Dear Rob, Martin and All, I play about half of my Francesco pieces on a 72-cm Barber instrument (it is pictured on his Web site) and really prefer it for the "darker" pieces in keys such as G minor. Once for a Paul O'Dette master class I played No. 64 on my 78-cm bass lute, which brought a familiar smile to the master's face, as he had mused about the possibility in a previous class. The lighter, quicker pieces I prefer on my 54-cm Ray Nurse six-course. But for me the question is one of tone or feel, as the technical problems only become insuperable on lengths above 72 cm. For the record, I am 5'11", and my hands are perhaps slightly wider than average. I think width of the palm may be as important in one's ability to play larger instruments as length of fingers. Cheers, Jim From: Martin Shepherd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 2008/06/05 Thu AM 08:03:39 CDT To: Lute Net <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: string length and Francesco
Dear Rob, This is a very subjective question. Many people say they can't possibly play any of this music on a string length of more than 58cm, and that may be true for them - but I doubt it. Issues of technique and habit feature strongly. I'm sure someone will come up with a FdaM piece which can't be played on a long string length but just from memory I would say there's nothing which I would not be happy to play on a lute of about 67cm, and many pieces which would be perfectly possible on a longer lute. As you know, my hands are probably smaller than yours, so you can draw your own conclusions. Gordon liked his 68.5cm Frei (built 1992) so much he ordered another one about thirteen years later, and it interested me to compare the instruments (and my ideas about how the instrument "should" be) more than a decade on. Hearing duets played on these two lutes is fantastic.... I'm hoping to make a home recording of this in due course. Many of us with experience of these "big" lutes feel that the "left hand stretch" issue is not really a problem and the depth, sonority and flexibility of these instruments makes us wonder why people have been (and still are) obsessed with a "lute in G, 60cm". All the best, Martin Rob MacKillop wrote: >I don't have a 6c and have never read Francesco's works on such an >instrument, but I would like to know from the collective experience here at >what length of string does it become very difficult to play his works? The >lute in the portrait of him playing (if it is indeed him) seems to have >quite a long string length, and many of the 6c instruments on, for instance, >the Barber/Harris website are for very long string lengths, 72 cms or upper >60s. I vaguely recall Gordon Gregory playing me some Francesco on a >long-fingerboard lute, and it sounded beautiful. But at what string length >does it become just too awkward? Fuenllana, for instance, really requires a >short vihuela, 55 to 60 cms. Not so with Francesco? > >Rob > >-- > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG. >Version: 8.0.100 / Virus Database: 270.0.0/1484 - Release Date: 04/06/2008 >16:40 > >
