In defense of our highly skilled luthiers, I have to say that lutes are
comparatively under-priced. It takes a much higher level of skill to
make a fine lute than it does to build a guitar of comparable quality,
and luthiers are generally underappreciated and underpaid. For
instance, a professional cellist once asked me how much a decent
theorbo cost. When I replied that one could be had for in the
neighborhood of $7000, she said that's about the price of a serviceable
bow for a cello.
While availability of inexpensive lutes may seem like a logical mode of
attracting more interest, the experience of playing a good lute is what
really draws a person in. But I also have to disagree with the idea
that the lute will ever catch on in popular music. Everyone's hearing
has been compromised, the lute is simply too quiet, and when you plug
in, it's no longer a lute but rather more electronic noise.
RA
__________________________________________________________________
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf
of Ido Shdaimah <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, December 25, 2017 1:12 PM
To: lutelist Net
Subject: [LUTE] Re: New music
Interesting mail, Tristan.
While many of us (including me) would like to see the lute flourish
in
the world of modern classical music, maybe its best chance is
actually
in more popular types of music.
I think a few factors might block that though:
1. Obscurity: Sterling Price gave an anecdote in one of his videos
(If
I recall correctly), where he told someone he plays the lute, and
that
fellow thought he was referring to the flute. Yes, many people don't
know what is a lute or don't know that it's still played today.
2. Price: Like you mentioned, not everyone can even afford (or want
to
buy) Luth Dore lutes, but most would stay clear of overpriced
Pakistani
lutes. Something like Yamaha guitars; cheap but playable enough,
would
do wonders to the lute world.
3. Available repertoire, which lacks two things: popularity of the
old
music and modern popular music. If Taylor Swift (for example)
suddenly
started playing the lute on stage and had songs for it, we would
definitely see a large influx of new players. Having intabulations
of
popular music to the lute is not enough, it's also important to
bring
the instrument out of obscurity.
The lute does have a lot of advantages such as the easy systems of
French and Italian tablature. The availability of a lot of cool (but
obscure) repertoire. Its portability and its sweet, delicate and
warm
tone more suitable to the human voice than the guitar (in my
opinion).
I'm not sure if all these are enough to tackle the above problems.
On Dec 23, 2017 02:08, "Tristan von Neumann"
<[1][email protected]> wrote:
This is probably too pessimistic, for reasons I will now try to
explain I hope in a deeper look at today's music.
Of course this is just an educated guess, not a prophecy, and more
of an encouragement. The Lutists ultimately set the course. (oh no
-
back in the pundaemonium...)
1. The audience for Early Music (even really early music) is
bigger
than the "New Music" ("Neue Musik").
Whenever a composer is successfully appealing to a general
audience,
you can always assume it is because of a great sense of
traditional
tonality or modality. Philip Glass and John Adams seem widely
popular in the US even among the non-classical audiences.
In Europe, there's Arvo PÃ ¤rt who left the path of atonality and
serialism, and it seems the Spectralists of France are well based
in
the tradition of Debussy, Ravel and Messiaen (take Dalbavie for
example).
Therefore, an obscure instrument is just introduced into an even
more obscure scene. (viewed from the mass standpoint)
Such musical approach was at least until around 2000 also part of
the film score scene. Jerry Goldsmith, John Williams and others
have
treated film scores as New Music. But here is the strong move:
By forcing it onto millions of movie buffs, for the duration of
popularity of this movie, there is a considerable amount of time
for
a good tune, a good theme, to leak out as a "cover version",
establishing a basis even for canonification. Some are more
successful than others.
Compared to a First Performance of some fancy delicate atonal
piece
of chamber music in front of 100 people of whom 80 don't really
get
what is happening on the stage, it looks pretty obvious to me that
though we all wish they were more popular, our little bubbles of
special music do not represent the reality of most people.
Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, indeed mostly fantastic
movies contain a great deal of popular classical music today,
which
is probably the closest many people get to hearing a real
orchestra.
But this is actually a pretty good basis and should not be
ridiculed.
2. If you behold the big picture, the mass audience is completely
going into a different direction. If you pick the most complex or
well set music of "non-classical new music", there is:
a) Metal, Progressive Rock, Post Rock - highly complex and often
deliberately referring to Renaissance and Medieval music,
embracing
concepts of modes and even iso-rhythmia and counterpoint, though
often very fast paced.
b) IDM ("Intelligent Dance Music") - more closely related to "New
Music", but occupying spaces classical performers almost never
reach.
Exceptions (to my knowledge of course) maybe "Alarm will Sound", a
chamber orchestra from New York, that plays complex Electronic
Music
arrangements.
"Ensemble Resonanz" in Hamburg, who are for years getting their
foot into the club scene, attract new audiences for "New Music",
while also playing Early Music (and everything in between). They
are
not afraid to play Perotin and Philip Glass in the same concert,
or
have Finnish electronic musician Jimi Tenor write music for them.
Other ensembles in other countries and cities might try similar
things, though when I search on youtube, such fruitful crossovers
seem rare.
c) Computer and Video game music.
The Japanese have now for years a very healthy relationship to
music
composed for video games. It is completely normal to hear the
Tokyo
Phil play the Super Mario Bros. theme, or a Legend of Zelda
Medley.
These compositions are often surprisingly good and well arranged,
because - in reverse - classically trained composers have no fear
writing for a video game.
If you look on youtube, there are literally thousands of videos of
teenagers playing video game music on their piano, guitar,
ukulele,
etc., some even forming little ensembles, making even their own
arrangements.
3. Sounds familiar? Well, the Lute repertoire fits exactly these
purposes - you want crazy Ricercars for the outgoing
experimentalists, some popular songs, some dance music, you copy
your favourite tunes, make mixtapes (Lute books), copy music from
friends etc.
Some hits appear everywhere, some gems (nearly) get lost.
The lute is an instrument that appeals to Metal/Rock people,
because it allows great versatile styles more intense, somehow
brighter, louder and more subtle than a modern guitar, and it's
Medievalish cool.
A cittern might even be considered the "electric guitar" of its
time.
I don't know what happend to the group "Pantagruel", but the
leader
of the band had deeper experiences with rock music, his Early
music
interpretations felt very engaging.
Or maybe someone remembers the late Owain Phyfe.
This is the attitude at least I am looking for.
The lute is great to sing to, and it doesn't matter if it's
Dowland
or Bob Dylan, it will still sound great. Lute is for songs.
Today's dance music might be difficult to recreate on a lute, but
with some percussion, this could be achieved.
And last but not least: there are tons of Fantasy RPG's with
catchy
kind of medieval/renaissance-ish tunes that people would love to
play on the lute.
And the movie scores again.
4. For some time now, German music shoppe giant "Thomann" has
taken
Lute instruments into their portfolio. These are specially
commissioned lines of instruments - I don't know if one of you had
tried one of those Lutes, Theorbos or Renaissance/Baroque guitars.
I'd be interested to hear about experiences with these
instruments,
as it seemed to me that these are not the infamous Pakistani
instruments.
Well - basically you can now get a Lute for $500 if you don't mind
the clean cut flat rose etc., similar to Le Luth Dorà ©, which
seems
to make similar restrictions to achieve a lower price.
If Lutists and Luthiers overcome the resentment of these
production
methods and instead encouraging lowering the bar for the huge
number
of amateur guitarists, who might not be able to afford a real hand
crafted master lute. These people might even try the original
stuff,
as they have not only the actual instrument, but also a great
popular tab system (French) and lots of great original pieces at
hand in the internets.
5. Conclusion:
I see a brighter future for the lute. Neither in the Early Music
scene, nor in the New Music scene, but in popular music through
the
playing of popular music on the Lute.
Some steps are made, but it's on you to widen your repertoire a
bit.
What you can do: Play Metallica or Katie Perry, or Depeche Mode on
the lute, and if your intabulations are any good, other people
will
want to play them. You will at least encourage them to try it on
their guitar, where they will come to the conclusion that the lute
might just be the cooler instrument after all. Of course there
were
no copyright issues back then...
This would have to be sorted out.
There should be more themed intabulation contests, or even
"intabulation and fantasy" Paladin style.
Legend of Zelda, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, it's all
there.
Don't let guitarists be the only ones :)
Here's some inspiration:
[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtDX-KsBDQA
[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3h9jGSBVJo
[4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3wpCeYogQ
[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnINBKOnDZU
[6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkRd_OmsJKk
Props to those people, maybe some of them are here on the list.
Am 22.12.2017 um 20:13 schrieb Ron Andrico:
Both Chris and Gilbert have made excellent points: New music for
the
lute is not widely accepted because the lute is considered to be
a
representative emblem of early music, and new music for the lute
is
not
taught in conservatories because lute teachers holding
conservatory
posts must adhere to the received and accepted idea of what
defines
early music.
I have expended a great deal of time and energy researching and
digesting information describing the arc of the early music
revival
and, in my view, the lute simply will not survive the apparent
downward
spiral and eventual demise of the early music revival - unless
the
instrument somehow transcends the bounds of its associations
with
early music. New music for the lute may help the instrument
survive,
but it will not happen without certain compromises.
I'll have much more to say on the topic in the coming year.
Watch
this
space.
RA
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To get on or off this list see list information at
[7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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References
1. [1]mailto:[email protected]
2. [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtDX-KsBDQA
3. [3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3h9jGSBVJo
4. [4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3wpCeYogQ
5. [5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnINBKOnDZU
6. [6]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkRd_OmsJKk
7. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. mailto:[email protected]
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtDX-KsBDQA
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3h9jGSBVJo
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG3wpCeYogQ
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnINBKOnDZU
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkRd_OmsJKk
7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
