From: Martyn Hodgson <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] 5 course guitar - partial strums
To: "Monica Hall" <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Date: Friday, 1 June, 2012, 8:08
Dear Monica,
Just to test the envelope a little, a couple of observations arising
from this:
1. The high octave on the 4th may, as you say, be a problem (for us)
where a higher course note is indicated as not to be played in a chord
(eg e' on the first course). Perhaps it tells us something about the
tension of the high octave on the 4th - maybe significantly lower than
the majority of other strings so as not to be too obtrusive when
strummed?
2. And whilst we all(?), me included, generally place our high octaves
where the thumb (and downwards index finger) strum touches the high
octave first, as you have pointed out explicit primary evidence for
this disposition is pretty skimpy (only Ribayez 1677 and the later
Strad theorboed guitar stringing instructions). If the disposition is
reversed so that the low bass is struck first, the high octave is again
less obtrusive.
Martyn
--- On Thu, 31/5/12, Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] 5 course guitar - partial strums
To: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Thursday, 31 May, 2012, 15:16
Yes - indeed. This is the age old question - Open courses - to
include or not to include? For example - Bartolotti with his wonderful
system has still not made it clear whether the 1st or 2nd courses
should be included in chords which start on the 4th and 5th courses.
In some cases it is obvious(?) because the note(s) are dissonant but
there are a lot of ambiguities. It may have been left to the player
to use their discretion.
There is another ambiguity - and that is De Visee sometimes indicates
that the 1st course should be omitted from a chord. But the note will
still sound on the 4th course in the upper octave. E.g. in the
Courante on p. 16 in Book 1, the 3rd stave down - in the two chords in
the first bar which are E major and A major chords he has indicated
that the 1st course should be omitted but the E will sound on the 4th
course anyway. It is suggested in the introduction to the Eds.
Transatlantique ed. that the high octave string should be suppressed
there which seems a bit ott to me.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: [1]Martyn Hodgson
To: [2]Monica Hall
Cc: [3]Vihuelalist
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] 5 course guitar - partial strums
Indeed, I only mentioned this particular chord as an example: the
source I mentioned also has many other partially strummed chords with
other courses not to be struck. I wonder how much this was an unwritten
practice which we ought to apply more widely in other tablature sources
which are not so precise in marking unstrummed strings...
Martyn
--- On Thu, 31/5/12, Monica Hall <[4]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <[5]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [VIHUELA] 5 course guitar - partial strums
To: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Thursday, 31 May, 2012, 13:39
To my knowledge none of the sources go into such detail about R-hand
technique. De Visee is one of the people who does put dots on the 1st
course but as far as I can see all he says is..........
"When there are dots on some of the lines as you may see here (ex.) you
should not strike the strings which they indicate so as to avoid
dissonances
and to render the melody more distinct."
I would imagine it was more a matter of precision and practice. It is
not
only a problem when you have to leave out the first course. There are
sometimes 3-part passages on the lowest three courses or on the middle
3
courses which are just as difficult to play cleanly.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Hodgson" <[6]hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Vihuela Dmth" <[7]vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2012 10:57 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] 5 course guitar - partial strums
>
>
> Various 5 course guitar tablature sources ask for partial strums in
> which only some of the courses are to be strummed; unstrummed
> courses being indicated by dots (although the practice may, of
course,
> be more widespread than suggested only by the tablatures with
these
> dots).
>
> A typical example is a G major chord (stopped on the 2nd and 5th
> courses) but with a dot on the first course indicating a strum of
the
> lower 4 courses but without the first course strummed (eg Lobkowicz
Ms
> OLIM Prague II Ms Kk77 fol 82v - Minuet). Is there any evidence
that
> these were ever performed by using, say, the middle finger of the
right
> hand (or even a spare left hand finger) to damp the unplayed course
or
> is it simply a matter of precision in execution of the strum with
the
> index finger?
>
> MH
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
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--
References
1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
3. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
4. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
5. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
6. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk
7. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
8. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
