This manual is a guide to the study of the Renaissance lute, taking the student on a step-by-step journey through technical matters and exercises of increasing difficulty. It is aimed at both the beginner and those who would like to improve their own technique.
Special attention has been given to those who have specialized in guitar, so where necessary some important differences between the techniques of the two instruments have been underlined.
All the material has been set out following a rational approach to the various challenges. To this end I thought it useful to write many of the exercises myself, especially those at the beginning of the course. I hope to guide the student from the technical basics to a level sufficient for playing music of intermediate difficulty. Of course, any material regarding technique will help the student progress to higher levels.
The main areas covered are: hand positions, according to Renaissance practice; study of appropriate sonority; development of contrapuntal sensitivity; idiomatic techniques; introduction to the different Renaissance musical forms; recognition of different interrelational forms.
