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Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 9:04 AM
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Vihuela vs. Renaissance lute for a beginning lute
student
The most important difference for the musician is more in timbre. The
vihuela has a more throaty direct, slightly shallower
Some of the vihuelists loved to use high frets all across the neck,
which are much more easily accessible on the vihuela, having more of them on
a narrower neck. These pieces get pretty tricky on the lute, where you
can't get a full octave range without playing on the table and crunching
oud and charango do not, i surmise, cut the mustard with most of you but i
found it interesting and helpful to play them alternately. this runs contrary
to advise given by mandolin player jethro burns who advised students studying
mandolin to stick to it and forsake all others - that way you
The most important difference for the musician is more in timbre. The
vihuela has a more throaty direct, slightly shallower sound and the lute
is a
rounder, more enveloping sound. Also, if you tune most of the courses in
unisons on the vihuela, as opposed to the lute, it makes a different
My two cents:
If you have small hands and a large lute (ie, long strings), and
you study music written by a guy with large hands and a small vihuela,
then a certain amount of frustration and confusion might result, due
to the fret spacing difference between the instruments.
To get on or off
Dear Christopher,
I agree with David. You can choose either, or both. Yes, you can play
most of the renaissance lute pieces on a vihuela, without problems.
Contrary to some opinion, I use the same technique on either instrument,
and it is not difficult to switch back forth. I sometimes do
Hi,
I can not see differences at all in playing terms between a vihuela and
a 6 course lute, if both have the same physical characteristica (string
length, separation between courses at the bridge and at the nut, action,
etc).
What do you mean when you say: 'some techniques associated with
