Sorry to be so long getting back to Stuart's questions... > > Is the repertoire mainly, single line folk tunes?
Well, that depends. The older books (early 20th century) are full of miniatures in a more-or-less classical style, like I mentioned. A lot of people there were doing a combination of chording and single lines, but there were several fingerstylists, too. > > Do they have accompaniment from other instruments or do other > Waldzithers provide accompaniment? There were a lot of groups of waldzithers - 2, 3, 4 - sometimes the same size, sometimes different sizes. Martina, for example, plays a big one in G to accompany others in C or the smaller G instrument. There was a duo who did some nice twin picking on two C instruments. There was another group of 3 citterns, a mandolin and a lute-guitar (great singers, too). > > Do they mainly in C (and F)? On C instruments, yes, and many people use a capo. One fella had his C instrument tuned in A and capoed a lot. Mine is in Bb. Uli Otto plays in minor keys and modes quite a bit. > > Do they play in ensembles (of Waldzithers)? see above... > > What do you think they thought of your input on 18th century citterns? Well, I think a fair number of people were interested - the second workshop had twice as many people in it. People were curious about everything to do with citterns, so it's not surprising that they would also take an interest in a distant cousin. There are some important differences between the two instruments: Waldzithers have 5 rather than 6 courses, are more heavily built, and are strung with a higher tension. All of this makes playing 18th-century cittern music challenging, especially playing with fingers, without nails. > > What were the two 18th century citterns that the participants brought > along like? Were they dated? My memory is fading, but I think they were both L&B instruments. I couldn't spot any dates. Both had been restored, and without having the opportunity to really scrutinize, I can only say that structurally they seemed fine. However, neither was really set up to play - the wrong strings, very high action. They were both very quiet compared to my Preston, too. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
