On Mar 17, 2010, at 11:51 AM, morgan cornwall wrote: > I would like to make the best use of the time I have. Given my > circumstances, would you recommend that I learn thumb-under technique? > Does it make more sense to use this technique from the start, or should > I focus on the other aspects of lute technique? If I don't learn > thumb-under from the get go, will this just be more to unlearn later? > Should I not even worry about using thumb-under?
I remember some years ago, a lurker on the list named John Dowland asked if he should change from thumb-under to thumb-out technique, since everyone seemed to have been switching, and he got a mixed bag of responses. I wish I could forward them on to you, but it was more than 400 years ago and my email archives don't go back that far; Stewart McCoy probably has them. I believe Dowland made that change, or so Stobaeus tells us. As for you, you should arrange your right hand so that it's getting a full tone and not banging two strings of a course together, which in turn involves striking the string from the top, as if you're pushing them down toward the soundboard. Your guitar technique will probably not accomplish this. Resting the pinkie on the soundboard is helpful in orienting the hand, so even if it feels odd at first, you should try it. Experiment with whatever works, and don't worry too much about where your thumb is, unless it's interfering with your fingers. My first lute teacher told me to try thumb-under for at least a week or so, mostly to get me doing something different from what I was used to, the theory being, I suppose, that doing something farthest removed from my established habits would minimize the transfer of lute-inappropriate technique to the lute. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
