's motives and memory.

Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Church authority in the Renaissance.

[Caroline Usher]

At 02:06 PM 1/30/2004 -0800, Vance Wood wrote:
>Hi David:
>
>Thank You, and thank you again.
>
>It seems that my casual remarks to a casual question about the authority of
>the church has provoked the passion of one or more members of the list.  Why
>this is I do not know.  

It is because, like my friend Bob Clair, I dislike seeing misinformation posted for 
all the lurkers and newbies.  Like Bob, I also don't like pat answers that tend to 
discourage people from further research and study of complex questions.

As the essay that I pointed to yesterday puts it,  
>From a historical point of view, the idea that the medieval church was corrupt is 
>based on a couple of methodological fallacies, such as disrespect for the 
>peculiarities of medieval religion, arbitrary use of historical evidence, and 
>ignorance of the situation in the medieval church.  
>http://www.the-orb.net/non_spec/missteps/ch11.html 
It is these methodological fallacies as much as the specific assertions made that I 
should like readers of this list to be aware of.  It's so easy to project our values 
onto the past, to interpret the past in the light of what we know eventually happened, 
and to reduce its complexity to simple a + b = c.  

The original questioner asked for help in comprehending how people thought "back 
then," specifically about the Church and religion.  Such a quest is not aided by gross 
oversimplification.  Indeed, your response took a fascinating variety of eras and 
places and people and viewpoints and reduced them to a monochrome.  

Caroline

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000 
--

Re: The Church etc.

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:39 PM 1/29/2004 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>Caroline mentions 'Another great read is a two-volume work of German 
>broadsides...etc.' Is this the Fugger News-Letters 1568-1605?


No, it is "The German Single-leaf Woodcut, 1500-1550" and "The German Single-leaf 
Woodcut, 1550-1600" by Max Geisberg and Walter Strauss.  I couldn't find it yesterday 
because it has only a temporary, incomplete record in Duke's online catalog.

I should say that knowledge of German is not required to appreciate these broadsides.  
They consist mostly of pictures (except for a few like the description of the siege of 
Vienna) and the captions are translated.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Church authority in the Renaissance.

[Caroline Usher]

At 08:54 PM 1/29/2004 -0800, Vance Wood wrote:
>Hi Caroline:
>
>I did not realize that you expected me to write a book.  

Come now, Vance.  A book and a simplified-to-the-point-of-error paragraph are not the 
only possibilities.

>You might want to
>check out my response to Herbert Ward.

The one with more sweeping generalizations?

>The Church at the time had this ingrained arrogance that only they had full
>knowledge of God, and that the rest of the people could not begin to
>understand what the Bible had to say.

>No I did not forget Martin Luther, but if Henry VIII had not done what he
>did at about the same time I think Luther may have faltered.  

On the contrary, it was Luther's circle that nurtured the English reformers at the 
earliest stages.  Cranmer was secretly married to Philip Melancthon's daughter.  
Others were sheltered by Calvin in Geneva during the reign of Queen Mary.

>Now the church
>had to deal with a heretic nation, not just a heretic monk.

Excuse me, but reducing all the turmoil of the Reformation in continental Europe to a 
single heretic monk is, well, another sweeping generalization.  It lets you make a 
nice rhetorical point, but it's just not true. You persist in seeing the Church as 
monolithic, which it wasn't.

Incidentally, there's a very good novel about Cranmer by Godfrey Turton, "My Lord of 
Canterbury."   He's sympathetic to Cranmer, as am I.

Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Church authority in the Renaissance.

[Caroline Usher]

At 02:46 PM 1/29/2004 -0800, Vance Wood wrote:
An overly condensed, black-and-white summary of 1000+ years of the history of a 
complex institution with many different attributes and entities extending over many 
nations, including some downright errors.

> It took the invention of the printing press to change all of this
>and start both the Protestant reformation and a couple of generations of war
>over issues spiritual.  

Umm, where do you fit in the medieval sects and their clashes with the established 
Church?  Cathars, Waldensians, Albigensians, Jan Hus . . . 

>It was not until Henry VIII decided to challenge the authority of the Church
>by declaring himself the supreme head of the Church in England did the
>mortar that held Medieval Christianity under the thumb of Rome start to
>crumble, and the corruption of that institution begin to be known by an
>increasingly educated population.

