Dear Howard,
You ought to know that proving such a negative in such cases is well-nigh impossible. The real point here is to do with significant probability based on the historical evidence (rather than prejudice or wishful-thinking). In short, early iconography and written descriptions of the preferred right hand position is generally very clear: play close to the bridge - either with the little finger just in front of it, on it or, even, just behind it. Of course if a modern player has developed a technique of plucking close to or over the rose (as is the style, say, on the modern guitar) it is understandable that they are reluctant to try a more historically preferred position. regards Martyn --- On Sun, 25/3/12, howard posner <[email protected]> wrote: From: howard posner <[email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Quality vs Quantity To: "lute ([email protected])" <[email protected]> Date: Sunday, 25 March, 2012, 17:25 On Mar 25, 2012, at 9:09 AM, William Samson wrote: > Even subtly inauthentic technique (like > thumb-inside for baroque lute, or pinky too far from the bridge) can > cause the more sensitive souls among us to take to a darkened room and > suck our thumbs. Unless you can show some proof that no lute player in the 1700's ever played with thumb inside the fingers and there was only one acceptable right-hand location, your thumb is taking some unnecessary abuse. Of course, your thumb may enjoy getting sucked, but that's really none of my business. -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
