Thank you for your fascinating note. I comiserate with your frustration, Bruno. A thought which popped into mind in response to your note is that it is possible the lute may induce a state that is the opposite of being "turned on" in the loud boisterous mardi gras sense. It is hard to think of it as a sensuous instrument despite its swollen belly. In a way, it is a contemplative pursuit to play the lute, and I see very little popular interest in contemplation, or any other kind of quietude. I have also felt that non-lute playing guitar academics may be a little fearful or wary of early music and prefer to hold it at arm's length, or allow a rare lute performance as a kind of freak show. I provide one, very freakishly, only once each year (at these events, the guitar students have seemed more interested in or more excited by handling the lutes and being photographed holding them rather than hearing them). University Funds for arts education have become so scarce that there is mortal competition and a zero sum game with proponents and practitioners of more popular instrumental art jealously guarding their turf against potential intruders. Another thought which came to mind was that it may be difficult for people to hear the strains of the lute after having their eardrums blasted with megadecibels for a lifetime. After witnessing here considerable crowd excitement during recent and always massively amplified sitar and sarod concerts, which are not really extrovert events, and after seeing the throngs of middle aged and older folks attending these concerts, I can't help but think that it may be necessary to turn the volume up (horrors! amplifying?) to force the lilting plucked lute strains and harmonics into people's ears without fear of distortion. I have not yet attempted anything like this. A brief breakthrough of lute interest here was very noticeable when Sting released his Dowland Labyrinth CD around 2006. Celebrity appeal would get the attention of the masses and make them think the lute was cool if only for a little while. Might Pele take up the lute? After seeing what Segovia and Bream did for the guitar, and seeing how rarely the current great lute artists are heard on the mass US media, it seems it may take the appearance of a musical Goddess like Saraswati to make any sudden major difference.
Best wishes and thanks again. Mark Seifert From: Bruno Correia <[email protected]> To: List LUTELIST <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 6:46 PM Subject: [LUTE] Dear members of the list, I have been at pains trying to raise interest in our beloved instrument down here in Brazil. I've given speeches, played solo and chamber concerts... but despite all efforts the general public and also the musicians (professionals or amateurs) simply don't get turned on. It is a sad fact that the lute and the early music performance practice did not reach the University here. So we don't exist academically speaking. Would anybody be willing to list some strategies that could be used to help disseminate the lute and its repertoire? -- Bruno Correia Pesquisador autonomo da pratica e interpretac,ao historicamente informada no alaude e teorba. Doutor em Praticas Interpretativas pela Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
