For starters Foscarini does not claim to be the first person to have
combined tablature with alfabeto or to have written pieces in mixed style.
The point made by myself and others is that his is the first surviving
printed book
to include music of this kind.
There is at least one Italian ms. - I:Bc Ms. V.280 - dated 1614 in which
guitar music is written out in tablature on 5-lines and although the chords
are apparently intended to be strummed because there are stroke marks
beneath them some of the chords are almost certainly intended to consist of
fewer than 5-courses. There are also some obscure passages in the
alfabeto
pieces where figures seem to be used to indicate short passages in two
parts.
There is no evidence that strumming emerged only at the end of the 16th
century. What did happen at the end of the century is that the 5th course
was added to the guitar - or at least became more common.
These things never happen overnight and are seldom the invention of an
individual. Notation evolves as musical styles change and always lags
behind. (The very first essay I had to write at Uni was on this subject!)
Returning to the 4-course books, as I originally pointed out these are
printed using the same font of type as the lute books published by Leroy &
Co. At least one of them includes music for cittern printed in the same
way although - since the cittern is played with a plectrum the chords must
have been strummed. The font of type probably didn't include any means of
indicate elaborate right-hand technique.
Since the lute (I believe) was also originally played with a plectrum it's
hard to believe that chords were not occasionally strummed even if there is
no indication of this.
Many of the 4-part chords in these books are the standard alfabeto chords
minus the 5th
course. Les Bouffons is a classic example since it is based on a standard
chord sequence -
I IV I V I IV I V I
and the chords in alfabeto are
A B A C A B A C A
i.e.
Gm Cm Gm Dm Gm Cm Gm Dm Gm
They didn't suddenly start strumming them when they added the 5th course.
My fingers don't end up miles away from the strings when strumming and I
have no difficulty in playing pieces in mixed style - and I'm only an
amateur! Leaving out the first course is standard practice - De Visee and
others even puts in dots to indicate the ones to be left out. It is also
standard practice to strum the inner three courses on the 5-course guitar.
When playing
the baroque guitar you should not play close to the bridge at all. That is
a lute thing This is what Santiago de Murcia says-
"The usual method of all beginners is to place the little finger beside the
bridge of the guitar, so as to steady the hand, because many are unable to
strike the strings with the hand free, but only in the aforesaid manner.
This [manner of playing] will not be seen used by any expert who plays this
instrument with any skill, especially if the works being played are delicate
with strummed chords because these must be played in the middle of the
instrument. The hand should only be placed on the bridge when it is
necessary to play loudly, as when accompanying another instrument."
You shouldn't be playing the guitar as if it were a lute.
That will have to do for now - but
Please, Please, Stuart when you reply to messages can you put your reply at
the top. As far as I am aware this is standard "netiquette" or what you
will - practice. Otherwise the messages are a complete muddle!!
Monica
. ----- Original Message -----
From: "Stuart Walsh" <[email protected]>
Cc: "'Vihuelalist'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:11 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar - strumming
Here's 'Les Buffons' as in the Phalèse edition of 1570 and in Geisbert's
1969 trancription. Giesbert has added fingering and strumming symbols that
are not in the original.
http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/PhaleseBouffons.jpg
Now some people, like (I hope I'm right in this) Monica and Martyn think
that a piece like this (and many others) might - or even would - have been
strummed. Whenever I have had a run through of this repertoire - and
pieces like this - I've never thought of strumming as first option but
something that might just be added in places.
Martin Shepherd pointed out some examples of strumming in the lute music
of the time but it would seem to be fair to say that out of the thousands
of lute pieces from this time when the lute was the pre-eminent
instrument, strumming occupies only a minute fragment. So strumming was
not a typical or common practice on the lute, it would seem.Strumming
block chords on guitars (on all strings) emerged at the end of the 16th
century (of course, correct me on this if I'm wrong!) but playing this
version of Les Bouffons with strumming would involve the mixed strumming
and plucking style that Foscarini claimed to have invented in the 17th
century.
I play Les Bouffons (and pieces like this) fingerstyle and the fingers are
in position to play the punteado,fingerstyle bits. One of the issues of
the mixed style of the 17th century is that if you do a fancy strum then
your fingers end up half a mile away from the strings and then you have to
get them back to do some fingerstyle play. Also in Les Bouffons, in the
second bar of the second section, if you are strumming, you have to do a
strum which omits the top course. That's a bit tricky to do and the
arranger didn't include the addition of another note on the top course
(fret one) which would make a simple downward strum easy to do and hardly
interrupts the melodic line such as it is.
Stuart
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