There are a few loose ends in the discussion on 4c guitar tuning. Just my
0,02 Yuan:
- Mudarra seems to be the only one from Spain, speaking of the 'bordon'.
Bermudo (if I am right) only speaks of 'requintas', courses now tuned in
octaves, formerly in fifths (!). The next writer from Spain (???) who
mentiones 'bordones' is Sanz in 1674.
- Is a 'bordon' always a low string of a course tuned in an octave?
Agazzari, in 1606, speaks of the 'bordoni' of the theorbo. Wasn't the
theorbo single strung, at least the basses? It could be that he simply
speaks about the bass, not about octave stringing.
- Is it a coincidence that Mudarra mentiones the 'bordon' on the first page
of his section of guitar music, in his tres libros? Here begins the only
piece for the guitar in 'temple viejo'. Couldn't what he says of the
'bordon' refer to the tuning in the interval of a fifth between the 3rd and
4th courses in this specific piece? Initially 'bourdon' and 'requinta' could
have been used in the context of music with 'drones', for which the interval
of the fifth may have been the basis.
- Popular music and the tuning. According to Bermudo (if I understand him
right) this requires temple viejo (like Indiana Jones), not a temple nuevo
in re-entrant tuning. Obviously Bermudo does not speak of alfabeto chord
strumming, for which temple viejo would be unpractical.
The viejo would need a low 4th course to have a fifth in the 'bass'.
Lex
Various people have suggested various pitches on the basis of other
documentary evidence - principally, it seems, Bermudo. Everyone seems to
assume that the 4th course had a low octave.
As far as re-entrant stringing is concerned, the point I was trying to
make
is that Mudarra does actually say at the beginning of his 4-course pieces
that there must be a bordon - i.e. low octave string - on the 4th course.
If the instrument was never strung without one he surely wouldn't have
thought it necessary to mention it. He does also say that it must have
ten
frets which again implies that it didn't always. The bordon and the ten
frets are necessary to ensure an adequate range of notes for his more
complex music.
For a more popular repertoire a re-entrant tuning may have been used.
Monica
- Original Message -
From: bill kilpatrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Monica Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: vihuela vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: re-entrant tuning, las sirenas, jarana
as best i could, i answered my own question - couldn't
find any reference to early music written in the
re-entrant tuning of g-c-e-a. not long ago i found
some bach tabs for ukulele.
--- Monica Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
Mudarra's tuning would be Gg cc ee aa when c= c
below middle c. That is
if the pitches which Bermudo gives are taken
literally - which they are not
intended to be.
With a re-entrant tuning that would be gg cc ee
aa.
The 4th course was sometimes tuned a 5th below the
3rd (rather than a 4th),
but that doesn't affect the octave or re-entrant
stringing.
Monica
- Original Message -
From: bill kilpatrick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Monica Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: vihuela vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: re-entrant tuning, las sirenas, jarana
would that be something like a ukulele tuning with
an
octive g in the fourth course - GgCEA?
- bill
--- Monica Hall [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
Actually the 4-course guitar was probably often
tuned re-entrant. Mudarra
says Ha de tener bordon en la quarta - it must
have a bourdon on the
fourth course. If it always had one would he
have
thought it necessary to
mention it?
Monica
- Original Message -
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED];
[EMAIL PROTECTED];
vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 6:22 PM
Subject: re-entrant tuning, las sirenas, jarana
If we could somehow show Mudarra, Milan,
Narvaez. etc. a charango, I
doubt
if they would call it a vihuela. There was a
very small plucked
instrument
that they wrote for which had some
similarities
though. The charango is a
wonderful instrument in its own right, there's
no
need to show direct
lineage from
some European ancestor to get respect for it.
I'm
sorry I can't quite
agree
with you (yet) on this one, Bill; I always
enjoy
your posts, and you
definitely bring some fresh air to the
atmosphere
of the list.
Since the charango uses a re-entrant tuning,
it
might be a descendant of
the baroque guitar, but if it was derived from
an
instrument brought to
the
South America in the 16th cent., then
