Dear Stuart, I did not reply earlier because we have those 6 hours (or more if you're on the West Coast) between France and the other side of the Ponsd ;- )! Actually Ron and David gave exactly the answer I would have given... No gimmick or mystery in arranging these tunes. Harmony and couterpoint training are of course a great help, and open lots of possibilities for a decent realization, but on the other hand, you don't have to be strictly respectful of all the rules as long as the music sounds well and as you want it to sound. It is not music homework for your music school, it has to be efficient. Moreover, the period examples we have provide lots of examples of parallel fifths, octaves and all the "forbiden" rest ;-) ! So, relax, there is no complex to have, and it can be a lot of fun, really. I even manged to realize three Breton dances (Andros) with one of them in more or less strict counterpoint, with points of imitation at the beginning and all that, a welcome contrast to the more vertical relization of the other two. A well-known French musicologist, Mrs Georgie Durosoir, a specialist of the Air de Cour and 17th century music, who attended one of our concerts last summer even told me at the end that I had rediscovered what was everyday practice for the court musicians in the 17th century. The Master, in charge of the entertainment (Ballet, concert or whatever), would drop the melody line and another musician would scibble the arrangement for the band. That's exactly the idea I had in mind ! I was very proud when this lady said that, had I lived at that time, I would have been promoted "compositeur de la chambre"...!!! The examples you can put your hands on, contemporary ones like the Balcarres (now in facsimile), but also lots of Scottish collections, from the 18th century mainly, with treble and bass, are very good models to take inspiration from. You can even download or consult scanned collections of Scottish music and dances (mostly 18th century, early 19th century) from sites like http://www.heallan.com/freedownloads.asp http://digital.nls.uk/pageturner.cfm?id=74466649 http://note.dmc.keio.ac.jp/music-library/nanki/1-b-notes/ : books are presented alphabetically there; under "C" you will find Carolan's edition "Hibernian Muse" and tons of other original stuff as well !
Enjoy and have fun, that's the essential thing ! (Long) practice makes the rest ;-) All the best, Jean-Marie ================================= == En réponse au message du 07-12-2010, 23:49:37 == >On 07/12/2010 19:18, Jean-Marie Poirier wrote: >> Thank you Dan. Much appreciated. >> In fact I did quite a few "arrangements" (rather harmonizations in fact) of >> some Carolan's pieces for the recording we did last summer with my ensemble. >> There are a few solos in the programme, that is one of them. The cd should >> be released next mont hopefully... >> >> Best, >> >> Jan-Marie > >Jean-Marie > >I enjoyed your arrangement/harmonisation too. I wonder if anyone might >have thought it was from Balcarres, even though Carolan is from a >different country and from a different era (and yet maybe your >arrangement/harmonisation... is more fluent?) > >The last time you put up some arrangements/harmonisations with your >group I thought I'd like to have a go at something like it and I dug out >some old Irish melodies - I think they were from Bunting. Anyway I had >single lines in front of me and absolutely no idea what to do with them > > Do you create a bass line and/or have harmonies in your head? I can >understand that once you have some sketch of bass+harmony, you can make >it idiomatically Baroque lute music but I don't know where you get the >bass and harmony from! > > >Stuart > > >> ================================= >> >> == En réponse au message du 07-12-2010, 20:02:29 == >> >>> Beautiful! Bravo! I love Carolan's music- very well played too; wish >>> I had the time& brains to arrange his music for lute, one of my old >>> favorites. (used to play versions on lyra viol, years ago). Nice >>> lute, too. One of my friends is getting a theorbo from Van Edwards. >>> >>> Thanks, please record more of this. >>> >>> Dan >>> >>>> A little video on YT, from a concert in August at Conzac, in the >>>> southwest of France. >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLB4tRue6xU >>>> (My first vid with my then brand new 11 c. lute by David Van Edwards). >>>> This piece will be on our cd "Green Sleeves and Pudding-Pies", with >>>> music from the Celtic lands (Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Brittany) >>>> in the 17th and 18th centuries which should be released some time in >>>> January... >>> >>> -- >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> To get on or off this list see list information at >>> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> ======================================== >> >> >> > ========================================
