Just a few thoughts:
I strongly agree with the "go carefully" approach. Playing the lute
is (or should be) physically easy. Think how little effort you
actually need to hold down a string, or to pluck a string. It's much
less than you might think.
I'm a bit sceptical about "exercises" in general - it seems to imply
the approach that says you have to play the scales and arpeggios
before you can play the Mozart. I think also of the "pumping nylon"
nonsense which some guitarists indulge in.
When you try to play the music of our lutenist predecessors of 500
years ago, you quickly realize that there are problems which need to
be solved which are not already solved by the fact you can play scales
in C# minor at ninety miles an hour. So it's important to concentrate
on the real problems, rather than getting distracted.
Very interesting Martin. If playing the lute should be physically easy
then two things come to mind: volume and speed.
If the player uses little effort to pluck the string ( I mean the player
really is making an effort, giving the matter full attention) then
surely that isn't going to be very loud? Very possibly the contexts in
which the lute was actually played didn't require great volume.
(I'm still utterly baffled by players of the tiny Baroque mandolin who
say that they use ordinary lute technique on that instrument. If they
mean by ordinary lute technique, with very little effort to pluck the
strings, the sound is barely audible!)
What about effortless speed? Here I am baffled too. Lots and lots of
lute music needs flurries of notes. Four flags and more and somehow fast
and light. (Later lute music can have lots of left hand alone
articulation.) I think that amateurs, then and now, can learn and play
quite difficult pieces but there are definite limitations on speed.
Stuart
I have also often found I play better after a break. Presumably this
is because the physical habits are a bit less strong, leaving some
room for the careful mental work which is so important.
Martin
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