It sounds like their approach to improvisation would be similar to a jazz soloist. More modal and "bass/chord of the moment" based and less scalar. I studied jazz harmony in school but not much traditional harmony -- I did do some work with figured bass so I'll work on that a bit. Thanks. Arto W has a nice doc on continuo that helped refresh my memory. Still, I've got to believe there were purely technical exercises for lutenists in the Renaissance -- based around their conception of harmony and modes? From a sight reading point of view, it would be helpful to have some technical facility beyond pieces you've currently played. You can't prepare for everything, and just playing other people's pieces seems a bit too limited. Anyway, I'll look through the trebles.
Thanks to all who replied. --- Stewart McCoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Chris, > > Fortunately we lutenists do not learn scales as other > instrumentalists do. > > Why do other musicians practise scales? > > 1) technical reasons - to get the fingers of both hands moving > correctly; > 2) musical reasons - to learn about keys and harmony. > > If one's aim is the first, it would be as useful and far more fun to > play a few Trebles by John Johnson; if it is the second, it would be > better to study a bit of figured bass. > > Musicians in the renaissance and baroque period didn't think about > music theory in quite the same way as we do. They learned music > through hexachords, i.e. overlapping six-note scales, not eight note > scales. They had a wide range of modes - far more interesting than > the straight-jacket of our major and minor scales. > > Stewart McCoy. > > > ===== web: http://www.christopherschaub.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
