On Jun 15, 2009, at 4:51 PM, Michael wrote: > I've played > the guitar for 30 years and the thumb-under technique looks to me to > be a tortured anachronism,
I don't think it's tortured, though I don't play that way myself. "Anachronism" in this context is a pretty strange word choice. > But Douglas Alton Smith > mentions thumb-under as falling out of dominance in the late 1500s... > I can see how thumb-under might be appropriate for some music (the > Capirola lute book specifically mentions the technique), but for later > music I'm not so sure. It's serviceable for a lot of music. I knew a player who did almost exclusively continuo, mostly 18th-century, and liked thumb in (under) because it brought his thumb closer to the bridge and thus gave more of an edge to the bass strings. > And for any music I'm inclined to think that > whatever technique lets the player comfortably play is "good enough", Within limits, I suppose this is true. If your technique makes heavy use of your feet or mouth, or both, you might want to re-examine that premise. > but that doesn't seem to be the majority opinion. It's the majority view among those who don't have really inflexible opinions about how other people should play. On the whole, I think Chris Wilke's remarks earlier today are fairly mainstream, except for the part about "there's no such thing as a single lute." None of my lutes are married. > I'm never sure where these discussions lie on the line between > 'academic' and 'practical'. I'd hate to think that someone might be > turned away from lute playing not for lack of appreciating the music > but for simply not wanting (or being able) to execute the currently > fashionable playing technique. I imagine I'll be hung for such > heresies eventually. But I have lived a rich full life and I regret > nothing. :) Thumb in and thumb out have been peacefully coexisting for 30 years or more. When I started going to LSA seminars in the mid-80's the Great Thumb Debate was long over, and discussion was about what the relative advantages and disadvantages of each were. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
