Is there any historic evidence of such silk twist strings. There is no obvious reason why they might not have existed.
Two days ago I heard a group performing Spinacino 'intabulatura', but in an unusual formation of young players with three lutes and one Rebec, called the Ensemble Incontro. Two of the lutes were being plectrum played. I was, nevertheless, struck by the sweetness of the lutes in contrast with the Rebec. I found this a pleasant contrast, but it also made me wonder whether the Renaissance and earlier lutes had always been played so sweetly, or whether a more rasping sound might not have been appreciated. During the musical performance, slides of renaissance lutes were constantly projected, and unless there was some particular attempt at exaggerated perspective, it looked as though the necks of the lutes were extremely narrow in relation to the rather round bodies. I wonder whether strings might not have clashed frequently, perhaps it might even have been sought after, Shamisen-like, as a particular effect. Carlos Gonzales, lute maker also remarked on this. In an informal message to the French lute list, he noted that original Renaissance instruments had their courses so close together, that he suspected that they must have been obliged to play very near the bridge, which would have given a harsher sound (but of course paintings tend to show the right hand nearer the rose, however if this leads to clashing strings, the result might have been just as "harsh"). C.G. also noted that Flamenco players during the XXth century have moved to a position closer to the rose, in what he considers is a search for a sweeter purer sound, while he thinks the ancients sought for a harsher tone and a very marked attack with sharp parasitic sounds, a change in aesthetics in effect. I have taken a few pieces from C.G.'s informal message and translated, the elements that fit in with what I was saying above. Thus, please do not consider this as a quotable position put forward by Carlos. It really is my loose interpretation of his words. Denys Stephens, in message to me about "thumb-over", also noted that the narrow neck could well have been intended to allow the continued practice of "thumb-over", which I believe may have been carried over from Oud playing. Thumb-over is another practice often found in folk music traditions that enjoy this harsher aesthetic. Regards Anthony le 12 févr. 07 à 11:19, LGS-Europe a écrit : > Sawari on lute! :-) > > Ah, the sound of shami! I'll take mine out to play again, it's been > a while. > Thanks for the incentive. > > BTW, many modern shami-strings are made of nylon, with the same yellow > colour as the silk ones, so be sure to have a silk one if that's > what you're > after. I have both, but the silk ones have more depth and > personality in > tone. A bit like comparing nylon and gut on a lute. These strings > will sound > at very low to very high tensions, as a shamisen will be tuned up > and and > down a lot; even within a piece the tuning can change. The twang is > part of > the sound of shami, as it is of biwa. For those not familiar with > these > instruments: both plucked instruments are designed to give buzzing > sounds of > strings rattling against the neck. It's called sawari and highly > prized. The > nut on a shamisen has room for two strings only, the third and > lowest one is > left to rattle against the neck. This third string will even buzz > when not > played. Modern shamisen have a device to adjust the level of rattling. > Compare blues or flamenco guitar playing, where the playing sounds > are part > of the expression and no effort should be made to play absolutely > cleanly. > > I wrote a little introduction to Japanese strings: > http://home.planet.nl/~d.v.ooijen/sashimisen/things_japanese/ > strings_f.html > > (Or got to www.davidvanooijen.nl and choose the sashimisen pages. > There's a > section called Things Japanese with a few more of my hobby horses. > See for > example a bachi used on a violin ... ) > > David > > > **************************** > David van Ooijen > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.davidvanooijen.nl > **************************** > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ed Durbrow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "LuteNet list" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 9:30 AM > Subject: [LUTE] Re: shamisen string > > >> In case anyone is interested, I took a picture of the shamisen string >> I put on my Ren lute. I put up an MP3 audio comparison with a gut >> string too. >> >> http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/shamisenstring.html >> >> >> On Feb 8, 2007, at 2:13 AM, Ed Durbrow wrote: >> >>> I tried a shamisen string on my Ren lute's 5th course. I was >>> pleasantly surprised. It is slightly twangy-er than the gut but >>> that could be due to lighter tension. It sounds close to a plain >>> gut to my ear so far. I left one gut on there at the same pitch. >>> >>> The 5th course is always the troublesome course for me. Metal wound >>> are just so intrusive, but gut is so thick and flabby that the >>> pitch drops noticeably after the initial attack. The shamisen >>> string seemed not to. We'll see about the tuning. Just having that >>> one course gut is a major pain. I spend all my time tuning that one >>> course. I have Nylgut and two overspuns for the rest. I'm hoping to >>> eliminate the overspuns. I must investigate more. Maybe I can find >>> a nice thick shamisen string. I don't know how I can find the >>> tension. These strings are made of silk, by the way, and are bright >>> yellow. >>> >>> I've been meaning to build a string tester/stretcher like I saw a >>> long time ago in Lyn Elder's workshop. It would be just one peg two >>> nut/bridges that the string would go over. One could move the >>> bridges to the appropriate mensuration, tie whatever weight you >>> want to the end of the string for the prescribed tension and see >>> what pitch it settles into. >>> cheers, >>> >>> Ed Durbrow >>> Saitama, Japan >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/ >>> >>> >> >> 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 >> > > >
