A bit on Treble clef vs. tab and other ramblings----- When I started to play the renaissance lute back in the winter of'75, I worked from keyboard transcriptions. I didn't read tab at the time. I saw the lines in this richly contrapuntal music and used my skills at fingering to come up with workable solutions. After learning to read tablature, I discovered that many of the composers for the lute dropped voices where I didn't in my own arrangements, Chords were voiced in different ways, etc. Each lute composer had their own unique way of doing this. Their individual approach to the music was part of their own unique style. At one time, early on, I did use guitar treble clef - but the pitch was off by a third -(or more with all the different tunings ex: lutes in A, D, etc) I figured I might as well hear the pitches that I was seeing so I turned to keyboard transcriptions - this also helped alot with my continuo playing later on. I guess you could write out lute music for guitar with the 3rd strting tuned down a half step and lots of fingerings - I got a copy of Strizich's book of deVisee to play on the baroque guitar as well as the Weiss London ms. in treble clef to play on the 13 c. lute- I have to admit that - with all the fingerings clogging up the page and the octave displacements- the experience was a bit on the frustrating side. IMHO guitarists should learn to read tablature! That would certainly open up a wealth of works for exploration. I think people like Arthur (da Milano) have helped to bring forgotten(due to the lost art of reading lute tab) lute composers to the music world. I also believe that lutenists who present works from original(or facsimile)editions have given us a closer picture of what the composer intended and heard in his head. Take Beethovan - his 9th played on the piano is like black and white compared to the orchestral rendition. He conceived it for the orchestra - battling sectional forces, antiphonal passeges etc.. Ever play Recuerdos on the piano - or imagine what it might sound like - hum........and all lutenist should learm to read modern notation as well - couldn't hurt
Salvatore Salvaggio http://www.Salvaggio.50megs.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
