> On Aug 7, 2017, at 5:47 PM, Gary Boye <boy...@appstate.edu> wrote: > > Lute List members, Help! > I've been asked to play on some Lully excerpts from Le Bourgeois > Gentilhomme in early October. I have a theorbo, lute, Baroque guitar . > . . no problem. But the conductor wants to do it A440. All of my > instruments are strung for A430 (and one A415). > My initial response is to say no, but I want to encourage some early > music performance here, so my only options would appear to be: > 1) Re-string an instrument for A440 ($$$!) > 2) Try some type of capo (OK for guitar, less so on theorbo) > 3) Try to finger it at F#m or Fm and stay tuned low > 4) Tune high and risk it (!)
Unless your instrument is really cranked at 430, tuning it up to 440 shouldn’t be much of a risk. I’d say the chance of it exploding, killing you and everyone within ten feet of you, is less than 50%. I’d think the only reason to have a lute-family instrument at 430 is to facilitate playing at both 415 and 440 without a major change in tension. If you have a theorbo in A at 415, try tuning it down and playing it as an instrument in G. > 5) Try to convince them to play at A430 (seems doubtful) Indeed, impossible, if there are woodwind instruments. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
