[LUTE] Re: December's lute
In response to Martin's (probably rhetorical) question, Ballard is quite frequently played to complement programmes of French 'Airs de cour'. I don't agree with Omer that his music lacks variety. It is very well composed and deceptively simple. I find that to get a convincing result requires a lot of work because it is actually very demanding technically and suffers no imprecision. I have a 10-course lute with a pretty big body (a slightly scaled-down Venere C36) and that accommodates 10 frets on the neck very comfortably with a 67.5 cm string length. Best Matthew On 12 janv. 2015, at 18:19, Martin Shepherd mar...@luteshop.co.uk wrote: Thanks, Dan. Just one small correction - this lute only has 8 frets on the neck, so in terms of proportions it's the same as a normal short-necked lute. To achieve the magic 10-fret neck, you either have to have a much smaller body with the same string length, or an even longer string length. This one is 67cm. Best wishes, Martin On 12/01/2015 18:06, Dan Winheld wrote: Hi Martin- Congrats on a beautiful, FINALLY THE REAL DEAL 10 course lute- ALL the Ribs, ALL the courses, and (drum roll please) ALL THE FRETS! And the right size/dimensional package. Why has this been such a difficult thing to achieve? I have been so disappointed over the decades seeing these weird, ugly short neck 10 course lutes- some of them otherwise well built and beautiful, that only needed the neck lengthened to be right. I think part of the problem has been those lutenists who have been blindly, doggedly obsessed with having a G lute at a=440 but not having a clue about actual historical usage, concepts of pitch (absolute, relative, conjectural, etc.) and wanting an all purpose instrument so that performances of early to mid 16th century music will sound bright (esp. if played thumb under) be easier to finger. Got to sympathise with that, but a shame to have compromised historical designs- which were, after all, the best. Best wishes, and please continue what you're doing! Dan On 1/12/2015 1:03 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com
[LUTE] Re: December's lute
A:-( Well, 9 tied frets works well- seems to have been standard for 11 course French lutes. And I have had two largish 8 course lutes over the years with 9 tied and they work really well. But my 13 course Baroque lute also only has 9- (sounds fine, by the way), but I am a little cramped when the Weiss goes too high (And the Bach) but still manageable. I thought you already built some 10 fret instruments? Dan On 1/12/2015 9:19 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote: Thanks, Dan. Just one small correction - this lute only has 8 frets on the neck, so in terms of proportions it's the same as a normal short-necked lute. To achieve the magic 10-fret neck, you either have to have a much smaller body with the same string length, or an even longer string length. This one is 67cm. Best wishes, Martin On 12/01/2015 18:06, Dan Winheld wrote: Hi Martin- Congrats on a beautiful, FINALLY THE REAL DEAL 10 course lute- ALL the Ribs, ALL the courses, and (drum roll please) ALL THE FRETS! And the right size/dimensional package. Why has this been such a difficult thing to achieve? I have been so disappointed over the decades seeing these weird, ugly short neck 10 course lutes- some of them otherwise well built and beautiful, that only needed the neck lengthened to be right. I think part of the problem has been those lutenists who have been blindly, doggedly obsessed with having a G lute at a=440 but not having a clue about actual historical usage, concepts of pitch (absolute, relative, conjectural, etc.) and wanting an all purpose instrument so that performances of early to mid 16th century music will sound bright (esp. if played thumb under) be easier to finger. Got to sympathise with that, but a shame to have compromised historical designs- which were, after all, the best. Best wishes, and please continue what you're doing! Dan On 1/12/2015 1:03 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com
[LUTE] Re: December's lute
I play Ballard, but his works are very similar to one another, almost the same (I'm not next to his book right now to give examples) He is a good practice to right hand. On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 11:03 AM, Martin Shepherd mar...@luteshop.co.uk wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Omer Katzir The Silent Troubadour http://omerkatzir.com
[LUTE] Re: December's lute
Very nice, Martin!A Gorgeous lute in appearance and sound. ed On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 11:14 AM, Omer Katzir [1]kome...@gmail.com wrote: I play Ballard, but his works are very similar to one another, almost the same (I'm not next to his book right now to give examples) He is a good practice to right hand. On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 11:03 AM, Martin Shepherd [2]mar...@luteshop.co.uk wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: [3]http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at [4]www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. [5]http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Omer Katzir The Silent Troubadour [7]http://omerkatzir.com -- References 1. mailto:kome...@gmail.com 2. mailto:mar...@luteshop.co.uk 3. http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html 4. http://www.facebook.com/luteshop 5. http://www.avast.com/ 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 7. http://omerkatzir.com/
[LUTE] Re: December's lute
Thanks, Dan. Just one small correction - this lute only has 8 frets on the neck, so in terms of proportions it's the same as a normal short-necked lute. To achieve the magic 10-fret neck, you either have to have a much smaller body with the same string length, or an even longer string length. This one is 67cm. Best wishes, Martin On 12/01/2015 18:06, Dan Winheld wrote: Hi Martin- Congrats on a beautiful, FINALLY THE REAL DEAL 10 course lute- ALL the Ribs, ALL the courses, and (drum roll please) ALL THE FRETS! And the right size/dimensional package. Why has this been such a difficult thing to achieve? I have been so disappointed over the decades seeing these weird, ugly short neck 10 course lutes- some of them otherwise well built and beautiful, that only needed the neck lengthened to be right. I think part of the problem has been those lutenists who have been blindly, doggedly obsessed with having a G lute at a=440 but not having a clue about actual historical usage, concepts of pitch (absolute, relative, conjectural, etc.) and wanting an all purpose instrument so that performances of early to mid 16th century music will sound bright (esp. if played thumb under) be easier to finger. Got to sympathise with that, but a shame to have compromised historical designs- which were, after all, the best. Best wishes, and please continue what you're doing! Dan On 1/12/2015 1:03 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com
[LUTE] Re: December's lute
Hi Martin- Congrats on a beautiful, FINALLY THE REAL DEAL 10 course lute- ALL the Ribs, ALL the courses, and (drum roll please) ALL THE FRETS! And the right size/dimensional package. Why has this been such a difficult thing to achieve? I have been so disappointed over the decades seeing these weird, ugly short neck 10 course lutes- some of them otherwise well built and beautiful, that only needed the neck lengthened to be right. I think part of the problem has been those lutenists who have been blindly, doggedly obsessed with having a G lute at a=440 but not having a clue about actual historical usage, concepts of pitch (absolute, relative, conjectural, etc.) and wanting an all purpose instrument so that performances of early to mid 16th century music will sound bright (esp. if played thumb under) be easier to finger. Got to sympathise with that, but a shame to have compromised historical designs- which were, after all, the best. Best wishes, and please continue what you're doing! Dan On 1/12/2015 1:03 AM, Martin Shepherd wrote: Hi All, A new page on my site features my most recent projects - this time a multirib10c lute strung with KF basses and double top string, with photos and soundfile: http://www.luteshop.co.uk/Latest_work.html More photos of the construction process can be seen on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/luteshop Why do people not play Ballard more often? Best wishes, Martin --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. http://www.avast.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
