Dear Martyn, Sam, Mathias, Bill and all, Thank you very much for your supportive words. I absolutely agree with what you wrote Martyn about Mace. Besides it depends how one understands eccentricity. Viewing it from our modern world's perspective he could be called by many as a very eccentric man. However when trying to imagine the world he was living in and considering his personal situation one can reevaluate his image. Not a young man, who worked most of his life as a musician, loosing his hearing, who's existence was grossly dependent on the income from his pupils. What was he to do? Go to the doctor and ask for a hearing aid? No ,existing technology didn't know such a thing. So Mace decided to cope with the situation on his own. He invented an instrument that united 2 lutes in one, because this construction enabled the biggest resonance that could be achieved on a lute. Then, he invents a method of transmitting vibrations by touching the dyphone with his teeth. How can one call it? I would say that taking into consideration all the circumstances, he was very creative, ingenious, and had a very artistic soul. Beeth! oven had a similar problem. He was trying to hide the fact that he was deaf, and managed to play only by feeling vibration of a grand piano in his body. Now, obviously when examining historical sources one has to be careful, but it is not a good idea to suspect anything a person writes only because he looks or sounds strange to us. I don't like theoretical, artificial constructions that could undermine credibility of almost any source like this - the same day Mace went to the market in order to buy some strings , he had his glasses stained by blood from the pork he was preparing for the dinner, therefore he could see only rotten red gut etc. All in all, Musick's Monument is a very valuable historical source for me and I will return to this reading in future with pleasure.
All the best Jaroslaw WiadomoÅÄ napisana przez Martyn Hodgson w dniu 8 paź 2012, o godz. 09:43: > > Dear Jaroslaw, > > I don't think you need be dismayed by Howard Posner's comments: he seems only > willing to accept evidence if given under cross examination in his local > criminal law court. > > For most of us this degree of scepticism is not necessary and we are prepared > to take historical sources at face value unless and until we find compelling > reasons to suggest otherwise - indeed, the study of early sources is a > cornerstone of historical research. It is not really credible that Mace would > have filled this major life's with unsubstantiated personal, and incorrect, > opinion: even in 1676 there would have been people around to draw attention > to any blatant inaccuracies. > > In short, I think you're quite right to use Mace as a good source of > contemporary English practice. > > MH > > --- On Sun, 7/10/12, JarosÅaw Lipski <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: JarosÅaw Lipski <[email protected]> > Subject: [LUTE] Re: the point of synthetics - Rather the movement of the > whole lute > To: [email protected] > Date: Sunday, 7 October, 2012, 23:52 > > Howard, > > No offence I hope? I really wouldn't like to take part in an exchange of > arguments that go far from the subjects most of the lute-listers are > interested in. However I am forced to answer some of your arguments. > Firstly, most of the expressions I used were exact quotations of your post. I > only added some that were logical consequences of what you wrote, but I am > sorry if you didn't mean it. > Secondly, Mace had built the dyphone. Please read carefully on page 203: > "The only instrument in being of that kind; and but lately invented, by > myself, and MADE WITH MY OWN HANDS, in the year 1672" Then he describes why > he had built it and how it sounded etc. > Thirdly, having an assumption that so many people lack credibility and > therefore one can not seriously take into consideration books from the past > written by a man who showed some signs of eccentricity is rather not > practical IMO as musicology doesn't equal law. We can't call witness Mace. > And finally, yes the whole discussion began from Benjamin and his > observations on behavior of gut strings versus synthetics, but I think he > explained recently that he was misunderstood, because he meant that > synthetics are in fact more stable, however gut reaches certain, lets call it > a state of equilibrium faster. I can confirm this opinion. I play both gut > and synthetics. It takes more time for synthetics before they start to behave > normally, but then, they do not react to changes of humidity, only > temperature. The only thing that I would add to his post is that gut strings > don't go out of tune because of high humidity, but because of the changes of > humidity. So practically there may be a situation that you kept your lute 2 > hours before the recital in the place where you are supposed to play, then > you enter a stage and it happens that there came quite a lot of people to > listen to you (obviously they all breath exhaling a lot of moisture), the > hall is not very spacious, a! nd! > your very carefully prepared tuning goes to pieces. The assumption is > though that you have a big audience, ha, ha :). Another thing that I would > like to add is that wire wounds in fact go out of tune because they are made > of 2 different materials which behave differently - a synthetic core and a > wire. The good news is that its movement is very predictable, so once you get > used to it, it takes only seconds to correct. > Hope we safely came into some conclusions. > > Best > > JL > > > > WiadomoÅÄ napisana przez howard posner w dniu 7 paź 2012, o godz. 23:25: > > > On Oct 7, 2012, at 12:14 PM, Jarosâaw Lipski <[email protected]> wrote: > > > >>>> So you see Mace as an oddball, inaccurate observer, someone quick to > >>>> jump to odd conclusions, old deaf man who had lost touch with reality, > >>>> an idiot who constructed an instrument impossible to play etc > >>> > >>> What I said was: "I'm not inclined to regard Mace as a scientific > >>> observer; more like the eccentric uncle who makes dubious sweeping > >>> pronouncements at family dinners." > >>> > >> Well, I've quoted your own words, but maybe you had something else on > >> mind, sorryââ. > > > > No, *I* quoted my own words, which did not include "idiot," "old," "lost > > touch with reality," or "etc." I didn't opine about how quickly he reached > > his conclusions (he doesn't strike me as a man who did anything quickly). > > I also didn't say "mentally ill." I certainly didn't say he actually had a > > dyphone built, notwithstanding what he wrote. > > > > I spend a lot of time professionally evaluating whether things witnesses > > tell me are credible; many are not, for all sorts of reasons, the most > > common being triumph of vantage point over all other considerations (just > > this morning I read through 18 "character" letters written to convince me > > that a person was honorable and honest; none of them mentioned his felony > > fraud conviction, leaving me to wonder if the writers even knew why they > > were writing). > > > > We all know the world is full of ostensibly normal and sane persons who > > reach positions of prominence and responsibility saying things that are not > > credible; in my country they tend to get nominated for public office a lot. > > > > > > Although we seem to have "pivoted," as Mitt Romney might say, into a > > discussion of how reliable a witness Mace was, this thread began when > > Benjamin Narvey -- a person normally given to reasonable observations and > > conclusions -- said he'd had an experience from which he concluded (or > > re-concluded) that synthetic strings are harder to keep in tune than gut, > > and carbon fiber are particularly difficult. I think he's extrapolating > > too much from too small a sample, and his experience is atypical of most > > experiences with synthetics and gut; certainly it's different from mine. I > > think a musicologist of the 23rd century reading Musick's EMail Monument, a > > collection of Narvey messages on a hard drive that survived the Great > > Warming Catastrophe of 2089, would likely be misled on that particular > > point, even though Benjamin is not an "old deaf man who had lost touch with > > reality," although he may be one if he's still around in 2089. > > -- > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > > > --
