Serdoura, Miguel - Method for the Baroque Lute. A practical guide for beginning and advanced lutenists

Cette Méthode de Luth Baroque peut vous donner les bases techniques et musicales nécessaires à l’obtention d’une structure assez solide et complète du jeu du luth baroque. Et c’est là tout l’enjeu et le défi de l’écriture de cet ouvrage : donner, au plus grand nombre de passionnés, l’opportunité de s’exprimer à travers le luth baroque, et ce, indépendamment de leur niveau d’apprentissage. Notre livre est destiné non seulement à celui qui n’a jamais joué d’un instrument de musique, mais aussi au guitariste avisé qui veut s’initier aux mystères du luth baroque.

Miguel Serdoura was born in Lisbon, where he began his musical and artistic career, earning his Diploma in Classical Guitar in 1994.
From 1999 to 2004, after studying the lute at the Paris Conservatoire, with Claire Antonini, Miguel Serdoura completed his musical education with Hopkinson Smith in Basel, Switzerland, at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.
As a soloist, Miguel Serdoura has given recitals in France, Portugal, United Kingdom, Austria, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, China and USA.
In 2000, he took part in a television documentary devoted to the lutenist Hopkinson Smith, broadcast by Mezzo, Classica, RTBF and TSR.
Miguel Serdoura has recorded 3 solo CDs for the Dutch Label Brilliant Classics, in 2008, 2010 and 2012, earning a "Diapason d'Or Découverte" for his CD "The Court of Bayreuth", a 4 Stars Audioclásica for his CD "Austria 1676" and a "5 Diapason" for his CD "Les Baricades Mistérieuses".
He is also the author of a major treatise on the baroque lute called "Method for the Baroque Lute", published in Italy by Ut Orpheus in 2008. In 2010, he created, for the same publisher, a new collection of music scores for the Baroque lute called "La Rhétorique des Dieux".
In 2015 Miguel Serdoura founded Le Luth Doré SAS, a french company dedicated to honoring and preserving the musical legacy of European early plucked instruments such as lutes, mandolins and early guitars, by creating high quality inexpensive instruments, urtext music editions, accessories and educational programs.
Miguel Serdoura performs on lutes built by Cezar Mateus, Princeton, USA.
He currently lives and teaches Renaissance and Baroque lute in Paris.

il Fronimo n. 151 (2010)
... questo metodo è un punto fermo di straordinaria importanza nel moderno panorama del liuto barocco ... Dedicato al principiante, al suonatore evoluto e all’insegnante, è un punto di riferimento per l’approccio moderno ad uno strumento antico e si rpopone come esempio per chiunque è interessato alle diverse prospettive dell’apprendimento: l’esecuzione, lo studio e la didattica. (Giorgio Ferraris)

Lauten-Info 2/2008
... Miguel Yisraels „Méthode“ ist die umfangreichste, informativste und großzügiste mir bekannte Barocklautenschule, in der (fast) alles reichhaltig vorhanden ist. Bis auf die beiden oben genannten kleinen pädagogischen Lücken, die ein erfahrener Lehrer ohnehin leicht zu füllen in der Lage ist, hat der Schüler eine Unmenge an unterschiedlichstem Material in einem Buch versammelt, welches ihm einen breiten Einblick in Musik und Repertoire der Barocklaute zu geben im Stande ist. Alles in allem: sehr empfehlneswert! (Rainer Luckhardt)

Lute - the instrument (Brasil, 06/2009)
... You cannot get the richness and the detail of information nowadays, compiled and taught in a clear and objective way, better than this. Already indispensable for a modern lute student and maybe your best solution if you do not have the privilege of having a lute teacher relatively close to your home. ... (Luis Maciel)

Nostalgia n. 30 (Japan, 01/2009)
"Portuguese lutenist Miguel Yisrael has given his method for the baroque lute the subtitle: a practical guide for beginning and advanced lutenists. That is an apt description of this hefty volume of no less than 350 pages full of text, pictures and music. Step by step, illustrated by many pictures and exercises, Yisrael takes us through the various aspects of baroque lute technique. This part of the book also has six graded groups of musical pieces to study. The inclusion of the many useful lists, and the practical list of contents enabling you to find what you want quickly, will keep it a valuable book even if you have successfully finished all the lessons. Needles to say the 250 beautiful pieces will provide many hours of enjoyment in itself." (David van Oojen)

Geluit-Luthinerie n. 45 (03/2009)
"This new edition is the most complete I've seen. Not only many easy pieces, sorted by key, but also a complete history, concordances, clear pictures of techniques and positions, an extended bibliography. So it is both a practical manual as well as an interesting book to read or to search for pieces by key and or level." (Greet Schamp)

Gitarr Och Luta (04/2009)
"An excellent book!” (Kenneth Sparr)

De Tabulatuur n. 96 (06/2009)
"Yisrael's lute method is pleasant and easy to read, which is especially important for the beginning lute player. ... Subjects as notation, different kinds of tablature, fingering and embellishments are amply explained. ... There are open string exercises, bass line exercises, melody line exercises, and pieces to gradually clarify the structure of chords Legato, rhythm, arpeggios, damping the basses: every aspect is included. ... Although there are several baroque lute methods available, Yisrael’s book really is an asset. (Margriet Verzijl)

Midlife Music Musings - http://kemer.blogspot.com/search/label/lute
... The method is published by Ut Orpheus Edizioni; there are both English and French editions. The quality of the editing itself is excellent, and the tablature is attractive and very readable. If you are like me, dabbling and struggling with the baroque lute, this is for you. If you are wondering if you want to go down the path of the baroque lute, this is especially for you! I might add that this method is appropriate for both the 11-course and 13-course lute: almost all of the music in it is for the 11-course and the few 13-course pieces are easily adapted. (I still think many rush into the decision to get a 13-course instrument, thinking that they need those two extra notes.) (Kemer Thomson Poway)

Nostalgia No. 30 (January 2009) - Newsletter from the Lute & Early Guitar Society Japan
... No method will ever be able to replace a teacher, but as teachers of the baroque lute are hard to find, this book might serve as a guide for the periods between the occasional workshop or lesson you are able to attend. The inclusion of the many useful lists, and the practical list of contents enabling you to find what you want quickly, will keep it a valuable book even if you have successfully finished all the lessons. Needles to say the 250 beautiful pieces will provide many hours of enjoyment in itself.