Vance, have you never heard of Martin Luther?  Not to mention the many earlier 
reformers,  many of whom wrought significant changes in the institutional Church.

Of course, any institution is corruptible.  To mention that the medieval Church was 
corruptible and corrupted is to state no more than a truism.  

This short essay, which I found in about 5 minutes of Googling, will get you started. 
Then you can follow the footnotes and suggestions for further reading.
http://www.the-orb.net/non_spec/missteps/ch11.html

To the original questioner:  There are many books that will help you get an impression 
of what people believed and how they lived, not only relating to religion.  Not to 
blow the family horn, but I can't help mentioning a book written by MY COUSIN, tantara 
tantara, Miriam Usher Chrisman, called "Lay Culture, Learned Culture: Books and Social 
Change in Strasbourg, 1480-1590."  She examined all the books printed in Strassbourg 
during this crucial period, and gets a lot out of them about people's lives.  Yes, 
books were rare.  But books were not printed only for the learned and wealthy classes, 
there were items to appeal to other classes.  Calendars, medico-astrological texts, 
etc.  In fact the publishers divide neatly into high-falutin & scholarly vs. popular & 
practical.  Interestingly, both types published music.

Another great read is a two-volume work of German broadsides from the 
sixteenth-century, which I have mentioned before on this list.  Can't find the title 
and author at the moment.  These are the newspapers of the day and they range from the 
New York Times ("Description and Map of the Siege of Vienna by Count so-and-so, who 
was in the entourage of Prince such-and-such") to the Daily Enquirer ("Strange Growth 
of Hairy Grapes in Augsburg," "Notorious Murderer Caught Tried and Executed in 
Frankfurt," etc.)

Read the lay literature of the period.  Renard the Fox, Patient Griselda.  El Cid.  
Roland.  Puppet shows were very popular and were based on these familiar fables, as 
well as ancient stories about the Crusades, possibly taken from the Italian 
16th-century epics by Tasso and Ariosto.  Read Boccacio's Decameron.  Machiavelli's 
play Mandragora.  There are even joke books.  Of course there are thousands of English 
broadsides and pamphlets, not to mention all the playwrights besides Shakespeare.  
(I've always loved the name "Ralph Royster-Doyster.")

And it's fun!
Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Fwd: John Cage on Lute

[Caroline Usher]

Stewart wrote:

>One of the reasons I enjoy lute music is because it is music, pure
>and simple. It is unpretentious. 

Yes.  I spent last week in Indianapolis and stayed with my mother who recently moved 
to a "retirement village."  I played a small recital for some of her friends and 
neighbors and was well received.  However, after the recital we went over to the home 
of a neighbor whose back trouble prevented her from walking the few steps to my 
mother's.  I played a few pieces for her.  She had never heard a lute before, and 
after the first piece she said, "There's something about the sound of it, it has the 
same feeling as almost having tears in the eyes."

Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
Ye hollye and ye ivye
  And ye Christmas tree so faire
Are a mekill peyne to a poore villein
  Who hath litel tyme to spare;
O ye scrubbynge of ye lecturne
  And ye deckynge of ye tree
And ye blowynge of ye murie organ:
  Must they alle be done by me?

Ye hollye beareth prickle
  As sharp as any spike;
Ye may stick a briar in our gracious squire
  Atte anie tyme ye like;
O ye lightynge of ye candles
  And ye polysshynge ye brasse!
Yf this be ye Feudal Systeme,
  Rolle on, ye myddel Classe!
-- Willoughbye Dogsbody

Fwd: Re: ivory in lutes

[Caroline Usher]

>Ken wrote informatively:


>  I've heard that hunters' dogs 
>sometimes feed on preserved mammoth meat and that there is a project to someday 
>recreate an offspring which will be around 60% mammoth genetically (and 40% modern 
>elephant) using cloned DNA from specimens.

I asked one of our Biology faculty who has studied elephants about this project.  You 
should have seen her face.

Suffice it to say she thinks it highly unlikely that they will find usable DNA.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Fine Nacks for Ladies

[Caroline Usher]

At 08:51 AM 11/11/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>So then the  "nacks" could be a metaphor for the kind of "breathlessness" 
>experienced in a passionate encounter.

