David,
If you ever wanted to make an instructional video demonstrating all five
techniques, it would be a great one.
Stephen
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Tayler" <vidan...@sbcglobal.net>
To: "lute-cs.dartmouth.edu" <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 4:06 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Thumb-under . . always?
I think there really is no thumb under and over.
There are however
Thumb "in"--the thumb is inside the hand'' NB: just as it was called back
then
Thumb "in tips up" the finger tips are higher
Thumb "out & stretched"--thumb must be like a bow NB specifically
described historically
Thumb "out"--not like a bow, more relaxed
Thumb "middle"--this is "over" in the sense that it is directly over
the first finger, however, it would be confusing to term it this way.
Obviously, there are a thousand variations on these, but this is a
good starting point.
To just start at "over" and "under" will just create technique
problems becuase you may get stuck or wobble between different positions.
Each of these produces a very distinctive and different sound.
Also, because the historical positions are not accurately described,
they have fallen out of use.
I use all five of these depending on the instrument and the repertory.
dt
At 07:09 AM 7/31/2009, you wrote:
On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 3:56 PM, <nedma...@aol.com> wrote:
> when the index finger strikes the string, it ends its
> =A0 stroke under and behind the thumb, before returning to its starting
> =A0 position in front of the thumb.
There are many ways of looking at it. Some suggestions, others will
give more, so take your pick.
A relaxed hand has thumb under index. Try without a lute. Aim for a
relaxed hand when playing.
Place thumb between index and middle finger. (Yes, fig-sign.) Unbend
fingers, don't overdo the strechting, remember to relax. Good lute
playing hand.
Do the plucking movement with your under-arm, bit of wrist, very litle
bit of finger. So index-to-thumb position does change but little
during plucking.
After plucking thumb, don't 'move it back' to starting position, but
let plucking motion (under-arm) for index take your hand and hence
thumb back to starting point.
Play slowly, concentrate on relaxing and erradicating superfluous
movements=
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