Diana Poulton: A Tutor For The Renaissance Lute - With the benefit of her many years study of the repertoire and teaching of the instrument Diana Poulton has completely re-cast her earlier book (An Introduction to Lute Playing 1961) to produce in A Tutor for the Renaissance Lute the most comprehensive method for the lute based on Renaissance precepts. The book will be found equally useful to students working alone - giving clear instructions on all technical matters progressively introduced according to their difficulty - and to teacher (providing a source of some seventy-fivepieces from which to structure their pupils' progress). The advanced student too will find that much of the music is suitable for recital programmes. 

Traduction Doc Rossi
Compositeur : Damiani Andrea
Instrumentation : Luth
Publication Date: 1999
Series: Teoria e Didattica della Musica (Theoretical and Educational Texts)
Pages: pp. 208
CONTENTS
*  Preface
*  Introduction
*  CHAPTER 1. TUNING AND TABLATURE
Tuning - Tablature (French tablature - Italian tablature - Rhythm symbols - Fingering and other symbols) - Stringing and doubling - Tuning practice (Practical advice on tuning - Tuning problems) - Strings
*  CHAPTER 2. BASIC TECHNIQUES
Posture and position of the lute - Right-hand position - Right-hand functions - Sound production (Positioning p - Forearm movement - Attack - Positioning i) - Alternating p and i - Finger articulation for polyphonic passages (Positioning p - Positioning i) - Preparatory exercises - Differences from guitar technique - Body control
*  CHAPTER 3. THE RIGHT HAND
Forearm and accentuation - Fingering
*  CHAPTER 4. THE LEFT HAND
General principals - Preparatory exercises - Avoiding stiffness - Differences from guitar technique - Hand coordination
*  CHAPTER 5. SCALES
Right-hand scale technique (Forearm movement - Finger articulation - Integrating the two techniques)
*  CHAPTER 6. EXERCISES FOR TWO LUTES
Exercises on a ground bass - Contrapuntal exercises - Articulation - Dances and ground basses
*  CHAPTER 7. SHIFTING LEFT-HAND POSITIONS
Fundamental principals - Position changes using the same finger - Position changes by substitution - Position changes by jump
*  CHAPTER 8. EXERCISES FOR TWO LUTES WITH POSITION CHANGES
*  CHAPTER 9. RIGHT-HAND TECHNIQUE IN POLYPHONIC MUSIC
p-i articulation - Positioning m - Rest stroke with p - Left-hand positions and movement - m-i articulation - Combining p, i and m - Easy pieces in two voices - Two-voice scales
*  CHAPTER 10. COUNTERPOINT
Voice progression and intervals - The species - Florid counterpoint - Imitation - Syncopation - Suspension
*  CHAPTER 11. CONTRAPUNTAL PIECES IN TWO VOICES
*  CHAPTER 12. THREE VOICES
The right hand - Combining chords and single notes - Repeated chords and monophonic passages - Arpeggios - Chords and counterpoint
*  CHAPTER 13. CONTRAPUNTAL PIECES IN THREE VOICES
Technical aspects: three-voice scales, the barre - Contrapuntal pieces in three voices
*  CHAPTER 14. CHORDS OF FOUR OR MORE NOTES
The ring finger (a) - Five- and six-note chords - Chords played with p
*  CHAPTER 15. IDIOMATIC LUTE COMPOSITIONS
Chords and divisions - Characteristics of lute composition
*  CHAPTER 16. TRANSFORMATION OF LUTE TECHNIQUE DURING THE 16th CENTURY
Evolution of right-hand position - Exercises for m-i alternation
*  CHAPTER 17. TECHNIQUE
Scales (Full-length scales in all keys - Scales with divisions) - Speed - Left-hand legato and ornamentation - The barre (Preparatory exercises - Barre exercises) - Scales in two and more voices (Two-voice scales - Three-voice scales) - Polyphonic patterns - Right-hand exercises
*  CHAPTER 18. RENAISSANCE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE
Interpretation (Rhetoric - Sound quality - Rhythmic inequality) - Ornamentation (16th-century sources - The first half of the 16th century - The second half of the 16th century - The first half of the 17th century - The Elizabethans)
*  CHAPTER 19. TEMPERAMENT
Meantone temperament - Equal temperament

This book is aimed at beginner lute and guitar players interested in playing Renaissance lutemusic on either instrument. Lute and guitar tablature are included along with notes on technique biographies of lute composers from the 16th century and general advice on buying stringing and tuning a lute. The book startswith single-line melodies before progressing to two-part and full repertoire pieces. Selections include works by great Renaissance composers such as John Dowland Francesco da Milano Alonso Mudarra Francesco Spinacino andothers with music from England Scotland Italy France and Germany. A useful chord chart is also included. Every piece in the book has been recorded for download by Rob MacKillop--in itself an album worth owning. Includesaccess to online audio.  

