Dear all, Hoppy does damp a lot with the thumb, but he once advised me to attach little bits of sticky tape to some strings right next to the bridge, to help damp the vibrations. I didn't find the result very convincing!
Concerning "the usual notions of articulation/phrasing" as opposed to "a totally modern legato style" - I can think of few sources that mention articulation or phrasing specifically (Mace's "tut" is of course a notable exception). There is far more evidence for a legato way of playing. One of the first rules we learn on the lute is to hold down the left hand fingers until they are needed for another note - doesn't this indicate a desire for sustaining the resonance of the instrument, rather than cutting it short (i.e. articulating). I'm afraid that many players still have "totally modern notions of articulation/phrasing"! Best, Sam On 21 February 2013 18:05, Dan Winheld <[1][email protected]> wrote: Chris- Don't you have to play 13, immediately drop "down" to 7, THEN jump back "up"to damp 13 to avoid harmonic confusion? Otherwise, one gets a staccato spot in a bass line- perhaps appropriately in some pieces- but not for a usual note-by-note progress in the bass- one that connects notes "Like pearls strung on a necklace" (roughly quoting Piccinni here, who knew a thing or two about playing 13 - 14 course instruments). With all the other headaches involved with Baroque lute RH techniques, I just use gut & KF(G) strings and gave up on extra dancing around with the thumb. I am in awe of those who can do such feats. My oldest Baroque lute student's 11 or so years-old silver overspun basses are starting to mellow out very nicely, but the sustain rings on and on, perhaps for eternity. The Segovia-Barrios chapter is a strange & sometimes ugly bit out of 20th cent. guitar history. I gave up Classical guitar in the 1970's and play the few guitar pieces I really like on a superb 8 course by Dan Larson. Dan On 2/21/2013 7:05 AM, Christopher Wilke wrote: Herbert, Agustin Barrios used metal strings with rubber dampers and he took much heat for it from the purists who felt that gut was the only acceptable material for a serious guitarist to use. Segovia referred disparagingly to Barrios's "wire fence" before he and everyone else switched to nylon strings. I've often wondered if Barrios's use of metal may be the reason he was the first classical guitarist to record, a technology that was not very good at picking up low dynamic levels. I've never known any lute players to use dampers, but it makes perfect sense on unfingered basses which will not be subject to intonation problems due to fretting. When I studied with Paul O'Dette, he was always very insistent that the bass part be subject to the same notions of articulation/phrasing commonly used in upper voices, regardless of any technical difficulties this may introduce. For example, even if you had a fast line that went from the 12th course to the 13th course and then "down" to the 7th course (i.e. B-A-G), Paul would expect that the passing note on the 13th course would be unaccented and short. That means that you have to strike the string, return to damp it, and then make a huge leap across all those other strings to land on the 7th course. Doing this accurately, in time, and without a lurching motion that would cause an accent in the wrong place is difficult to say the least. (Ah, the baroque lute: demanding of virtuosity that no one ever hears!) It took me years of practice, but I must say, in addition to giving me the tool of greater expressive control in this register, it has made me much more sure of finding the correct bass course. Now that my ear has grown accustomed to hearing the bass phrased in a historically informed manner, I have trouble thinking about the music in other ways. Relying on a string material like gut to merely get rid of ringing notes is not enough. To me, this sounds like a baroque ensemble in which everyone has taken the time to study and apply period performance practice techniques except the cellist, who is blissfully playing away in a totally modern legato style. Chris Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A. Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer [2]www.christopherwilke.com --- On Wed, 2/20/13, Herbert Ward <[3][email protected]> wrote: From: Herbert Ward <[4][email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Damping overspun strings. To: [5][email protected] Date: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 11:59 PM One often hears that overspun strings sustains too long, compared with gut strings. Thus it seems strange that I've never seen anyone damp overspun strings with foam rubber. Is is easy to control the amount of damping by using dampers of different sizes, or by sliding dampers farther or closer to the bridge. Strings damped this way don't sound like gut, but for some pieces I find them a significant improvement. If you're lucky enough to have yellow foam rubber instead of pink, the dampers will match the soundboard rather well. Alternatively, there are also opportune times, notably at the end of pieces, when you can damp a string with your thumb to good effect. To get on or off this list see list information at [1][6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- Sam Chapman Oetlingerstrasse 65 4057 Basel (0041) 79 530 39 91 -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. http://www.christopherwilke.com/ 3. mailto:[email protected] 4. mailto:[email protected] 5. mailto:[email protected] 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
