Thinner strings of the earlier lute, lighter tension leave a little chance of producing timbrally rich and interesting sound, with any sort of body to it, without being able to push away from something. A tense wrist - arm muscles are in no way a solution, so grounding the little finger (either quite permanently or at the moment of plucking) allows for support while keeping the arm relaxed. Anyone who will attempt to produce any sort of volume close to the bridge with fingers moving along the string without anchoring against the lute plate or the bridge, will realize this immediately. The sound production is what counts first of all in use of this "unnecessary technique". With the later lutes and strings growing in diameter and tension, or the mass (the length) somewhat different needs arise. However, even on a guitar of the classical period, with its' 7 newtons of tension on the top string, the performers being appreciated for the best sound, like Aguado and Giuliani were t! he ones lodging their pinkie to the bridge and the top, respectively. The speed and "a proper" accentuation of the running notes, are just additional part of it. They are not determining the need for support. al ray
On Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:36:36 -0400 "Mayes, Joseph" <[email protected]> wrote: > I think that the "little finger down" thing has become a religion, these > days. It is likely that there were as many styles of play as there were > players in the "old times." It's interesting that not all surviving > instruments have the "smudge." Were they cleaned up? Were they repaired with > new soundboards? Were they played without that pinky on the face? > > Guitarists do not play with the pinky on the face and play fairly fast and > acurately. It seems a somewhat unnecessary bit of the "Orthodox Lute > technique." > > Just my $.02 > > Joseph Mayes To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
