Dear Howard, What is the source for the theory that in Spain and its areas of influence thumb-out was the norm? As far as I am aware, certain musical sources (such as Venegas de Henestrosa) inform us of the possibility of playing in this manner, besides the thumb-under thechnique which is also acknowledged. Iconographic sources tell the same story: both techniques coexisted.
Best wishes, Antonio ----- Original Message ---- From: howard posner <[email protected]> To: Lute list <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 15 September, 2009 15:15:44 Subject: [LUTE] Re: Jan Gruter's technique On Sep 15, 2009, at 11:43 AM, [email protected] wrote: > But, I am making a basic assumption (based upon a limited amount of > reading) that a style of thumb-under technique was in general use > before a style of thumb-over technique evolved and became also > generally used. Also, that this later style did evolve at the same > time that more bass courses were being added to the lute. From > that, I've arrived at the assumption that something about the thumb- > over style made it easier to deal with the added bass courses. Here's another version of history: in the south, Spain and Italy, thumb-out was the norm as far back as anyone can tell (thus was normal when lutes had five and six courses), and the hand position spread north in the 1500' and 1600's. It may have more to do with tone than facility. I've long since forgotten the evidence for the south-to-north migration theory, BTW. > Might I ask you why you've chosen to use thumb-over as opposed to > thumb-under? Flattered that you'd ask, but the only reason is that I find it more comfortable, which is not really useful information for you. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