No need to reach so far:

 3. concr. An ingenious contrivance; a toy, trinket, trifle, 
<http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/crossref?xrefed=OED&xrefword=knick-knack>KNICK-KNACK. ? 
Obs. 
 
  1540 HEYWOOD Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 349 Needles, thread, thimble, shears, and 
all such knacks. 1596 SHAKES. Tam. Shr. IV. iii. 67 Why 'tis a cockle or a 
walnut-shell, A knacke, a toy, a tricke, a babies cap: Away with it. a1677 BARROW 
Serm. (1683) II. vii. 104 Springs, and wheels, and such mechanick knacks. 1715 tr. 
C'tess D'Aunoy's Wks. 557 A Thousand pretty Knacks..which she made with Fish-Bones and 
Shells, with Reeds and Rushes. 1825 LAMB Elia Ser. II. Superannuated Man, All the 
glittering and endless succession of knacks and gew~gaws. 1863 COWDEN CLARKE Shaks. 
Char. xiv. 360 The pedlar's knacks and gaudy trash [Wint. T. IV. iv.] absorb Mopsa's 
whole gloating vision.

Check the third verse of the song, which lists some of the pedlar's kncks:  "pins, 
points, laces and gloves."

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000 
--

Re: Languages and strings

[Caroline Usher]

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000
--

Re: OT: Why was the K'berg MS stolen?

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:46 PM 11/3/2003 +0200, Arto Wikla wrote:
>And do not forget the Estonians! They are even joining the EU next spring!
>I nearly can understand Estonian, but not quite...  :-)
>Perhaps the difference is a little like between Italian and Spain?


Quite correct, my apologies to the Estonian people.
Caroline

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: OT: Why was the K'berg MS stolen?

[Caroline Usher]

At 03:54 AM 11/3/2003 -0500, Jon Murphy wrote:
>Actually Hebrew (and Arabic and Aramaic) are in the family of Indo-European
>languages. 

Sorry, no.  I speak as a former linguistics major.

>Sanskrit is one of the bases, but the differences in sound of the
>Semitic languages are minimal when compared to the similarities. 

Having studied French, German, Russian, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, I beg to differ.

>As I
>remember my linguistics only Basque and Finnish are languages west of the
>Caucasian Mountains that aren't in the family. 

Also Hungarian and Lappish, which along with Finnish belong to the Finno-Ugric family. 
 The other speakers are tribal peoples from east of the Ural mountains.

Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Holbein, addendum

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:41 PM 10/22/2003 +0300, Arto Wikla wrote:

>Dear Caroline and all,
>
>on Wed, 22 Oct 2003, Caroline Usher wrote:
>
>> If it was contrapuntal music that was considered objectionable, then 
>> what about all the contrapuntal music for organ or for choir?  I seem to 
>> remember a very prolific composer of contrapuntal church music named JS 
>> Bach. . . .
>
>Just 2 small comments: There really were extreme "reformists", who
>forbid the use of instruments in church, for ex. the Calvinists.
>And to talk about JS Bach is quite out of context, considering
>the time span from the 16th century to the 18th century... 

Let's remember where this started:
>the Lute's music was at some point considered
>un-Godly and therefore forbidden in some circles, especially the extremely
>contrapuntal compositions

And:
>That being said the issue still remains true, in some degree or another the
>demise of the Lute was in part to the increasing influence of the Protestant
>religions who viewed the Lute as a vanity.

The issue is whether Protestant opposition to contrapuntal music and the lute was 
responsible for the demise of the lute.  Which happened some time toward the end of 
the eighteenth century, i.e. after J.S. B's death.  I pointed out just one well-known 
Protestant composer who wrote highly contrapuntal church music.  While there may have 
been some Protestants who opposed the use of instruments in the church and/or sacred 
music in contrapuntal style, were they the mainstream?  Did they influence the culture 
of Europe so greatly that their objections caused the lute to disappear from all 
regions, Catholic as well as Protestant?
Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Lute as a vanity

[Caroline Usher]

The tradition of vanity pictures or emblems goes back to Ecclesiastes:  "Vanity, 
vanity, all is vanity."  And so forth.

This life is temporary and ends in death and decay.  Remember that you too shall die, 
and repent so as to have life everlasting.  These pictures often contain a skull to 
drive the point home.  Also dying flowers, dead game animals, a bowl of fruit going 
bad. . .  musical instruments.  Stringed musical instruments.  Musical instruments 
with a thick coating of dust on them.  Where are their players?  They have left the 
room, perhaps forever.

