I think that the singing is the important part here. The players then were able to sing a part song at sight, that's what all the great ones of the renassance agree on. Once you can do that, you can choose to adapt your singing--and the breathing that is part of the singing technique--to your playing. I just don't use the same breathing technique, unless I'm singing the song and playing, and even then, it is almost impossible to breathe the same way when you are holding the lute. For solos, I breathe differently, and using my singing technique doesn't work well--the big breaths move the lute too much, for one thing.
As far as the dance phrasing goes, then one has to learn a sinkapace &c as well. The intro to Heartz' book has great pictures for the dances. dt At 05:13 AM 9/28/2008, you wrote: >Ed Durbrow wrote: >>On Sep 28, 2008, at 12:53 AM, damian dlugolecki wrote: >> >>> Regular breathing is essential to maintaining composure while playing; >>> but I wonder if some of you might think about breathing in more detail >>> when learning a piece. Do you breathe differently when playing a >>> Courante than an un-measured prelude? >> >>A wonderful insight. I think the essential thing about breathing is >>the link with phrasing. All the greats keep telling us to sing. >>Must be something to it. > >My favourite example of this is "Canti di voi le ladi" on Paul & Hoppy's >DUETTI ITALIANI. I am far more singer than lutenist, and I say that >*many* singers could learn something from this performance. > >Another old saying - passed on by Paul at a small house party here in >Toronto when Crystal still lived here: Do not leave the instrument >empty! As far as I am concerned this includes maintaining a phrase >across rests. Concurrently one might speak of filling the instrument >with sound. The flip side is what Italian singing teachers might call >keeping the thread of sound. Put these together and you have a better >chance at a lively pianissimo, among other things. > >>There are other things we tend to ignore that can really help, like >>plotting the course of the left hand thumb when you are working out >>fingerings. Not to mention just being aware of the whole body and >>where tensions are. >>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 > >-- > >http://clients.teksavvy.com/~echapin >
