Daniel,
Congrats on your new acquisition!
I prefer the sound of unisons on 5, but I admit I don't know what is HIP (my
kids will tell you that
, too :^) ). I understand the rationale for octaves on 4 in 16th c. compositions,
but I use unisons there,
as well. I like the rounder (?) timbre.
Regards,
Leonard Williams
[]
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Shoskes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 3:32 PM
Subject: 5th course: octave or unison?
> I took delivery of my brand new 8 course Frei Renaissance lute, and
> after getting it (slowly) tuned up to modern pitch, I was surprised to
> see that the 5th course was at octaves, rather than the unison I had
> seen on other lutes. I know that 6 course instruments often have the
> bottom 2 courses in octaves, but is there any musical and/or historical
> reason that would drive this decision? I find the sound with the octave
> 5th course unpleasant, especially in runs that involve it, but that may
> be more due to force of habit. In addition, this new lute has a much
> "brighter" sound than what I have been used to (may be the brand new
> strings) and the octave 2nd string seems to accentuate that.
>
> Bottom line, I plan to change to unison stringing on the 5th course, but
> are there circumstances where people prefer the octave?
>
> DS
>
>
