Bondi', Stuart, I'm sorry you can't understand what I meant by "zig-zag" development. It's a Taoist concept that means non- linear, right? With no goal in mind, one is left simply with what is. Not so difficult to apply to cittern history, is it?
I would have only a few issues to take up with Pedro's comments and that would be the rather narrow definition of "cittern" - there are many sizes and tunings even of the Renaissance instrument. Plus, I would count the PG and the EG as citterns. As I've said many, many times, if you take a look at published works for EG, you'll find many instances of the word "cittern" in its various forms. See my article... Personally, I wouldn't consider the PG tuning as reentrant because of the octave pairs, but an arrangement of fifths and seconds is a common cittern. However, Pedro cites a nominal agd'e' tuning as standard, which is not the case: it was one of the tunings. Here's something to think about when thinking about guitars and citterns in the Renaissance period: if one were to swap around the fourth and second courses of a cittern tuned bgd'e', you'd have the top end of standard guitar tuning (reentrant). The arrangement on the cittern makes playing with a plectrum easier. The definitions Pedro gives also point to a difference in right-hand plucking technique (leaving aside use of the plectrum) - one "lute-based", the other not. This is not entirely accurate. Rutherfoord's tutor, for example, talks about thumb and index, a technique contested by Bremner, who uses it nonetheless, alongside a three-finger technique. Doc -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
