How was it suddenly easy if you had to play a right handed guitar left
handed?
FWI, tuning up until a string breaks sounds dangerous to me. If the
string is not weak that could add a bit of tension to the instrument.
I picture you in tights with a cape and 'super lute man' written across
your chest. :-)
On May 30, 2011, at 5:11 AM, David van Ooijen wrote:
Modern music for lute revisited.
As you know by now I find a lot of modern music on my music stand these
days.
This weekend's experience exemplifies some of my feelings quite nicely.
My first rehearsal was on Friday. The first version of the first
movement arrived on Tuesday. It was replaced by a new version on
Thursday.
During Friday's rehearsal some sections of the first movement were
cut, as they didn't work on our instruments (surprise: Baroque
ensemble!). We also received the third movement (somehow there was no
second movement) on Friday, but didn't start rehearsing it seriously
until Saturday. My part (for theorbo) had tapping (left and right hand
on the fingerboard), use of a slide, extensive use of harmonics and
de-tuning of my instrument by someone else while I was playing and a
resulting breaking string all written in. I should add that, not for
the first time, however uncomfortable my part felt on a theorbo, it
would have fitted a guitar surprisingly well. Anyway, I was happy to
jump through all the hoops prescribed in my part, but refused the
de-tuning cum broken string (the next item on the programme was a Bach
cantata in 1/6 comma meantone and keeping my 14 gut strings more or
less in tune is a major concern in a one hour concert). My, polite but
definitive, refusal resulted in some awkward moments during rehearsal.
Which were magically solved today in the run-through before the
concert, when I was given a beaten-up (1933!) guitar, with an action
that was sure to avoid buzzing even if I wanted to (was it 2 or 3cm
from string to fret at the 12th position?), fitted with strings from
last century and, needless to say, strung for a right-handed player
while I am, for those that are unaware of it, most definitively a
lefty. Suddenly my part was easy! Suddenly the composer was happy!
So much for writing modern music for early instruments.
David - back to good old Renaissance and Baroque music on his music
stand this week (and some Tommy Emmanuel ...)
--
***
David van Ooijen
[1]davidvanooi...@gmail.com
www.davidvanooijen.nl
***
To get on or off this list see list information at
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Ed Durbrow
Saitama, Japan
[2]http://www.musicianspage.com/musicians/9688/
[3]http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
--
References
1. mailto:davidvanooi...@gmail.com
2. http://www.musicianspage.com/musicians/9688/
3. http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
