There have been numerous comments about the graying of lute
enthusiasts. My personal experience may give us a little hope. I
grew up in a very high Anglican church with William Byrd and other such
composers. By the time I was ten early music was almost all of my
music. When I was sixteen, 1958 I think, I bought my first Julian
Bream lute record. Around 1960 - possibly 62, I found a six course
Hauser style lute at the old Whittle Music Company in Dallas, Texas.
I tuned it in guitar intervals so I could play some of the simple
Renaissance dittys I'd learned from my very Cockney classical guitar
teacher, Edward Freeman. The lute disappeared when I went into the
U.S. armed forces in 1965. Afterwords I had numerous classical and
flamenco guitars but no lute for a long time, but never lost interest.
Through working with Harold Westover in the 1980s I built a seven
course HIP lute and a six course vihuela de mano. Through my newly
acquired skills in Harold's Westover Workshop for Historical Musical
Instruments I had at one time or the other an eight course lute, a five
course early lute, and a bowed vielle. Now all of this took place
before age forty five. I truly believe there must have been more
young people with similar inclinations. I couldn't have been the only
one. Today my only lute is an eight course Manouk Papazian very non
HIP instrument that I bought from Charles Mokotoff. HIP or non HIP I
lov'em all. There must be some youngsters out there making the
musical discoveries that I made back in those long lost 1950s.
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