Re: Holding the baroque lute
Taking your tongue in cheek seriously for the moment, I'll say that we on the harp have let ourselves go electronic. We use electronic tuners with mic pickups to tune. And those can use an earphone output. Not that I distrust my ear, I can still tune all 52 strings of my harp with an A fork and my ear, but it does take a lot longer as one makes the minor adjustment back and forth. My ear is still better than the tuner, but it gets you into the range at all octaves. And fifty years ago I pressed my ear to my guitar to tune in a noisy environment. Best, Jon
Re: Holding the baroque lute
Have any of you baroque lute players experimented with holding your instrument with the aid of a solid table as opposed to the traditional crossed leg method, left foot stool method, or strap method? several strap ways, btw. I prefer a strap over my back and left shoulder, only. That way, I can sit upright and breathe freely. A curious if dangerous thing: I generally play standing up, with a strap originally made for electric guitars. It is 3 wide, leather. I noticed soon after putting it on that if I hold my ear against the strap while playing or tuning it actually transmits a sound so loud it can be deafening even from a very light pluck. I wonder if this type of personal amplification (this is absolutely inaudible to anyone but myself) was ever used while tuning in a noisy room or during some chamber music. Any ideas? RT
Re: Holding the baroque lute
On Mon, 3 Nov 2003, Roman Turovsky wrote: Any ideas? Even louder and more convenient would be a doctor's stethoscope attached to the pegbox with a rubber band. I guess you'd want the type of stethoscope with a built-in diaphragm -- but I'm no expert. This, of course, reminds me of the comedy routines where the patient deafens the doctor by talking into the stethoscope, and thereby makes me wonder afresh at the strange nature of the human sense of humor.
