what is a course lute

What is a 8 course lute?

A typical medieval lute has 4 courses —single strings or a pairs of strings, usually tuned in unison or octaves, plucked as one single string. Attempts at reconstructing medieval lutes necessarily involve a significant amount of speculation, as do …

What is a lute?

Jan 14, 2020 · A six course lute is a sweet and elegant instrument that works well for the early Italian and French literature, as well as the wonderful Spanish vihuela composers. What kind of lute does John Dowland use? The seven course lute covers later literature, including much of …

Are there any tuning schemes for the lute?

This particular lute is an example of that historical revisionism–beautifully built, well-balanced, suited to a wide variety of transitional material, but historically something of an orphan. Seven course lutes there were aplenty, nine and ten courses were common, but it seems that by and large, composers skipped over eight.

How do you play the lute?

The Georg Gerle lute (number 3 on the list above) represents a step further into the lute development. It has many features from earlier instruments while incorporating a thinner soundboard with a barring pattern very similar to later 7-course instruments.

What is the 7th course on a lute?

In many 7 course pieces, the 7th course (usually low D or F) is used frequently as both an open string AND as a fretted string. Composers writing for the 7 course lute will voice chords and jump between the 6th and 7th courses in a way that takes advantage of the fact that they are adjacent strings.

How many strings are in a lute?

Throughout the early-to mid-16th century, lutes were most commonly strung with 5 courses and a single treble string. This is explained as early as 1511 by Sebastien Virdung in Musica Getutscht:#N#I advise, therefore, that you take up a lute with eleven strings, [a type] that is found almost everywhere....First you must know that the eleven strings are distributed among six courses, always two strings for each course, with the sole exception of the sixth course which normally has only a single string” [1]

What is the difference between a theorbo and an archlute?

1 4-19 string A Lute (theorbo) - You can usually spot the difference between a theorbo and an archlute because a theorbo has half as many pegs and is single strung. Theorbos are essentially a single strung archlute tuned a tone higher.

What is a diapason on a lute?

Diapason refers to a bass string below the normal 6 course register. You should be able to fret these strings down to a low C (depending on the lute) but at least down to a low D or 9th course on a 10 course lute and certainly all the Diapasons on a 7, 8 or 9 course lute.

What does it mean to have fixed frets on a guitar?

As a guitarist, used to fixed metal frets, this means one is now in control of the action, temperament, and intonation of the instrument. As the gut frets wear out, new ones must be tied to the neck of the lute, arranged in sequential gauges and tuned to an appropriate temperament.

What tuning is best for a continuo bass?

They often have an extremely long neck to facilitate the register of the bass strings. Common tuning: GDAFCG + Fret-able (F , Eb, D, C) Diapasons +Non fret-able (B,A,G,F) Diapasons.

What is a course on a guitar?

Note: Course means a set of two strings - (A modern 12 string acoustic guitar could also be called a 6 course guitar.) Most lutes have a single top (highest pitch) string but this is still referred to as the 1st course. Diapason refers to a bass string below the normal 6 course register.

What are lutes made of?

Lutes are made of hardwood, especially maple, rosewood, or ebony. The wooden body is shaped into a flat thin plate, and they contain a hole below the strings that is known as rose. Unlike guitars, the hole is not completely open, rather is it covered with a single grille in the form of a vine. Some of them are also contain a decorated knot in place of a vine that is carved in wood.

How much does a lute cost?

Lutes are not a common instrument anymore like guitars and drums. They are custom made have a price range from $500 to $1500. However, is you want this instrument with higher courses then it may cost you a bit more than $1500.

How thick is a lute soundboard?

The thickness of a lute’s soundboard varies. It is mostly around 1.5 to 2.5 mm, however, previous craftsmen used to tune the belly of the instrument as by removing the mass and braced it according to the preference of luthiers to produce sonic musical notes. Some lute players used to coat their instrument’s belly with a thin shellac coat to keep it free from dirt.

What are the strings of a lute made of?

The strings of the lute were previously made of animal gut. Nowadays people use a mixture of nylon and animal gut to make its strings. You must be wonder animal gut? Well, there is a reason behind it.

