Hello all,
I am sure this is a topic that has been beaten to death at some time or
another, but I figured I would try to find some opinions as they are a
bit difficult to come by when merely searching on google.
I have done a good bit of practicing while resting my pinky on the
soundboard which proves to be mildly helpful when searching for some of
the bass strings, however, I have been practicing for the past couple
months without doing so and have found that muscle memory tends to take
care of me rather well. I am still a beginner on the baroque lute.
I have mastered some of the shorter Gaultier and Weiss pieces (I'm sure
the term mastered is entirely subjective) and have found that I am able
to play with a much lighter touch and have far better dynamic control
when my pinky is free rather than resting. I tend to owe this to the
fact that my pinky and ring finger are hopelessly connected together,
so my range of motion is not great when playing with a rested little
finger. I have also noticed that there are a few professional players
who tend to play with a free little finger as well.
I don't use gut strings, but I have heard that one must play closer to
the bridge to achieve a good tone when using them, so the practice of
resting the little finger on the bridge seems more practical in this
situation. I, however, have found the best sounds for Carbon/nylon to
come either from directly behind the rosette or perhaps somewhere in
the middle. I apologize for the long winded post. any thoughts on
this?
Jack
--
To get on or off this list see list information at
http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
