The Workshop
| The central idea of this workshop course was to work together as a group to produce one 6 course lute for the English Lute Society to use as a hire instrument. This is a brief report on a successful mission. |
| This is most of the group gathered round the complete set of wood necessary to make the lute! We hope it will look quite different at the end, but no-one can be sure! From left to right: David; Nick from Ashby de la Zouch, England; Rachel from Montpellier, France; Peter from Montpellier, France; Denny from St. Louis, USA; Thea from Norwich; Richard from Staithes, England. Still to arrive is Olivier from Nice, France |
| Nick in the foreground gluing on a rib, Rachel behind him and, clearly already climbing the wall, Olivier! |
| Peter working on pegs |
| Rachel polishing pegs on a buffing wheel |
| Denny cutting the rose design into the soundboard |
| Richard doing something fiddly! |
| The back is coming on nicely |
| Olivier making notes in the courtyard at tea-time |
| Scraping off the excess glue after cramping on the bars. |
| Halfway through the week and it begins to look possible! |
| Amazing how conversation freezes when a camera appears! But in spite of appearances here, we all had a very jolly time during wonderful meals cooked by Thea. |
| This, perhaps, gives more indication of the spirit of the evenings! |
| Thea during a brief lull in the catering! |
| Denny holding the half-made lute, the bridge is being glued on in the background. The tutor looks somewhat wild-eyed by now. |
| The completed lute held by Peter. Thank you for the photo, Richard. |
| Just to prove it, everyone signed the label inside the lute. |
| Success! The final picture of the course. The completed lute surrounded by the tired and happy band! |
| The hand-over at the Lute Society meeting in the Art Workers' Guild. Nick is explaining how it all came about. |
| The completed lute being played for the first time in public by Nick at the Lute Society meeting. The whole enterprise seems to have been a great success, so much so that we are currently making plans to do it again next summer, this time making a 13 course German baroque lute. Being larger it may take ten days rather than seven.
If you are interested in being part of next year's exhausting extravaganza, please send me an |
| Report on 2000 summer school | Report on 2001 summer school |
| Report on 2002 summer school | Report on 2003 summer school |
| Report on 2005 summer school | Report on 2006 summer school |
| Lutes | Bows |