On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 6:01 PM, vance wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It is not difficult to assume that as more strings are added that, of > necessity, they would, or should have to be of lesser tension else the > instrument would implode under the combined pressure of additional courses. Not to pretend to know more, but I think it's true the construction of instruments changed with the addition of strings. Hence the foundation of your theory might be false. > We often make assumptions > based on our ability, or inability, to duplicate what we believe to be > factual. [...] > We should attempt to get the best sound > out of the instrument and strings we have beneath our fingers at the moment. The point in hip-playing is not to find to the best sound we are happy with today, but to find the best sound the old ones might have been happy with back then. Tune your ears to what they might have liked. I have some hands-on experience with what we in the West would call ethnic music. It's surprising to see what other people think is a beautiful sound. I take that as a sobering lesson for my 'historical' lute playing. What we think is "the best sound ... at the moment", to quote you but slightly out of context, might be far off the mark if attempting to recreate a hip-sound. Not saying you are wrong, I suppose what you are describing is what I'm doing for a living most of the time, but just to have a reality check. Think of bray harps, sawari in Japanese music (sorry, my hobby horse neighing), krumhorns, &c. Beauty is not a universal concept, taste does change over time. David ******************************* David van Ooijen [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
