Very interesting to read. Thanks.
Some thoughts:
Is the repertoire mainly, single line folk tunes?
Do they have accompaniment from other instruments or do other
Waldzithers provide accompaniment?
Do they mainly in C (and F)?
Do they play in ensembles (of Waldzithers)?
What do you think they thought of your input on 18th century citterns?
What were the two 18th century citterns that the participants brought
along like? Were they dated?
doc rossi wrote:
Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Second Waldzither
Symposium, held in Suhl, a small town in the middle of the Thuringia
forest of eastern Germany. It was organized by Martina Rosenberger.
There were about 70 people there (as far as I could tell), mostly
from Germany, with a few from other European countries. I was the
only non-European, but as I live in Italy I guess that doesn't really
count.
For those of you who don't know, the Waldzither is a 19th-century
cittern that continues to be played in Germany. There is a similar
instrument in Switzerland, too. There are three sizes these days - a
small one and a larger one, both tuned in G, and a mandola-sized one
in C (by far the most popular). Each has five courses - four pairs
and one single bass. C instruments are tuned C G C E G (low to
high); G instruments G D G B D, the larger pitched lower than the C
tuning, the smaller higher. The smallest instrument is about the
size of a mandolin, the larger like a mandocello or octave mandolin.
I gather that the larger one is a relatively new addition to the family.
Things started off Friday evening with a general meeting about what
would be happening when. It was great to walk into a room full of
citterns, many of them from the 1920s, and of citternists and cittern
builders - most of them much younger! The average age of players is
relatively high, but there were quite a few younger players, too.
The Friday evening session was pretty informal, with some jamming and
teaching and general exchanges and greetings. There were six
different workshops on Saturday morning, including sessions on
different playing styles - with fingers, finger picks, and a flat
pick. I managed to stick my head into the following: Willi Schampera
demonstrated techniques taught in tutors from the 1910s to the
1930s. This includes more or less typical fingerpicking but also
playing almost everything with the thumb. A lot of the music he
demonstrated reminded me of Sor's - well-constructed miniatures in an
early 19th-century style, and actually not too different from other
parlor music. Jean-Pierre van dem Boom demonstrated his Scruggs-
based fingerpicking style with metal fingerpicks. Waldzither tuning
is similar to the basic 5-string banjo tuning except that the fifth
string is two octaves lower. I've been playing melodic style (Keith,
Trishka) cittern without picks for years, so I was quite interested
to see and hear what Jean-Pierre was doing. He did it all on a C
instrument. Uli Otto talked about older German songs and also showed
how he has adapted the modern celtic style to this music and tuning,
transforming it into something new. Joachim Rosenbrueck demonstrated
some very flashy flat picking and shared ideas about how the
waldzither can be used in contemporary music. My own session dealt
with 18th-century right-hand technique and the use of campanelle.
After lunch a group of us got together to try out some new
instruments designed and built by Steffen Milbradt. He made
instruments in the three sizes I mentioned above with two different
tops - one group had an arched top, the other had a three-piece top
with joints angled to form an arch. There were no top braces on the
latter instruments, the stress being taken up by the three-piece
structure. All of the instruments were much deeper than traditional
instruments - about 10cm. We all agreed that the three-piece
instruments had more projection and a rounder tone than the arched
ones. Compared to traditional designs, his instruments had a weaker
bass, which I find is typical of arched instruments anyway. They did
sound very good in an ensemble and were all quite playable,
especially considering that they were also all prototypes. There
were several other makers in attendance, too, so we all had a chance
to try out their instruments as well as several from the early 20th
century.
Saturday evening there was a concert with several different
performers in several styles. I won't go into details but will only
say that it was a great evening with a lot of fine music. German TV
station 2DF (ZDF) taped the first half, and I gather that a snippet
was broadcast last Friday evening. Another station (MDR) did some
taping on Sunday morning, too.
Sunday morning began with a meeting about producing a modern tutor/
method book specifically for the waldzither. Steffen
