I think he said this was from the Browne (formerly called the Braye)
bandora manuscript. Lyle Nordstrom in his book on bandora says it was
owned by Robert Spencer, contains lyra viol music, and most of the
bandora music is parts to the consorts. The titles are the usual:
Dowland, Peter Phillips, quadro, Richard Allison, Delight Pavan, etc.
Nancy
Very interesting example Stuart: where's it from? Is it one of the
transcriptions from a lute source?
My comment about the bandora repertoirs being manageable with a
string length in the 70s wouldn't seem to include this example -
which is indeed tricky! As you say it might be a singular anomaly:
perhaps a literal intabluation error - indeed, it's odd that it
wasn't all intabulated in the 5th 'position' [ie 1f, 3f, 4h chord
shape as found in Holborne pieces] - maybe the voice leading?.
I've just skimmed the Holborne and Barley pieces and Dd.2.11 but
couldn't spot it there, but maybe the skimming was too light.....
M
--- On Tue, 14/6/11, Stuart Walsh <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Stuart Walsh <[email protected]>
Subject: [LUTE-BUILDER] Re: bandora tunes
To: "Nancy Carlin" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Martyn Hodgson" <[email protected]>, "Lute Net"
<[email protected]>, "Lute builder Dmth"
<[email protected]>, "Cittern Dmth"
<[email protected]>
Date: Tuesday, 14 June, 2011, 22:27
On 14/06/2011 20:08, Nancy Carlin wrote:
I think it is now common knowledge among the few people who
build
orpharions and bandoras that the bridges should be tapered
higher
off the belly on the bass side. Here is a link to some
details on
the Palmer orphario (the 9 course instrument in Denmark).
[1][1] http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm
Unfortunately the bridge is a replacement. If you read the
pamphlet
on wire strings that the Lute Society (England) puts out
you will
see that the Rose orpharion also has a replacement bridge.
About the tension on my 2 orpharions - my 6 course Rose
(built by
Peter Biffin in 1984) feels like it has a bit more tension,
and I am
very happy with the intonation. My 9 course Palmer (built
by Bruce
Brook in 2009) has lots more strings and the tension feels
lighter.
During the year + I have had it, the intonation problems
have
improved with a combination of string changes and my
improved skill
in getting my left hand fingers where they needed to be for
this
instrument, plus I got a better tuner. On the Palmer, I
had
initially tried an octave on the 6th course, but if the 2
different
strings were pulled slightly off, the intonation was much
more
offensive than with unison strings. Both instruments have
a tastini
to help intonation, but they are in different places.
About the string clashing and other assorted buzzes and
nasty noises
- If you hit a string too hard it can buzz on the metal
frets -
something that lute players don't need to worry about.
With my 2
instruments the feel of the frets is quite different. The
Rose has
lower scallops between each fret, so it's harder to get a
good clear
sound for bar chords. The Palmer has a lovely low action
and the bar
chords are a dream, unless you are pulling a string a bit
to the
side. The Rose has the string in the pairs closer
together, which
works well with that bit more tension. The Palmer has the
string
further apart and it has taken a while to get used to the
spacing
One more thing about the tension and playability - my
borrowed
bandora, which is old and seems quite high tension, has no
scallops
between the frets, but works well for intonation and bar
chords.
It's biggest problem is that it is quite loud, especially
when
combined with lutes.
Nancy
Another interesting bandora issue is that there were (or may
have been)
smaller bandoras. Peter Forrester and Donald Gill (and
others?) have
suggested that bandoras in D, a fourth higher, existed.
There are some
very difficult stretches in some of the bandora solos (but
not in the
existing bandora consort parts, I think). For example, this
chord:
third course, second fret + second course, first fret + first
course,
fifth fret. On an instrument with the first course at about
72cms
that's an enormous stretch. (Of course, this might just be
an anomaly)
Stuart
--
References
1. [2]http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm
To get on or off this list see list information at
[3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
Nancy Carlin Associates
P.O. Box 6499
Concord, CA 94524 USA
phone 925/686-5800 fax 925/680-2582
web sites - [4]www.nancycarlinassociates.com
[5]www.groundsanddivisions.info
Representing:
FROM WALES - Crasdant & Carreg Lafar, FROM ENGLAND - Jez Lowe &
Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies, and now representing EARLY MUSIC - The
Venere Lute Quartet, The Good Pennyworths & Morrongiello & Young
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
web site - [6]http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
--
References
1. http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm
2. http://www.darryl-martin.co.uk/palmer.htm
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
4. http://www.nancycarlinassociates.com/
5. http://www.groundsanddivisions.info/
6. http://lutesocietyofamerica.org/
