Herbert,
I see you have gotten all sorts of good advice from lutenists, and I'm
reluctant to put in my oar as one who has no lute. But I can speak to
experience with bridges and other string anchors. (And to the problems with
Pakistani instruments that I'm sure you already know - from harps to
There is a small book (pamphlet) copyright 1979 by a Rick Fogel (latest
printing 1996) called Physics, Music Theory and the Hammered Dulcimer. His
bibliography has several books, but he attributes most of his work in this
31 page pamphlet to Helmholtz's Sensations of Tone. Fogel's booklet is badly
With all due respect to the members of this list who have offered sources
for Shakespearean songs I have my doubts as their validity. Much of our
knowledge of Shakespeare's text comes from later folios. My guess is that
the actor (remember, no women on stage at the time, who played Ophelia found
a
Ooops, correction, where I said sharp I meant natural.
Best, Jon
- Original Message -
From: Jon Murphy [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Thomas Schall [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Arto Wikla
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: Doctor Oakroot [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Lute Mailing List
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, September
For all you younger folk,
Pitch is irrelevant (except when it is grossly different). Those of us who
are very senior citizens have found that middle C has dropped to about A
when we go for the songs. ( And I will leave this list for a few days to
spend a long weekend with my fellow dotards
Arto,
A good answer, the hexachord system (I'm not going to look up solmisation in
the dictionary) is the probable source. And you correctly point out that the
do,re,mi finishes with la. And I'm sure you understand the origin, but I'll
take the liberty of explaining it to others. (And in the
David, by now you may have recognized me as an interloper among the lute
expert, but I'll still give you some numbers from my work with harps. But
first we have to make a real point of separation between the lute and other
fretted instruments (yes, I know the purists fret with gut, and come to
Note my other answer, what you hear on the lute is more obvious on the harp.
Not that it is a better or purer instrument, just that there is no
interference by your skills at fretting or playing the harmony.
Best, Jon
There was a mystery novel written on the topic some few years ago. The title
included Crossroads, but I can't remember if it included Old Sratch. Took
a quick glance in the shelves but didn't see it, will look when I get back
from my trip.
When I first bought a guitar (1949) the songs I learned
Sorry lads and ladies,
I was snookered, and may have passed a rather mild virus to you all. I find
the same message structure from almost everyone who has sent to me recently.
(The legitimate vendors, such as Shop Irish and others, have their names
attached to this message). I goofed, I opened it
David,
Forget it. There are formulae for calculating string length, and there are
computer programs that will do it. But as one who is designing un-fretted
instruments let me give you some input. It is too late at night for me to
evaulate the formula below, it might be quite correct. But I've
Hi all, (and pardon the big bold type font, my computer seems to have a mind
of its own)
I don't yet play the lute, but I'd like to ask for your opinions. A bit of
background. I'm retired and making instruments for my own use. So far a
couple of harps (one cross strung diatonic and one double
601 - 612 of 612 matches
Mail list logo
