Pinky down anywhere does nothing to improve the sound acoustically. I
imagine it could, theoretically, degrade it slightly if one really
leaned on it for some reason. But on the Baroque lute (not on R-lute for
me) it can help beginners find their way around. But once you get into
some heavy duty playing, it does nothing but tie up the hand &
interfere. There are plenty of Weiss pieces where the thumb is down
(up!) in the sub bass on courses 13, 12, 11; and you have i,m,&a playing
courses 4 and lower. Guess where your pinky isn't.
To play devil's advocate, one of my Baroque lute students asked
Hopkinson Smith at the master class held in my living room if playing
with pinky off the lute was OK with him. Of course it was. And the
occasional touch down by accident, or design for orientation, or to gain
some momentary leverage is still just fine also.
If the playing is clean, clear, beautiful, and accurate, don't worry
about where the performer's little finger is, or isn't. This whole
thread reminds me of the old Buddhist cliche popularized by Bruce Lee-
"Do not be distracted by the finger that points to the moon!"
OK, I'm done with this finger business.
N.B. I have sometimes used my little finger to play a note in a 5 note
chord.
Dan
On 8/3/2014 8:59 AM, Tony wrote:
This thread has inspired a heretical thought about playing baroque
lute - I can imagine it sounding ok without pinky on soundboard and a
modified guitar-style technique. I haven't tried out my heresy (I would
misjudge the bass-courses without the pinky to help judge distances),
but with a more secure thumb technique than i currently have ..... I
guess someone somewhere has tried it, and I would be curious to know to
what extent it works
On Ren lute I aim to do exactly what David suggests, bendy banana
fingers and all. I actually can (and at first did) play a Ren lute with
guitar technique though the sound is in comparison a bit disappointing
__________________________________________________________________
From: David van Ooijen<[email protected]>
To: lutelist Net<[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, 29 July 2014, 6:17
Subject: [LUTE] Re: Bare spot on soundboard.
Necessity of pinky on top is not the answer to why it's there. On
R-lute, if you hold your hand in such a manner that the thumb has a
good angle of striking both strings of a pair, and do likewise with
your index finger, all relaxed, thumb-inside, hand a little cupped,
fingers like slightly bend bananas, your pinky is bound to touch the
top, unless you'd stick it out to prevent it touching. It's not the
top
of the pinky that rests like a crutch on the top, but the last digit
that gently slides along as the hand moves up and down in alternating
thumb-index stroke.
David
*******************************
David van Ooijen
[1][1][email protected]
[2]www.davidvanooijen.nl
*******************************
On 29 July 2014 06:34, howard posner<[3][2][email protected]>
wrote:
On Jul 28, 2014, at 8:16 PM, Mayes, Joseph<[4][3][email protected]>
wrote:
> Zowie!! Just mention, in passing that one of the sacred cows is
somehow not the best idea, and the floodgates open!
Well, the writer said (and not in passing a it was the sole subject
of his post) that resting the little finger on the top was a
"crutch" and "undeveloped right-hand technique," because he didn't
understand that it was a considered and common part of lute
technique; a little like telling a horn player to get his hand out
of the bell because it might affect the sound, or telling an
electric guitar player "it's insane to stick electrical wires in a
guitar! Unplug that damn thing before you get electrocuted, you
fool!." A The writer lacked basic information, and it's a function
of this group to disseminate information. A So I don't think you've
got much cause to be zowieing.
> In all of this justification for using the pinky on the face, I
have
heard nothing by way of explaining why it's necessary.
Not surprising, since nobody in this thread has asked why it's
necessary, which in turn is probably because nobody has said it's
necessary.
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