I imagine the vanity meme has its roots in the Dance of Death tradition that arose 
from the great plagues of the 14th century.  Death is shown calling everyone to dance 
his dance.  None can resist, be they emperor, pope, king, queen, burgher, housewife, 
cobbler, musician, beggar.

Music exemplifies the vanity of worldy life and worldly pleasures because music is a 
temporal and evanescent art.  It lasts a brief time, then ends, unlike painting or 
sculpture.  What instrument should represent the temporary nature of music?  Some 
instruments are bowed or blown and the sound is continuous as long as the musician 
provides the effort.  But a plucked string begins to die away immediately and is 
particularly apt to represent the temporary character of music and this life.  A 
broken string?  At any moment, in the middle of your performance, Death may tap you on 
the shoulder and interrupt your music . . . .

I believe I have seen the harp in this role, but it is more commonly associated with 
King David and the psalms.  The lute was a more common instrument and so more apt to 
represent something that applies to everyone.

The existence of this tradition has nothing to do with people playing the lute, 
composing for lute, enjoying lute music, or eating pheasant and fruit.
Caroline
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Holbein, addendum

[Caroline Usher]

At 05:23 PM 10/21/2003 +, you wrote:
>Sean:
>
>That sounds believable and probably closer to the truth than my explanation.
>That being said the issue still remains true, in some degree or another the
>demise of the Lute was in part to the increasing influence of the Protestant
>religions who viewed the Lute as a vanity.  

What is your evidence for this?

You stated earlier that, "the Lute's music was at some point considered
un-Godly and therefore forbidden in some circles, especially the extremely
contrapuntal compositions."

If it was contrapuntal music that was considered objectionable, then what about all 
the contrapuntal music for organ or for choir?  I seem to remember a very prolific 
composer of contrapuntal church music named JS Bach. . . .

I wondered if you were thinking of the old legend about Palestrina saving sacred music 
by writing the Missa papae marcelli, proving that one could write polyphony and still 
have the words be intelligible.

 From http://www.bbc.co.uk/singers/timeline/palestrina.shtml
One of the great musical debates of Palestrina's own day concerned the relationship of 
music to word in sacred compositions. From 1545 the Council of Trent set out to renew 
and reform the Catholic Church in the face of the perceived threat posed by the spread 
of Protestantism. Over the next eighteen years it addressed many aspects of Catholic 
theology and religious practice - and church music was one of them, the Council 
setting down some fairly broad 'guidelines' which suggested that in sacred 
compositions clarity of the scriptural words should be the first priority.

In the polyphonic, or 'many voiced' style of Palestrina's time, where music was 
constructed of simultaneously sung independent lines, the intelligibility of the words 
could be a problem. And for a time, it appeared as if the Council of Trent's reforming 
principles might therefore proscribe anything but the simplest musical styles. 
Palestrina's 'Pope Marcellus' Mass was one of the first examples of a new, more 
structured and direct style, making the text clearly audible, despite the fact that up 
to six lines of music are sounding at the same time - proving that complexity and 
audibility of words were not incompatible.

The popular debate today centres around exactly when this Mass was composed, and when 
the Commission - which the Council of Trent set up to investigate the question of 
polyphonic sacred music - was formed. Many people agree that Palestrina's Mass 
predates the Commission by some years, in which case Palestrina's new style was the 
product purely of his own inspiration. Either way his music was accepted, and has thus 
spawned the myth that, in the Missa Papae Marcelli, he 'saved Western sacred music' 
from the reformers. 

Caroline

*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000 
--

Re: Holbein, addendum

[Caroline Usher]

At 07:49 AM 10/20/2003 -0700, lutesmith wrote:

>Stewart,
>
>I think there's enough detail in the globe to the left of the lute to see 
>that a number of countries are "color coded". I think it may even have been 
>related to religion. 

Can't be religion, all of Europe from England through Russia and Greece are colored 
the same.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

RE: gypsies lilt plus

[Caroline Usher]

At 09:09 AM 10/9/2003 -0500, Stuart LeBlanc wrote:

>If I may add to this bit of practical advice...
>
>Given the desire to promote Scottish music as "the voice of my people," it
>is hard not to take notice of the communities which successfully capitalize
>on their indigenous music and other cultures.  

