Dear Martyn, Thanks. I agree you don't hear many people playing the outermost notes of chords before the inner ones, or indeed simply the top note before the lower ones.
Recently Robert Barto gave a very interesting talk to the Lute Society about whether and where Weiss used his ring finger - what is so interesting is that it seems he may have used it very rarely, and not in many of the places where we would be tempted to use it. He demonstrated very effectively that in rapid arpeggios, using the first finger for successive notes (going down) worked very well and gave a particular articulation which could not be reproduced by using all three fingers. It made me want to look back at E & D Gaultier, Mouton, etc. and see how they must have played all those 4-note chords without using the ring finger. We so much take it for granted that a 4-note chord (or arpeggio) is played with the thumb and the three fingers that we tend to forget that people in the past did things differently. I think it is an important issue because it has very significant musical implications (Kapsberger being another case which comes to mind, keeping his ring finger resting on the soundboard!). Just for the record, the Le Roy instructions describe playing two notes in succession with the index finger (higher note first) when playing a five- or six-note chord - e.g., G major, a1a2c3c4a6 would be played thumb on a6, then index on c3, then index on c4, then middle on a2, then ring on a1. The six-note version would involve playing the bottom two notes with the thumb, then proceeding as above, or, as I like to do, both, to get seven notes: thumb a6, thumb c5, thumb c4, index c3, index c4, middle a2, ring a1. Best wishes, Martin ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 1:19 PM Subject: Re: Rubato and rolling chords > > > > Martin, > > A common feature found in many early instructions for the 'baroque' lute > is > to play the bass and highest note concurrently (with 1st finger) and then > continue to draw the finger across the strings (ie towards the bass) in a > stroking fashion; sometimes it is suggested that the 2nd finger continues > this stroking to further emphasise the highest note. It's always puzzled > me why so few contemporary players employ this, apparently, common early > approach. Incidentally, I know of no early instructions which indicate > 'rolling' of chords in the modern manner (altho' I confess to doing this > myself at times -esp in continuo play). > > Some of the renaissance lute instructions also seem to indicate a similar > technique (is it in 'Varietie' or am I thinking of Barley or Morley? - I > don't have copies top hand). > > rgds > > Martyn > > > > > "Martin > Shepherd" To: "Lute Net" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED] cc: > hop.co.uk> Subject: Re: Rubato and > rolling chords > > 31/10/2004 > 15:13 > Please > respond to > "Martin > Shepherd" > > > > > > Dear Stewart, > > You said: > >> I sympathise with Oscar Gighlia's unhappiness at being told how to >> play by his duet partner. One's performance is very much a personal >> thing, and there are times when we might resent others interfering. >> In a successful duet partnership there has to be a certain amount of >> give and take. I don't know the circumstances, of course, but it is >> possible that Gighlia's playing might have benefited from listening >> to what his partner had to say. >> > You and I have played together a lot over the years so I just thought > everyone would be interested to know how much I agree with your last > sentence here. There are many times when we have debated an issue (like > whether or not to roll a chord) and experimented with it, and come to a > consensus, and learned something in the process. When people play > together, > they should really leave their egos at home. > > On the rolling of chords/rubato issue, what are your thoughts on the > opening > bar of Lachrimae? The chord must be rolled (I'm assuming a version witha > 5- > or 6-note chord) - we would like the bass note to be on the beat (well it > is > anyway because it's the first note of the piece) but the top note of the > chord is the first note of the melody and we would like that to be on the > beat, too. So when do we play the second melody note? Do we effectively > cut the dotted note slightly shorter to compensate? Sorry, everyone, I'm > sure Stewart will explain it better than I can. > > Best wishes, > > Martin > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > The information in this email (and any attachment) may be for the > intended recipient only. If you know you are not the intended recipient, > please do not use or disclose the information in any way and please > delete this email (and any attachment) from your system. > > Service of legal documents is not accepted by email > ________________________________________________________________________ > > >
