Oups, yet another problem, I am all thumbs it seems.
Luca and All
First, I should apologize to all left-handed players, such as Jean-
Marie, since I am going to take it for granted that all you lefties
are just mirror-image right handers, as most lutists do when talking
about left-hand and right-hand technique.
As Denys Stephens implies in his article, which I quoted previously,
much work has been done on rediscovering Renaissance right-hand
technique. I was struck by how close Jacob Heringman's hand position
is to the portrait that could be of Francesco, on Arthur's site.
However, rather less has been done on left hand techniques. It is
probable for example that where a barring can be used to avoid thumb
over, most players will do that, even if Renaissance players might
not have done so.
The reasons for this could be complex, first the neck shapes, as you
have pointed out are not always historic (guitarists have often
preferred a wider shallower neck), and do not easily allow such a
hand position. Also, Carlos Gonzales, lutemaker, suggested to the
French list that Renaissance string spacing was much narrower than is
the case at the moment.
Then most specialist Renaissance lute players, such as JH play
various lute sizes from 6c to 10c. They can maintain the same right
hand movement, with slight variation, but going even from a 6c to a
7c would radically change left hand technique. Some lutists have even
suggested that thumb-over would have stopped with the change from 5c
to 6c lutes. Personally, I think the change would have been
progressive, and probably the technique would have coexisted with
barring on 6c lutes.
A further reason could be that most players think that while the
historic right hand technique improves projection and effects the
pulse of the music, historic left hand technique would not make all
that much difference to the music produced. I think the difference
between Baroque and Renaissance right-hand technique would have have
a greater effect than any left hand shift, but I do think that the
early Renaissance left hand technique could effect speed and pulse to
a certain extent. Denys Stephens would be able to discuss this
better, as I believe he sometimes uses both these techniques.
Many lutists are also ex-classical guitarists, and the thumb-over is
almost considered as vulgar and popular in the worse sense, rather
than somehow being seen as folk musicians having carried on older
techniques, that were not in the least scorned in the past. Denys
rather thinks that thumb-over is a "natural " way of playing if
barring does not become essential.
Barring might become essential in chordal music, but not at all
natural in a polyphonous music.
The Hungarian psycholinguist, Ivan Fonagy, developed a theory of the
Semiotics of secondary speech features, in which he claimed that any
vocal gesture that is not an essential functional part of a language
tends take on a symbolic interpretation. Thus lip-rounding, in a
language that does not use lip-rounding significantly, is often
interpreted as mouthing the shape of a kiss (a problem for English
speakers, particularly men, when learning the French front rounded
vowels), while the very wide-open back vowels of Standard British
English (as in "car") are often shunned by French women students, who
have always learnt to speak with the most closed vowels possible
(widely opening the mouth even to laugh, can be considered
unacceptable in some cultures, where women may even cover their mouth
"politely" while laughing).
Fonagy suggested that rolling the Rs in a language that no longer has
the rolled R, could be associated with rudely poking out the tongue,
or as an expression of rustic virility, while replacing the R with W,
or dropping it completely, a sign of extreme effectedness (Les
"Incoyables" (Fr. Incroyables) of the French Directoire, c.1800).
Thus wiggling your thumb at the audience over the top of your lute
neck for a musician for whom this is not part of his lute culture,
could also take on some similar gestural role, that somehow is just
rather difficult to come to terms with.
Finally, for this sort of left hand technique to be resurrected we
would need players to specialize in 5c and 6c music to the exception
of anything else.
Regards
Anthony
Le 7 nov. 07 à 08:42, Luca Manassero a écrit :
Dear Collective Wisdom,
thank you to absolutely everybody who contributed to this
discussion! It has been very interesting to read all opinions and
to see all those great details from Arthur's and Jean-Marie sites.
I am now more than convinced that the lutemaker was right follwoign
Dieffopruchar's measures, but then I am also sincerely concerned
with our habit to play Renaissance lute music mostly on a 7- or 8-
course lute. The point being not only the stringing, which tends to
double courses 4-6 at the unison, but also the hand position on a
much "thinner" neck.
I believe everybody needs to meet not only a good, but a great
lutemaker to be able to discuss forms and measures of her/his
instrument.
The more time I spend on Italian Renaissance lute music, the more I
believe that that music REQUIRES a 6-course instrument. Travelling
around with an 8-course can be obviously a necessity (Hopkinson
Smith does it for instance, as far as I could see) or an economical
choice, but as far as the XVI century repertoire is concerned all
details, even the iconography we just examined, seem to lead to the
obvious decision that a 6-course instrument is a MUST.
Many thanks again to you all,
Luca
http://liuti.manassero.net
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