Hey, this gives me an idea.

One of my favorite TV programs is "Monarch of the Glen" shown on BBCAmerica.  (Rob, 
please don't shatter my illusions and tell me it is execrated by all true Scots!)

We should all write in and suggest an appearance on the show for Rob, recreating his 
performance from the Wemyss Lute Book for the local villagers . . . .
Caroline

*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Gypsie's Lilt redux

[Caroline Usher]

At 01:16 PM 10/8/2003 -0700, Howard Posner wrote:
>I also wonder if anyone would bother with Gypsie's Lilt if you took out the
>Bb/A/Eb/Bb and replaced it with a B flat chord.  It's a pretty dull piece
>that way.

I second that emotion.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Gypsie's Lilt

[Caroline Usher]

At 12:39 AM 10/8/2003 +0300, Arto Wikla wrote:
>Well, we've been talking quite a lot about that chord in the List also 
>some years ago... ;-)
>
>I still think it is a printing/copying error... But if it helps in the
>case we talk now, it is ok for me, too... ;)

The real question is, how many lutenists played the Gypsie's Lilt with multiple 
discords at midnight GMT?
Caroline

*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: Gypsie's Lilt

[Caroline Usher]

At 04:50 PM 10/7/2003 -0400, Craig wrote:
>Ok Caroline, this is all your fault.

Not since I resigned the presidency!

> Since you mentioned the Gypsie's Lilt 
>I decided to see if I had a copy and in fact I have two, one by Ronn 
>McFarlane and one by Robert Phillips. Both versions contain the most 
>hideous chord I've ever heard.

It's a wonderful chord!  And full of gypsy magic, I'll warrant.

>  d
>---
>  b
>---
>  a
>---
>
>---
>
>---
>  d
>---
>
>I checked this against the standard notation in the guitar book that 
>accompanies Ronn's Scottish lute book and sure enough it's just as hideous 
>on the piano. Worse in fact. So ok, this must have been what was written, 
>and since it occurs several times throughout the piece it must be 
>deliberate.

Well, you have to make something out of it when you play it.  However, remember my 
suggestion was to play the piece with a discord on *every* beat.

105 minutes and counting down. . . .
Caroline 
*
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: farewell fantasy...

[Caroline Usher]

And furthermore . . . .

Ye see yon birkie ca'd 'a [retired Head of Music],
Wha struts, an stares, an a' that?
Tho hundreds worship at his word,
He's but a cuif* for a' that.
For a' that, an a' that,
His ribband, star, an a' that,
The man o independent mind,
He looks an laughs at a' that.
Robert Burns
*cuif = fool

Harrumph.

Caroline
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Re: farewell fantasy...

[Caroline Usher]

At 11:37 AM 10/7/2003 +0100, Rob wrote:
> The interview panel consisted =
>of the people I had been working with to create the post, plus one guy =
>appointed in absentia by the SAC. He is a retired Head of Music of one =
>of our universities, with (oddly enough, considering the nature of the =
>post) a well-documented hatred of Scottish music. As the SAC were the =
>main funding body for the post, he had the most power on the interview =
>committee. Who did he choose? One of his ex-students who is unknown to =
>anyone involved in historical Scottish music.=20

[rest of sad tale snipped]

Surely there is an old Scottish curse which could be visited on this person and his 
minions?

I propose that at Midnight GMT tonight all members of this list play the Gypsies Lilt 
from the Rowallen Lute Book with a discord on every beat, while willin' a mickle bad 
luck on yon ill-trickit gowk.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000

Fwd: Re: Pain ...

[Caroline Usher]

>I've been through some trouble this stuff before and actually went to the 
>Miller Center for Performing Artists Injuries in NYC to get some advice. 
>Basically what it boils down to is your posture. Look at your self in a mirror when 
>you play - are you huncing over your lute? There are numerous ways to beat this 
>type of pain and resulting injuries - but start with your posture - especially 
>your neck & shoulders.
>
>Seth

Good advice.  Also check whether you have extra tension anywhere, especially the last 
joint of your fingers.
Caroline 
*****
Caroline Usher
DCMB Administrative Coordinator
613-8155
Box 91000