Throughout the summer, I learned how the basics of French-English tablature. I also studied enough Italian tablature to get by and read with almost morbid curiosity about German tablature. I’m not sure if I’ll ever have the fortitude for that, or the need but learning about the different tablature notation was very interesting and it felt good to begin making progress. Previously, I could only read modern standard notation and have never learned any type of tabs for guitar.
I purchased a few method books so I could learn from a combined perspective, and also bought a lute calendar. There are four books arranged by season, with a piece for each day of the year. According to the author, Stefan Olof Lundgren, the pieces increase in difficulty throughout the calendar, with the easiest pieces beginning in the Winter book. I felt that I had plenty of time to learn how to read the tablature and begin the calendar December 1st!
And indeed I began, only to find that the level of difficulty was still too great for my ability. Further, I struggled with other fundamental basics such as holding the lute, posture, and fingering. I purchased a lovely strap from Arion Straps which has helped a lot, but I’m still not confident on how to properly hold the lute and the method books differ just from each other that I’m left lost. As I proceeded throughout December, I noticed a lot of wrist pain which I tried to push through but eventually had to discontinue the daily calendar pieces. I know better than to ignore what my body is trying to tell me. Poor technique and bad form caused a lot of pain in my hands and wrists with piano practice, and it was very difficult to go back and relearn correct technique after using bad habits for so long. Hopefully I can avoid that path with my lute practice, as frustrating as it feels to slow down.