Cette Méthode de Luth Baroque peut vous donner les bases techniques et musicales nécessaires à l?obtention d?une structure assez solide et complète du jeu du luth baroque. Et c?est là tout l?enjeu et le défi de l?écriture de cet ouvrage : donner, au plus grand nombre de passionnés, l?opportunité de s?exprimer à travers le luth baroque, et ce, indépendamment de leur niveau d?apprentissage. Notre livre est destiné non seulement à celui qui n?a jamais joué d?un instrument de musique, mais aussi au guitariste avisé qui veut s?initier aux mystères du luth baroque !

Mode d?emploi

Notre Méthode de Luth Baroque est divisée en trois parties.

La première partie, plutôt théorique, aidera à mieux comprendre la façon de jouer la musique écrite pour le luth baroque. Nous avons jugé indispensable d?avoir des connaissances élémentaires de solfège occidental mais aussi de la tablature (forme de notation musicale spécifique au luth). Ces connaissances, insuffisantes si étudiées de manière isolée, ont été enrichies d?un lexique des pièces instrumentales ainsi que de biographies de la plupart des compositeurs de musique pour luth baroque à 11 et 13 ch?urs.

En deuxième partie, nous avons dédié tout un chapitre à l?étude de la technique et de la production sonore du luth. Riche en photos et détails de toutes les étapes techniques que nous devrons franchir, ce chapitre est, sans aucun doute, le plus important de toute notre Méthode pour bien comprendre l?univers sonore du luth baroque ! Ensuite, nous vous proposons 21 exercices, tous d?un niveau élémentaire, mais progressifs, accompagnés de plusieurs pièces de musique. Vous allez d?abord jouer des mélodies pour ensuite ajouter les basses, et seulement après commencer à jouer les ornements.

En troisième partie, nous avons choisi près de 250 pièces pour luth baroque à 11 et 13 ch?urs. Ces pièces, divisées en trois niveaux, sont d?un degré de difficulté qui s?échelonne du niveau « débutant », « moyen » à « avancé ». Nous avons, tout comme à l?époque baroque, séparé ces pièces selon leurs tonalités et leur nom. Aussi, nous n?avons choisi que très peu de tonalités différentes, afin que le luthiste débutant puisse travailler l?essentiel de son instrument, au lieu de perdre son temps à essayer de s?accorder tout le temps et de jouer des morceaux bien trop complexes pour son niveau. Il n?y a pas de mauvaise musique mais, parfois, il y a de mauvais musiciens ! Faire de la musique n?est simplement pas jouer des notes et réaliser quelques acrobaties, souvent sans intérêt. Un musicien « mûr » se plaît le plus souvent à jouer une simple mélodie et à jouir des merveilles sonores de son instrument !

Nous espérons que cette méthode pourra aider ceux qui n?ont pas accès à un professeur (même si nous leur conseillons d?aller en voir un le plus régulièrement possible), mais aussi tous les professeurs n?ayant pas suffisamment de matériel pour faire travailler, d?une manière systématique, leurs élèves.
Bon courage à tous !
Miguel Yisrael - formerly Miguel Serdoura, now carrying the surname of his mother - was born in Lisbon, where he began his musical and artistic career, earning his Diploma in Classical Guitar in 1994. In 1995, he moved to Paris, where he studied the lute with Claire Antonini in the Early Music Department of the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris - CNR. He also took part in several master classes in his discipline, with Rolf Lislevand and other prestigious artists. From 1999 to 2004, he completed his musical education at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland with the grand maestro Hopkinson Smith.
As a soloist, Miguel Yisrael has given recitals in France, Portugal, United-Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, China and USA. In 2000, he took part in a television documentary devoted to the lutenist Hopkinson Smith, broadcast by Arte, Mezzo, Classica, RTBF and TSR. He currently lives and teaches baroque and renaissance lute in Paris, where he gives frequent concerts/lectures in the framework of the ?Musicien au Musée? program of the Musée de la Musique - Cité de la Musique in Paris.
Miguel Yisrael performs on lutes built by Cezar Mateus, Princeton, USA, and with strings from Mimmo Peruffo, Vicenza, Italy.
He recorded his first solo CD for the Dutch Label Brilliant Classics in 2008.