Dear Monica,
My point was that you don't need to play the strings of a course
separately - no need to "eliminate" anything. The secret is in the
blend between the lower and upper octaves, which by the way is better if
the two strings are roughly the same tension, rather than the typical
modern practice of having the upper octave at a lower tension. Players
who can do this are indeed few and far between ;)
Martin
On 18/01/2015 15:33, Monica Hall wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Shepherd"
<[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2015 1:37 PM
Subject: [LUTE] Re: 16th century tuning and stringing
A further thought on the issue of evidence from tablature concerning
octave stringing:
The issue of voice-leading is important in the identification of
which pieces may or may not have used octave stringing, but it is not
a simple matter of the octaves being constantly present or absent - a
good player can emphasize the octave or minimize its effect, while
continuing to play both strings of the course. Octaves introduce some
ambiguity into the voice-leading, allowing some voices to resolve
correctly using the upper octave of a bass course, while being subtle
enough that one does not hear constant octave-doubling where it is
not required.
Martin
In my experience players who can do this a few and far between...On
the lute the bourdon is on the thumb side of the course which makes it
difficult to eliminate. It is the other way round on the b-guitar of
course.
Yours cynically
Monica
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