Dea= r All,
This discussion feeds into one of my pet theories: T= hat Cabezon's
keyboard tablature could be read by professional vihuelists a= nd
harpers. Cabezon's tab is quite straightforward and logical. Any
thought= s?
Cheers,
Jim Stimson
= ;
= On 12/0= 5/11, Ron Andrico<praelu...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I agree wholeheartedly that transposing is a basic 'musicianship' sk=
ill
that, like improvisation, professional musicians should possess. Tha= t
is not to say every lutenist should spend the vast amounts of time and=
energy to develop this skill, since it's challenging enough just
pla= ying what's on the page sometimes. But the very idea that the
notes
as t= hey appear on the page as 'sacrosanct' is counter to every ideal
of
true= musicianship of any age.
Sure, Dowland's song accompaniments are a litt= le more worked out than
Campion's, for instance, but a musician's skill = should be measured in
his or her ability to grasp the horizontal and ver= tical elements of a
lute song accompaniment and, at the same time, inter= pret the sounds
apparently intended by the combination of open and finge= red strings
in
whatever transposed pitch.
Having accompanied pop sing= ers and played lounge acts, I can tell you
it's a necessary skill to be = able to work out an interesting
accompaniment and even compose your own = bass line on the spot from
nothing more than chord symbols. There is no = reason to think that
historical musicians did not possess this skill.
My only quibble with your essay, David, is the part about the 'Armada'
= class. Ian Harwood's article in the Lute (2007?) on Mathew Holmes and
Jo= hn Case dispels the idea that those who were granted degrees
actually
at= tended lectures. It appears that they pretty much paid the price
and
sub= mitted the required test composition and, poof, they were granted
the de= gree. That's not to say they were slackers as far as studying
the scienc= e of music.
RA
> Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 14:44:36 -0800
> To: = [1]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
> CC: [2]vidan...@sbcglobal.net
&g= t; From: [3]vidan...@sbcglobal.net
> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Transpos= ing lute tablature on sight
>
> Transposition at sight would ha= ve been possible for the best
players,
> after all, some could hear a= piece once and then write it down.
> The only question is how many c= ould do it.
> Generally speaking, in the modern era, if your teachers= insisted
that
> you learn transposition, or if it was a requirement = at the
> conservatory, then you have that skill, just like any other = skill.
> Of course anyone who want to can learn it, like any other sk= ill.
> If you watch Letterman, you can see Paul at the Keyboard make = up an
> accompaniment in absolutely any key. The guest starts singing= ,
> impromptu, and Paul will play one and only one note (I assume he<=
BR>> therefore does not have perfect pitch) he then instantly
calculates=
the
> difference from the note the guest sang and the note he pla= yed,
derives
> the key (it could be any key, no matter how horrend= ous) then adds a
> complete harmony. If the guest starts of in C Shar= p major, well,
Paul
> just plays along.
> Anyone with these kin= ds of skills could transpose anything.
> Another way to look at it is= visualization. If you look at tab and
see
> a keyboard score, tra= nsposition is straightforward.
> However, if you look at tab and see = finger positions, you then need
to
> add that intermediate step of= seeing the notes.
> I personally feel that in order to play the tab = you have to see the
> voice leading, but it is more important for som= e pieces than
others.
> And it surely must have been the case back wh= enever that different
> people saw different things. An organist who = played the lute would
> surely visualize all the parts; a singer who = played the lute could
> presumably pick out a cue melody. And of cour= se in Spain they sang
from
> tab.
> Since organ tablature an= d german tab are so complicated, it seems
> likely that for some play= ers visualizing the polyphony would have
been
> pretty easy in com= parison, or, if you grew up singing polyphony, it
> would also be sec= ond nature.
> What you "see" when you look at tab is a very interesti= ng question.
> After looking at upside down tab for a while, your min= d turns it
> around, just as our eye inverts images through its lens.=
> When we see patterns that we have seen before, we relate them
i= nstantly
> to a set of interpretive memories. These pattern can be ta= b
patterns,
> with no notes involved, or note patterns, or a combinat= ion. The
mind
is
> very flexible in what is "sees."
> Even t= hose who don't "see" any notes in the tab will instantly
> recognize = a familiar ground bass or passemezzo either by eye or by
ear.
> Si= milarly, those who transpose music use widely different and
complex
>= processes. You can "play" two chords, either in real sound or in
your
&= gt; imagination, and transpose them by ear without even using a
notation= al
> intermediary, and folk musicians do this all the time. You can u= se
> muscle memory to instantly transpose G to F because your fingers=
know
> that "G down a tone" feels a certain way, positionally. You c= an
then
> transpose without tab or notes, just using kinesthetics.
> I often use "instant letter" to transpose on the baroque guitar but>
also on the lute and theorbo.
> "Instant letter" uses letter n= ames as an intermediary instead of
the
> full polyphonic web, and as = such is easier for sight-reading.
> You look at the first chord of ev= ery bar, you give it a letter,
then
> count up or down, and play the = letter. So you "see" G, count down
one
> to F, then play F. As the pi= ece moves along, you zip along to the
> middle of the bar or to the n= ext bar and repeat the process. The
system
> is fast enough that y= ou can make this calculation, with very little
> training or practice= , fast enough to outline a basic harmony on all
but
> the quickest= tempi. Second time through you can fill in the voice
> leading, or m= ake up your own.
> Another "transnotation" I use is to simply see the= tab as a figured
> bass. When sight reading, I use the "first note n= umber" system.
Here,
> you don't like at the whole chord, you stop lo= oking as soon as you
see
> a note that changes the chord from 5/3 = to 6/3, major or minor, or
4.
> Since most of the patterns will be al= ong those lines, and since
context
> will dictate which chord is l= ikely to be used, you can also make
this
> transnotation in real time= . And if you play music from 1600-1630
this
> is a very useful skill.=
> The "Armada" class of 1588 at at Oxford, including Dowland and
= Morley,
> would have had a high level of musical training including u= sing the
> hexachord for basic transposition.
> Reading through= Morley's theoretical work, it is astonishing how
high
> the level of= training was at Oxford.
> David v.O.--my guess, as a rule of thumb, = pieces are easier to play
> down a tone BUT have better 3-4 part real= ization in the higher key;
> that is, the parts can usually be slight= ly extended without running
> into fingering dead dead ends.
> = However, this isn't always true. Another possibility is that in a
> p= olyphonic composition, the composer wanted fewer open strings so
the
>= ; sound would be more balanced in the voices.
> A counter example is = Ferrabosco's F minor piece in Var. that really
> seems centered on th= e open strings. So different composers were
looking
> for a differ= ent aesthetic.
> dt
>
> --
>
>
> To get= on or off this list see list information at
> [4]http://www.cs.dartmou= th.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
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