On Aug 30, 2005, at 1:01 PM, jim abraham wrote: > A lot is made about using the right lute for the > job: 8-10 course lute for Dowland,
That should be 7 to 9 course. > If you're playing the cello suites, it's > no more authentic to play them on the lute than the CG -- is it > easier? I think it IS more authentic since there are contemporary examples in tablature of Bach's music and the CG as we know it didn't exist then. > Or, > in the long run, is it simply easier (though not as musically > "pure") for > the amateur to learn just the one instrument which, though a > compromise, > gives access to the whole repertoire? I think you will have to make a choice for your first instrument: Renaissance or Baroque. All things being equal Renaissance would be a bit cheaper, if that is your concern. There is enough music available for you to, as Anthony Rooley puts it, play a different masterpiece every day of your life. If you wanted the whole gamut, you could get an archlute, but in the end you would find it peculiar to play early 16th century music on a 17th century instrument, especially if you don't have Shakil O'Neal sized hands. I too thought like you at the beginning, and had a ten course thinking I could play the whole Renaissance repertoire. I damned near ruined my hands trying to play chromatic fantasies on a 66mm string length. There is just no getting around the fact that the lute spans many centuries and encompasses an instrument that changed a lot over that time. You might be surprised how you don't feel limited once you get one instrument and focus on the repertoire intended for it. There is a lot of music with a lot of variety within each subspecies. You might look at it as a long term project. Spend a few years exploring one repertoire on one instrument and then when you can get another, explore that. > One more thing: I plan to talk to my teacher about this, but how > does one > incorporate music theory in lute instruction? I've played piano in > the past, > and the concepts (intervals especially) seem easier to comprehend > using > musical notation. So what is the problem? You just learn where the notes are on the lute just like you would on any instrument. G'luck! Ed Durbrow Saitama, Japan [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
