Dear Howard et al, Isn't cutting a note short "articulating" by definition, regardless of what one does with all the other notes? Articulation isn't necessarily deliberate - it can be an involuntary consequence of what you call choppy playing, or it can be part of a carefully-planned performance (though the former is probably easier to justify historically).
I don't think you've done justice to the "first rule" I mentioned in my post. Most authors write about holding down the fingers for as long as possible, that is, sustaining the notes for as long as possible. This is not the same as avoiding "stopping notes prematurely". Whether the rule relates to establishing good technique or creating a certain kind of sound world (or both) is up for debate. If we see it as refering to an aesthetic preference and take it literally then yes, it is evidence against stopping notes for whatever purpose. I have great respect for Paul O'Dette's playing and I have nothing against articulation per se. However, much of what we take for granted has absolutely no historical precedent. When articulated playing is regarded as a "period performance practice technique" and "historically informed", whereas legato is called "totally modern", I take issue. As far as I know, Mace is the only author to describe shortening notes (not specifically bass notes) on the lute. He considers this effect an ornament (along with Piano/Forte and Pauses, among other things). He writes "it will seem to speak the word tut" - perhaps we should use this ornament as often as we would say the word "tut" in a sentence? On several occasions Mace refers to his dissatisfaction with the long bass strings on the theorbo and their "snarling together". Tellingly, he does NOT suggest articulating the bass notes here as a solution. Instead he suggests playing the basses softer, though admits that this is not an ideal solution. He seems to regard this problem as intrinsic to the nature of the instrument. In other places, Mace praises playing which is "smooth and clean". On several occasions he describes a kind of over-legato effect: "Thus holding of your letters stopt, all the while, will give a very fine sound, or gingle beyond any other way of play". Other than the "tut" Mace never mentions anything about what we today call articulation, or indeed musical phrasing. Since he writes about virtually everything else, I think this is significant. Personally, I feel that many performers today overarticulate, and this can have the effect of introducing unpleasant accents and (moreover) reducing the volume/resonance of the instrument. The lute, especially when strung in gut, can be seen as a self-articulating instrument - why exaggerate this characteristic? I anticipate your reply! Sam On 21 February 2013 20:13, howard posner <[1][email protected]> wrote: On Feb 21, 2013, at 10:49 AM, Sam Chapman <[2][email protected]> wrote: > 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). Cutting a note short amounts to "articulating" only if it's a contrast to other notes. If all the notes are short, it's just choppy playing, and deliberately shortening a note is pointless if that note is surrounded by notes that are inadvertently shortened. So evidence of a preference for not inadvertently stopping notes prematurely through poor technique 1) is not evidence against preventing a bass note from ringing beyond its written value, and 2) is not evidence against stopping stopping notes for expressive purposes. This doesn't settle the question of whether Weiss (for example) would have been perfectly satisfied with how his basses sounded without damping them. O'Dette is a master at controlling the ends of notes, and it's the reason he makes contrapuntal voice-leading dizzyingly obvious: a note that comes after silence is emphasized. -- To get on or off this list see list information at [3]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. mailto:[email protected] 3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
