Citterns

Subject: Citterns
From: jonm
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 11:33 AM

I've just acquired a cittern, wonderful in open tunings for backing Scottish and Irish tunes, trying to get the hang of singing to it as well. It's loud, and tuned to an open chord there is little merit in picking around, although single-string melody runs with accompanying drones are just spectacular.

Two questions for citternites:

Firstly, I've some Irvine/Lunny bouzouki stylings to listen to, is there anyone else whose cittern playing I should hear as I learn the beast?

Secondly, how does one amplify one of these, preferably without butchering the instrument at all? It sounds so wonderful I will not be able to resist taking it out with the band for long...

Thanks in anticipation.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Gedpipes
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 12:16 PM

try Alistair Russell he has a web site I think
Good luck
Ged

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Bernard
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 12:17 PM

Try Tony Gibbons of Garva - he uses cittern exclusively in the band (well, not counting the bad jokes, of course!!) and is generally recognised as a leading cittern player (that's another fiver you owe me, Tony!).

gibbonstony_AT_hotmail.com will reach him - I've not done a 'clicky' or given the email address correctly for spam reasons... spammers can 'harvest' email addresses from forums such as this quite easily. So... please replace the _AT_ with @ to make it work!

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 12:45 PM

Get any or all of Gerald Trimble's albums. -also Donnal Lunny.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,george
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 01:24 PM

Aaron Jones is an extremely fine citterista, not sure how heavily they feature in his album contributions but if he's accompanying, it's most likely a 10 string. The album with Claire Mann would be a worthy source.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: michaelr
Date: 30 Oct 06 - 03:25 PM

Join the Cittern list at Yahoo!Groups. There's a large number of experienced players and builders on the list who will be happy to answer all your questions.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:31 AM

Jim Sutherland of ' Easy Club ' spectacular cittern player.

eric

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 06:45 AM

Gerry Trimble, definitely. Especially his first, which is mainly traditional tunes, and with no singing on it, not that he's a bad singer. He has at least 4 recordings I can think of , all on "Green Linnet". Don't know if they are still available. You could look for them on ebay. Good luck.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: clueless don
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 08:41 AM

Brian McNeill, formerly of the Battlefield Band, is also an accomplished cittern player. The early Battlefield Band albums would be a good resource for you.

Don

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: jonm
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 10:10 AM

Thanks for all the advice so far, I shall definitely sell my soul to Amazon shortly. Joined the forum, too. Anyone with experience of amplifying the beastie?

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 11:05 AM

Sorry - only 3 recordings by Gerry T. Thought there were more, but the first one - "First Flight" - is definitely the best. There's another American player called Joseph Sobol [ I think ] who has quite a reputation, but I haven't heard his playing.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Stu
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 11:10 AM

John McCusker also plays cittern on a number of Kate Rusby's songs.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: mandotim
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 01:00 PM

Stigweard...don't start that again....:))
Tim

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 31 Oct 06 - 02:13 PM

I feel the best way to amplify a cittern, or any7 acoustic instrument, is to play it into a good mic. I use a Sure Beta 56. This is not just because I don't like the sound of pick-ups, but also because, short of a volume pedal, there's no way to "play the mic" with a pick-up. I know a lot of people disagree, but that's my take on it.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Scotus
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 08:42 AM

Have a listen to Joseph Sobol's CD 'Citternalia' - wonderful stuff!

Jack

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,theleveller
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 09:19 AM

Hi Jon. I play a big bodied Dave Freshwater cittern and seldom need a pickup in club situation. I do use one for home recording though and that's an Ashworth Transducer on the face (takes time to work out the right position)through a preamp which is essential to adjust the balance of the treble to bass and mid range. It sounds fine with one big exception and that is that when you do hammer ons you can hear the thump of the finger on the fretboard on the recording. It's really annoying and, being no electronics expert, I haven't yet found the solution, though when I played in the club tent at Cambridge, it sounded fine. Microphones work well if you don't move around too much. I'm quite a 'mobile' player so it doesn't work for me.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 11:51 AM

The late Jim Barnes was I believe one of the first to bring the cittern to Scottish traditional music. He was a fine player with a strong "driving" style. Also excellent guitarist. See albums by Kentigern and Jim and Sylvia Barnes

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Bernard
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 12:02 PM

Just to throw in a 'wildcard'... luthier Stefan Sobell of Hexham claims to have reinvented the cittern into the form we know today.

He says he based it on instruments depicted in medieval paintings.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 12:15 PM

Jim Barnes played one of Sobells earliest citterns.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Bernard
Date: 01 Nov 06 - 04:29 PM

They are much better than any others I've tried... just wish I could afford to own one!

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,Ancient Briton
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 04:24 AM

The bouzouki player in our 3-piece uses a Microvox 400 microphone near the soundhole, linked to a belt pack power unit. It works fine.

AB

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 06:43 AM

Brian McNeill and Jamie McMenemy would have been the first musicians to use Sobell's citterns in Scotland- a good few years before Jim Barnes, I would think. Not in the least to denigrate Jim as a player - he's sorely missed.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Mooh
Date: 02 Nov 06 - 09:14 AM

Amplifying such things can be a little hit and miss, but generally I like to install a soundboard transducer of some sort as a minimum threshold signal. Combined with an internal mic, nmovable is better than fixed, one can get an acceptable sound. I still prefer an condensor mic on a stand, but many instances make that impractical. A cobination of micss and pickups can be [pleasing but depends on decent monitoring and/or sound persons to get the right sound. Your milage will obviously vary, but my ears don't care for saddle or bridge pickups.

It;s good to pay attention to these things. I'm always amazed at how many musicians don't seem to care how they sound.

Sorry for the typos, I can't locate my reading glasses.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: jonm
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 03:01 AM

Thanks for the above; is it possible to attach the Microvox device without spoiling the finish on the instrument?

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: Declan
Date: 03 Nov 06 - 04:49 PM

One of my favourite cittern players is Ciaran Curran, who plays with Altan and is a very subtle backer of tunes, and ocasionally songs, although the guitarists (Mark Kelly and/or Daithi Sproule) tend to be to the fore on the song arrangements.

Subject: RE: Citterns
From: GUEST,Ancient Briton
Date: 04 Nov 06 - 03:00 PM

THe Micrivox 400 micriophone is about the size of a sugar cube and is attached to the instrument via a sticky backed velcro patch. As far as I can tell there's no damage as such to the instrument finish (assuming it's cellulose) and I would guess that if you need to remove the patch, any adhesive residue left on the instrument could be removed using a cloth damped with white spirit. If the instrument lives outside its case and gets exposed to daylight there might be a "shadow" of lighter wood in the shaded area left beneath the velcro patch when fianlly removed. If there's a scratchplate on your cittern, try sticking the velcro to that - the 400's a mike, not a transducer, so the sound quality wouldn't be impaired as it might be with a transducer.


I also use a 400 for my tenor banjo - it sits on the perch pole under the bridge.

Good luck