November 2024 Meeting Report

The November meeting of the Scottish Lute & Early Guitar society had a slightly different format as we were joined by renowned lutenist Jacob Heringman for a masterclass session. The players meeting portion of the day was broadly the same as usual, but each person was given time with Jacob to receive feedback and advice on our performances.

First to spend time with our expert guest was newcomer to the meetings Andy MacGregor. Andy has been playing classical guitar and baroque lute for some time, but for the last year or so has been playing an 8-course renaissance lute by Luke Emmet. He had prepared to play a “Fantasia” by Alonso Mudarra. Jacob highlighted that the tune was written to emulate a harp, and specifically to emulate a harpist named Ludovico. The piece features some unusual dissonances and although it was described as “harmonically interesting”, it is indeed a lovely piece. We applaud Andy for bringing such a tune to his first players meeting.

Tanya and Joanna were next to play. Treating us to two duets over a double slot with Jacob. Firstly, they played John Johnsons “Galliard to Lavecchia”. A beautiful piece in which the two parts play and then echo each other with embellishments. They then performed a Thomas Robinson “Plainsong” which Joanna feels is indeed plain but beautifully so. One strange thing about the piece for the pair was the seemingly incomprehensible left-hand fingerings in the tablature, which will be mentioned again when discussing the valuable feedback we received. Tanya and Joanna’s duets have become a favourite portion of our players meetings, and we were all glad that they got the chance to perform together for Mr. Heringman.

Next to play was Glen Robertson, who performed a “Recercare” by Marco Dall’Aquila from a Venetian manuscript of lute music circa 1520. Glen played the short tune twice round with an improvised coda. Impressively, Jacob recognized the manuscript from the piece and along side his performance feedback, warned us to be wary of possible publishing/printing errors in our sheet music, and assured us that we can always experiment if the written music seems like it may be different than the composer intended.

Chris Miller joined us again with his 10-course renaissance lute and a “Pavane” by Anthony Holborne. The tune itself is titled “The Countess of Pembroke’s Paradise” and sounded lovely under Chris’s fingers as it played with going between major and minor. Chris played the piece as it is written, and with his own divisions. Chirs has also been very generous and shared tablature for the piece with his own divisions written in, and instructions on how to alter the piece for 7 and 8 course lutes. Thanks Chris!

Alastair Merrill also joined us at our meeting, and he is clearly still enjoying his new Tony Johnson lute! Alastair has been learning a paired Galliard and Pavane by Francis Cutting and chose to play “Pavan No. 9” for his slot with Jacob. As a particularly prolific composer of his day, it was nice to hear some of Francis Cuttings music which we weren’t all familiar with. Alastair performed the piece very well and seemed eager to continue his practice with Jacob’s advice.

We were also joined by Wray Pascoe, who also brought an 8-course renaissance lute. Wray played “Adie Mis Amons” by Francesco Spinacino. Interestingly, the tune is taken from the first known printed book of instrumental music. After his performance, Jacob pointed out that we can improve our understanding of certain period pieces by finding vocal recordings of them. As some of the music we play are arrangements of vocal pieces, it makes sense for us to be familiar with vocal performances of them. This is something that may have been simpler for historical musicians, as they are likely to have been familiar with more of the popular vocal pieces of their time.

Our player’s meeting was rounded off by Luisa McMinn on her 7-course lute. Having previously performed for us on theorbo and viol, we can never be sure which instrument Luisa will choose to bring along. Luisa had prepared Dowland’s “Fortune”, which is sometimes featured in books of “easy” pieces for the lute, but our members agree that there may be no truly easy pieces for these instruments. Jacob praised Luisa for her expression while performing, and she was very quick to implement the expert feedback provided.

Throughout our session Jacob Heringman sat with our performers and offered many pearls of wisdom drawing from his years of experience as a professional lute player. After watching our hands and comparing them to the written tablature, some of us were advised to think about altering the fingerings on our fretting hands to sustain the bass voices. Jacob told us that a piece can sound much more satisfying if the bass note is allowed to sing out completely rather than cut out mid bar. This included a very specific tip to use when we may want to sustain a bass note on one string and play the same fret on a higher string; rather than trying to squeeze another finger onto the fret, try playing the higher fret with the base of the finger, and pivoting on the fingertip to keep the bass note.

          Mr. Heringman even offered advice on holding the instrument. One of our members was given the tip that a non-slip material like neoprene doesn’t only hold the instrument in place for practical reasons, but it can free up the wrist and forearm of the plucking hand and can allow the player to be more expressive.

          We were also given helpful exercises for both hands which we may wish to try. These were noted down and in our breaks the sounds of semitone trills, open strings, and 6 course chords filled the air.

          We all thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with a world class musician, and we are certainly aiming to put our feedback into practice at our next meeting. Although we had the chance to do so immediately after lunch as Jacob had prepared and printed out six short pieces for ensemble playing.
It was a pleasure to host Jacob at our meeting and hope to see him again.