When did the lute become popular?

Lute gained its popularity in Europe in the early 1600s and has reached its peak popularity in the 1700s. Most of you may know Lute as a musical instrument, but it was considered a popular art during The Renaissance and Baroque periods. It however originated in the Arab during the 13th century.

What is a chordophone with a hole in its belly?

It can be described as an instrument with a plucked chordophone that has few strings attached to its belly. It consists of a hole inside its belly that helps to echo sound and produce soft music.

Who defined the lute?

Curt Sachs defined the word lute in the terminology section of The History of Musical Instruments as "composed of a body, and of a neck which serves both as a handle and as a means of stretching the strings beyond the body".

How does the lute work?

The lute is plucked or strummed with one hand while the other hand "frets" (presses down) the strings on the neck's fingerboard. By pressing the strings on different places of the fingerboard, the player can shorten or lengthen the part of the string that is vibrating, thus producing higher or lower pitches (notes).

What is the sound of a lute?

As a small instrument, the lute produces a relatively quiet sound . The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist or lutist, and a maker of lutes (or any similar string instrument, or violin family instruments) is referred to as a luthier .

How many strings are in a lute?

They produce a bass that differs somewhat in timbre from nylon basses. The lute's strings are arranged in courses, of two strings each, though the highest-pitched course usually consists of only a single string, called the chanterelle. In later Baroque lutes two upper courses are single.

What is the lute instrument?

The lute player either improvises ("realizes") a chordal accompaniment based on the figured bass part, or plays a written-out accompaniment (both music notation and tablature ("tab") are used for lute). As a small instrument, the lute produces a relatively quiet sound.

How many different lute sizes were there?

There were several sizes, and by the end of the Renaissance, seven different sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from the era before 1500.

What instruments were used in the Renaissance?

The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. During the Baroque music era, the lute was used as one of the instruments which played the basso continuo accompaniment parts.

How many courses does the lute have?

Many people taking up the lute begin with a seven-course renaissance instrument. Not only is there much excellent music specifically for this instrument, but being similar in sound to a six-course instrument, it is suitable for playing the entire sixteenth century repertoire.

What is the lute capable of?

The instrument is capable of producing the most beautiful sounds, and has a vast repertoire of music, which it would take a lifetime to explore fully. This repertoire includes not only solo music, but a substantial body of songs, duets, and consort pieces, and so the lute offers opportunities for social as well as solo playing.

How many pages are there in Stefan Lundgren's Baroque Lute Companion?

Miguel Yisrael, Method for the Baroque Lute (Ut Orpheus Edizioni) very extensive at 356 pages. Ut Orpheus Edizioni have also published a tutor for theorbo.

Is New Grove a good place to study lute?

As always New Grove is a good starting point for lute studies. The main fora for the publication of lute studies are The Lute (Journal of the Lute Society), The Journal of the Lute Society of America; the Deutsche Lautengesellschaft also now has a Jahrbuch.

Who first used nails?

Regarding nails, perhaps the earliest historical reference commending the use of nails is in the writings of Piccinini (1623); some very fine players, ancient and modern, have played lute with nails. (Conversely of course, you can play the guitar with flesh technique, as Tarrega did.)

Is lute music hard?

The lute attracted the attention of the most accomplished musicians in its day, and so some of the repertoire is very hard, but at the same time, the simplest lute music can sound truly beautiful if played with a correct basic technique.

Can you play guitar with nails?

Some players who want to play both lute and guitar trim their nails very carefully so that they can play guitar with nails and (renaissance) lute with flesh technique, something which is possible because the angle of the hand in ‘thumb inside’ technique is so different from that in modern guitar technique.

A. Types of Lute

• Throughout the early-to mid-16th century, lutes were most commonly strung with 5 courses and a single treble string. This is explained as early as 1511 by Sebastien Virdung in Musica Getutscht: I advise, therefore, that you take up a lute with eleven strings, [a type] that is found almost everywhere....First you must know that the eleven strings ar...

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B. Strings

C. Frets and Temperament

D. Modern Lutes