Dear Andrew > instrument was made for: A, E, C, G, D, A; but am curious if there are
You have a 6-course renaissance lute, tuned (top to bottom) g' d' a f c G or one tone up a' e' b g d A. Considering the string length, you're probably better off tuning it in a'. Most notated music will presume a lute tuned in g', but as long as you're playing by yourself nobody will be bothered. If you feel the strings are a bit tense at 440Hz, tune it down half a tone to 415Hz, live with it a couple of days and then decide if you're happier with it at the lower pitch/lower string tension. These are personal matters, so no one can give you really good advice but yourself. If you have no clue and are an absolute nove, just go with what the maker or former owner adviced and live with that for a while till you have developped some taste and sensetivity to these matters yourself. Feel free to call you're lute an alto lute, but most lute players would refer to it as an a'-lute, I think, or just mention the string length. I have a 6-course at 54cm, usually tuned in a' = 440 or 415hz, whatever is in demand. I tend to change the strings when changing pitch, as the instrument seems happier when I do. Lately I've been playing music on it at 466Hz, so I called it a g'-lute at 466, though you might just as well call it an a'-lute at 415Hz. What's in a name. For a project in September I need something small enough to take as hand luggage on a plane, and in 440hz, so I just tuned it down half a tone and am learning to live with it as a g'-lute at 440Hz. Some rattling still, but it must be my heavy thumb. ;-) As long as you're playing from tablature, and most if not all literature for your instrument will be 16th century music written in various types of tablature, you can tune or call it to whatever pitch you like, as long as you keep the intervals between the strings constant. This might upset your guitar friends, but if they're clever they'll just tune up the third course half a step, play Stairway to Heaven and Dust in the Wind, after which you can tune the third course down again and return to Dalza, Francesco and Dowland. Happy playing 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
