FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, HINTS AND TIPS WEBPAGES
If you have a specific question or area of interest, the simplest thing may be to contact one of the lute societies , or join one of the online discussion groups An enormous store of advice and information can be found in the archived emails of the lute discussion groups; see Wayne Cripps’s page www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html#ftp
On the website of The Lute Society: www.lutesociety.org/pages/advice , See also: www.lutesociety.org/pages/thinking-of-taking-up-the-lute
On the website of the Societa del Liuto: ‘per chi inizia’: societadelliuto.it/?page_id=42
On Wayne Cripps’s personal website: www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute/lute.html
A general (mostly mediaeval) Early Music FAQ site: www.medieval.org/emfaq/
John Buckman’s renaissance lute beginner page: john.redmood.com/lutebeginner.html
SPECIFIC TOPICS, listed alphabetically
Note that the archive of discussions on Wayne Cripps’ Lutenet: [email: http://www.mail-archive.com/lute AT cs DOT dartmouth DOT edu/ ] can be searched by topic.
Care of your lute
On Jiri Cepelak's website: www.lute.cepelak.cz/care.pdf
Booklet on care of your lute by David van Edwards, available from The Lute Society: www.lutesociety.org/pages/catalogue#n
Didier Jarny, Guide d'entretien de votre luth, Societe francaise de luth: www.sf-luth.org/en/?%26nbsp%3BMusical_Publications/Other_Publications
Fret placement for different temperaments
See also 'Tuning and temperament' below.
Beier string and fret calculator: www.musico.it/lute_software/bsfc/index.html
Hoffmann fret calculator: www.modoantiquo.com/temperatur/temperatur_desc_en.html
Alexander Hopkins fret placement calculator: www.hopkinslutes.com/fret.html
Jeff Lee’s lute fret calculator www.shipbrook.net/jeff/frets.html
Lute Society of America fret calculator spreadsheet: cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/download/index.html
Niskanen Lutes free calculator: www.niskanenlutes.com/index.php?p=frets
Theatre of Music tunings and temperaments page: www.theaterofmusic.com/temperaments.html
Olive Wadsworth fret page: www.wadsworth-lutes.co.uk/frets.htm
Martin Shepherd has summarised historical evidence for body frets at his Luteshop website: luteshop.co.uk/body-frets-who-needs-them/
Fret tying
Advice on tying on frets can be found at:
Paolo Busato: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aItqGZ0zJs
Gamut Music: www.gamutmusic.com/tying-lute-frets/
David van Edwards: www.vanedwards.co.uk/fretknot.htm
John Redmood: john.redmood.com/lutefret.html
Oliver Wadsworth:www.wadsworth-lutes.co.uk/frets.htm
Ning Early Guitar (nylon frets): earlyguitar.ning.com/forum/topics/tying-nylon-lutebaroque-guitar
Youtube film of tying on frets:www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aItqGZ0zJs
There is a section on tying frets in David van Edwards's booklet on The Care of your Lute, available at: www.lutesociety.org/pages/catalogue#n
Improving a poor quality, cheap lute
On John Buckman’s pages: john.redmood.com/improvebargainlute.html
Musicians’ injuries: repetitive strain injury, carpal tunnel syndrome etc.
An ordinary websearch reveals plenty of websites, for instance:
Guitar.about.com: guitar.about.com/od/beginners/a/rsi_guitar.htm
Musicians and injuries: rsi.unl.edu/music.html
Musicians’ Injuries: musiced.about.com/od/beginnersguide/a/injuries.htm
Musicians Health.com: www.musicianshealth.com/whyrsi.htm
The Treatment of overuse injuries in musicians: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1291799/
Ornamentation
Each of the printed tutors under teaching materials has an account of ornamentation in lute music.
Especially useful studies are:
Martin Shepherd ‘The interpretation of signs for graces in English lute music’ The Lute (1996) available at www.lutesociety.org/pages/journal
George Torres, ‘Performance practice technique for the baroque lute: an examination of the introductory avertissements from seventeenth-century sources’ JLSA xxxvi (2003)available from
www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/publications/JLSA-Index.html
Per Kjetil Farstad, ‘Ornaments in 18th century German Lute Music’ in Die Laute ii (1998)available from
www.lautengesellschaft.de/ under Jahrbuecher
Performance practice
Links to historical writings on performance practice: www.symbol4.de/theory.htm
On the website of the Sociedad de Vihuela, bibliography on performance practice: www.sociedaddelavihuela.com/recursos/bibliografia/interpretacion/
Pickups
On John Buckman’s pages: john.redmood.com/lutepickupfaq.html
Fomrhi Quarterly 137, 139, www.fomrhi.org/pages/communications
Pitch
A standard work on historical pitch is Bruce Haynes, A History of Performing Pitch, The Story of A (2002), widely available for purchase online.
Other significant papers have appeared in Fomrhi Quarterly, fomrhi.org and in the Galpin Society Journal, galpinsociety.org/journal.htm
Historical pitch on Martin Shepherd’s site: www.luteshop.co.uk/Historical_pitch.html
Right-Hand Technique
On Martin Shepherd's site: www.luteshop.co.uk/Right-hand_technique.html
Extracts from the treatises on Wayne Cripps site: www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/hand/Technique.html
Brian MacEvoy essay on right-hand technique: www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/publications/MacEvoy/MacEvoyLuteTechnique.pdf
Ralph Maier essay on dedillo: www.ralphmaier.com/index_files/Page318.htm
Historic paintings illustrating technique on Jean-Marie Poirier's site: le.luth.free.fr/
Essays on right-hand technique have appeared in Lute News 54, 94, 101, 102, 106, www.lutesociety.org/pages/lute-news-back-issues
Evidence for nail technique on Richard Sweeney's website: richardsweeney.com/the-best-way-of-play/
Tuning and temperament
See also 'Fret placement for different temperaments' above
A standard work is Mark Lindley, Lutes, Viols & Temperaments (Cambridge University Press, 1984) available at books.google.co.uk/books?id=oXE5AAAAIAAJ&q=
Ross Duffin on Vallotti temperament, Case Western Reserve site: www.scribd.com/doc/209591608/Valotti-Temperament
On Kyle Gann’s website: www.kylegann.com/histune.html
Joe Monzo, Tonalsoft encyclopedia of microtonal lute theory, ‘John Dowland’s Lute Fretting’: www.tonalsoft.com/monzo/dowland/dowland.aspx
Tuning systems by Catherine Schmidt-Jones www.kylegann.com/histune.html
David van Ooijen on meantone, home.planet.nl/~ooije006/david/writings/meantone_f.html
On Martin Shepherd’s site: www.luteshop.co.uk/Tuning_%26_Temperament.html
Scala, software for experimenting with temperaments, Huygens-Fokker website: www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/index.html