Dear Andrew,
Yes, theoretically. But meantone's saving grace on the ren lute is that
the "keys" of G, C, and their minors use much of the same keyboard so
you don't really have to change any fret positions (mostly white keys
on the piano w/ a few Bb's and Cb's). So you're essentially safe in 85%
of the music --w/ a few exceptions of course.
But. When you move to a key in A or Amin, E and Emin, Fmin and Bbmin,
then things start to get wonky (ie, a lot of flats or sharps).
Think about that 1st course, 1st fret. If you're playing an Ab on it
you're ok for most of the rep. If you need to play a G# that means the
fret has to be in the other position (closer to the nut: the tastini
position). Same goes for 2nd course, 1st fret: if you're playing an Eb,
that's fine usually but if it needs to be a D# you have to put the fret
in the tastini position again.
I know this is a generalized way of looking at only one small aspect of
meanton on the lute. And I don't mean this at all to be applicable to
the baroque lute whatsoever. I hope this helps in some small way.
Sean
On May 13, 2008, at 8:13 AM, Andrew Gibbs wrote:
The whole idea of moveable frets allowed relatively easy shifts
between temperaments? e.g. mid-concert between a suite of pieces in
one key and the next suite in another?
Andrew
On 13 May 2008, at 15:52, guy_and_liz Smith wrote:
Not necessarily. When I changed my alto from equal temperament to
sixth
comma meantone, the frets were fine after the shift. You aren't really
moving them all that much for sixth comma. I've never tried quarter
comma,
so I can't say how that would affect fretting.
Guy
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