some weeks ago herbert ward posted an interesting question concerning the nature of an "early" sound. the following was posted to the mandolin.cafe site just recently in a discussion concerning what constitutes a "classical" sound. i thought it might be of interest:
"To begin or end isolated notes, I speed up the tremolo, tighten the pick, and lessen the stroke width, which seems to be much more effective towards graceful beginnings and endings, if a mandolin has closely spaced strings." i would suggest that the lute is more or less permanently linked to the early music repertoire - no matter what - but the spacing of strings in each course, how delicately they are played and with what may have some bearing on how "early" it sounds to our ears. "early" a subjective evaluation, as herbet says and it might be worth while to point out that the stark white marble, "classic" statuary which inspired people in the 17th and 18th century was originally daubed in - what can only be described as - lewd and gaudy colour. - bill "and thus i made...a small vihuela from the shell of a creepy crawly..." - Don Gonzalo de Guerrero (1512), "Historias de la Conquista del Mayab" by Fra Joseph of San Buenaventura. go to: http://www.charango.cl/paginas/quieninvento.htm ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Messenger - NEW crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
