I Want a Lute!

On Sunday, because our talented tenor friend Dan was singing, we went to an excellent concert by Magnificat. They did some excellent madrigals, which really inspired me to be more serious about singing. I've been a choral vagabond for a few years now, singing in different groups just to have something to do. Don't get me wrong -- it's been great for me. I met Susie in Creative Voices, after all. But just singing in a group just to be singing just doesn't cut it for me anymore. I want to actually be in a group in which I can sing what I want to sing. And right now, that's madrigals. So, if anyone reading this knows of a madrigal group looking for a bass, let me know.

Also noteworthy at the concert was the presence of a theorbo player. For the non-Baroque-music-geek, a theorbo is a larger cousin of the lute, with many bass strings. Oh, and it's ridiculously cool. Of course I decided I had to have one. After a little research, I discoverd that not only are they exceedingly rare, but they also cost upwards of $8k. And not only would finding music for it be difficult, but it's also large and impractical to lug around.

A bit more web browsing later, I decided upon another target: a lute. I actually wanted a lute back in the day when I still played my classical guitar. Just never could afford it (or wanted it quite enough to justify the expense). Now, though, I think it would be awesome to have a lute. Not only do they sound cool, but they really are quite beautiful.

One problem with buying a lute is where to start: there are only about a bajillion different kinds of lutes. Six courses, seven courses, eight, nine, ten, eleven, thirteen courses, Renaissance lutes, Baroque lutes, archlutes. Where to start? Seems that a 6-8 course (a course is a single string or pair of strings) lute is good starting place.

Now, lutes can be quite expensive as well. But not nearly as pricey as theorboes. In fact, I've found a few that can be had for less than $450. I'm sure they're crap, but it would be some thing I could start with so I could see if I could justify a bigger expense. Plus it would be cool to be able to say that I own a lute. I'd just have to avoid becoming one of those Renfair weenies.