Gracias Alfonso, I'm afraid you've got me wrong here. I'm not interested in learning positions only, as I haven't done that either playing XVI th century music. I was wondering if some fellow player has done a systematic work writing down things in a practical way. As you may know, jazz players do take care of voice leading too, in a different way. It is not about playing a chord here or there according to their will. In that respect there're a few common elements.
As you may have read, I'm only interested in a certain repertoire, and I do not expect to become a continuo player in the next future. I'm involved with other repertoires, but I thought it would be good to get familiar with this sort of things too. I'm familiar with g' tunning, know where the notes are, know how things occur in counterpoint terms, so theorbo or guitar I'm afraid I'll keep them aside. In any case, thanks for your comments. I'll see if I get along with it. Salud, Ariel. > Dear Ariel, > > I think that you starting up from a wrong concept. Playing continuo is > not about learning positions for chords but reading a bass and adding the > right harmonies to it as a result of counterpoint and correct voice > leading. If you think in "chords positions" like jazz players do, you > are going to create poor voice-leading and many parallel harmonies. You > will have to be able to develop a very good sense of harmony for each > time and style. Learn early Baroque harmony and counterpoint to start > with (very much different than the "standard" xviii century harmony we > learn in the conservatory) and then apply this knowledge to find the > right connexions of chords indicated by the bass (and cyphers when > present). That is the way to go. With time it will come automatically. > Playing continuo on the lute, archlute or theorbo is a very different > matter as playing chords in baroque guitar style. > I wish you lots of success in your new endeavor, > Many greetings, > > Alfonso > > To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
