Hi, There was a system where a string went between the lute's body and the player's body, ie on the side of the ribs, and tied to the lute on two buttons, one where usual, the other on the opposite side. This string was used to 'hang' the instrument from one of the buttons belonging to the player's vest. Another system consists in using a chamois, or sort of, between the lute and your body, to avoid the slipping. This is a normal system, quite widely used. The most important point to remember is: NEVER USE THE LEFT HAND TO HOLD THE INSTRUMENT. You can seriously injure yourself, as I learned myself the hard way. The lute must be in its correct position nearly by itself, so to say. Straps are therefore unavoidable. The bigger the lute the more complicated must be the straps system, or bigger your experience. In the beginning it is difficult to hold it because we tend to use a muscular tension that is really unnecesary. The learning experience consists in learning to relax...
Saludos from Barcelona, Manolo Laguillo Hopkinson Smith uses two straps, one above the shoulder, the other one under himself (he sits on it). Pascale Boquet plays standing (with a strap, of course), and encourages her students to do the same. This was recently explained in the french lute list. Katherine Davies wrote: >There are lots of renaissance pictures of people >playing lutes while standing up without any sign of a >strap. Does anyone do this? Any ideas on how - or if - >it could be done? > >I'm not having a go at strap-users; I'm just a bit >puzzled - I have enough trouble keeping the thing in >place when I'm sitting down. > >thanks, >Katherine Davies > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > --
