Dear Stuart and All,
Stuart Walsh wrote:
<snip>
For example, in bar15 there is a simple 8-note run: G in the bass
(and on fourth course) and the run starts on d (second course): d, c,
b flat, a, b flat, c, d, e. Practicing this slowly and carefully is
OK, I suppose. But I can play it. I'm sure we can all play it! And
there are no other issues about this little passage. Any lute player
must have played this run a million times. So the question is: how
could you get from this point to the unusual and extraordinary point
where you are playing this much, much faster?
The second half of bar 15, going into bar 16, looks like this:
________________________
__a___________a_c_|_d___
____d_b_a_b_d_____|_a___
__c_______________|_____
__________________|_c___
__a_______________|_____
The first thing I note is that the chord can cause problems for the
following run because the RH index finger has to jump immediately from
the 4th course to the 3rd course. There's nothing we can do about this
except be aware of it (sorry, I guess this is a bit Zen!) but it helps
if you play the notes of the chord exactly together - a general
principle that whenever you have a chord followed by a fast run, don't
spread the chord (apart from anything else, it will mess up the rhythm).
The second thing is that the LH first finger should already be on b1
when the chord is played so that it is already there when we get to the
third note of the passage. Apart from preparing that note, it also
seems to help mentally if you imagine that finger staying there except
for a brief lift-off to play the open string (Zen again). A better
example of this principle is bar 20 (2=crotchet, 3=quaver):
2 3
____a__c_a___a___a_____a_________a__
___________e_______e_c___e_c_e_|____
_b_____________________________|_b__
_______________e_______________|_c__
_______________________________|____
_______________________________|____
Once the 4th finger goes down on e2 (note 5) it should stay down until
it has to be lifted for the c2 (note 10). When the 3rd finger goes down
on the e4 the 1st finger should also go down and stay down until the end
of the bar. Doing this thoroughly may cause some ringing on of notes
but at this speed it might be better to put up with that than
scrupulously lifting and replacing fingers (being "holier than the Pope"
as our German friends say).
The same sort of pattern a tone lower is very common, with the notes all
on one string:
______________________
__d_c_d_c_d_c_a_c_|_d_
__________________|___
__________________|___
__________________|___
__________________|___
Here (assuming you're using 4th finger for the d2 and 2nd finger for the
c2) both fingers go down at the beginning and the 2nd finger stays down
throughout, except for a brief lift to accommodate the open string.
This is probably not news to the advanced players among you, but I
thought it was worth spelling out for anyone who hasn't caught up with
it yet.
Best wishes,
Martin
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