Why are the first five open (unstopped) basses thought to be at the lower octave? - is the source absolutely clear and wholly unambiguous about this (I've not yet seen the EM article myself)? Leaving aside the length of the long basses required to extend the range down to contrabass ,B and the quality of sound, a practical problem with this tuning (as you clearly set it out from the EM article) would seem to be the large gap below the third course (g) and the next stoppable course (c). However, if the first five unstopped basses were at the upper octave they would then continue directly scalewise downwards from the third course: ie g f e d c B. with the last two unstopped basses at the upper octave of a g (because of string technology limitations perhaps) as you/the paper indicates (or they could be an octave down thus simply extending the scalewise sequence down as on, say, a the contemporary theorbo or archlute.). Of course, with this arrangement the c and b would be duplicated as open strings, but the stopped pair would be fully chromatic . Or perhaps I've misunderstood ...... Marty
On Wednesday, 12 June 2019, 14:15:27 BST, Monica Hall <mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote: Well - the pieces in the Gallot Ms. - the only known source of music for the instrument - are all solo pieces and are in C major or C minor. Some are found in other arrangements in other sources - one of them is in Scottish Lute Ms. "Pamure 5" and is on your CD. The two lowest course seem to be used just as frequently as the others. In the ms. the courses are numbered a/ a// a/// 4 5 6 7 just to confuse. As ever Monica > On 12 June 2019 at 13:59 Rob MacKillop <[1]robmackil...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > I see. I imagine such an instrument was mainly used for accompaniment, with some solos being composed as well. The main keys for a baroque guitar include Dm, C, E, and F. Having the F diapason close to the fretboard would be useful for the keys of F, C and Dm. Perhaps the notes a and g were less helpful for accompaniment situations, so were shoved out of the way from the main action. But I don't know... > > Rob > > On 12 June 2019, at 13:51, Monica Hall <[2]mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote: > > Sorry if it is not clear. It is a twelve course instrument. There are five courses on the fingerboard and seven unstopped basses. > > From 1st course down the tuning is > > e' c' g c B (1-5 on the fingerboard); unstopped courses are F E D C B,(B below the bass stave) a g; 6-12 unstopped. > > There is a gap between the courses on the fingerboard and the open basses. > > It is the arrangement of the unstopped courses on the instrument which would be unusual. The two thinnest strings are placed in the outside position. > > What puzzles me is what possible advantage might there be to this. > > One thing is certain - either the open basses overlap with the courses on the fingerboard or there is a gap between the 5th and 6th courses. > > The new arrangement fills in the gap by placing the 11th and 12th courses in the upper octave. > > As ever. > > Monica > > > > On 12 June 2019 at 12:45 Rob MacKillop <[3]robmackil...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Monica, > > > > To save confusion, please use the standard method of describing courses: the first string is always the first course. > > > > So, descending from 1st course down to 12th course the tuning you describe appears to be: > > > > Fretted: e' c' g c B Unfretted: B C D E F a g > > > > Is that correct? If so, that is highly unusual, so please correct me if I'm wrong. > > > > Rob MacKillop > > > > > > > > On Wed, 12 Jun 2019 at 12:07, Monica Hall < [4]mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu mailto:[5]mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu > wrote: > > > > ?space?-- The latest issue of Early Music has a short article on the guitarre > theorbee suggesting an interesting tuning/stringing method different > from the one suggested by Donald Gill and myself - to witt - > > on the fingerboard - e' c' g c B > > 1st - 5th unstopped courses - F E D C B, > > 6th-7th unstopped courses - a g > > (nominally in C major - there is a C minor alternative) > > in other words there is a gap of an augmented 4th between the lowest > note on the fingerboard and the first unstopped course, but this is > filled in by the 6th and 7th courses which are at the correct pitch but > out of sequence physically on the instrument rather than re-entrant in > the strictest sense of the term. > > This certainly produces a better realization of the music - it > eliminates the skip of a 7th in the bass line. > > I know that the theorbo sometimes had the lowest course or lowest two > course re-entrant but these are not out of sequence. There is no gap > between the stopped courses and diapasons. > > Does anyone know of any examples of a theorbo or other instrument where > there is a gap between the stopped courses and the diapasons? > > What are the advantages to having the diapasons out of sequence like > this. Are there any practical advantages either when constructing the > instrument or when playing it? The strings will be of the same guage > wherever they are positioned on the instrument. > > Food for thought. > > As ever > > Monica > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > [6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > -- -- References 1. mailto:robmackil...@gmail.com 2. mailto:mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu 3. mailto:robmackil...@gmail.com 4. mailto:mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu 5. mailto:mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
