Thomas Mace's instruction never mentions the ring finger. It doesn't exist.
Never notated in his music, ever.
I've almost quit using it too, except for really wide stretches i.e. a chord
or arpeggio requiring the first, sixth, and thirteenth courses. (Pfeiffer's
Concerto, Allegro) Most
With this issue, I'd avoid alternatives of right or wrong (as though is
was wrong to play La Belle Homicide, occasionally using RH ringfinger -
it's comfortable at some places).
Far more interesting IMHO is that there is a striking contrast between
LeSage and Kniebandl, viewed as representatives
Has anyone done research into the bridge string
spacing on extant lutes and how that relates to using
the ring finger? For instance the Edlinger lute
'Vienna AR969' has a bridge spacing that is 156mm
which is quite large. I first learned baroque lute on
a close copy of this instrument with the
I would deflect anyone from wasting too much time into spacing research.
Any spacing under 156mm has been empirically proven to be untenable.
The lutes that survive with smaller spacing where probably made to be for
the Damen, and didn't (or couldn't) get played much.
RT
Has anyone done
