Was he that really melancholy guy? I think I asked him to play at a party
and regretted it for quite a while. Seemed to know how to tickle the gut
though.
Question to all. If thumb-under assists in playing the double courses
simultaneously and without double striking, how did the baroque lutenists
(or Dowland for that matter) avoid this problem when they switched to
thumb-out?
And thank you, Howard, for the comments.
----- Original Message -----
From: "howard posner" <[email protected]>
To: "Lute List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 8:20 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: should i learn thumb-under technique?
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.
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