Thank you for this, Val. Once again the French lead the way and have
set the standard for the rest of us.
RA
Date: Wed, 2 Nov 2011 08:30:08 +0100
To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu
From: sauvag...@orange.fr
Subject: [LUTE] Re: strumming Gervaise
We had just last week (in France) a course for musicians wanting to
play for
dance sessions, with course for dancers too. Very interesting, with
some
workshop for renaissance dance, early Italian with Veronique Daniels
(teacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis) and also Spanish baroque
dances
with Ana Yepes (the daughter of Narcisso...) french ren. with Robin
Joly,
and the lute workshop with Pascale Boquet (well known french lutenist
with
great experience of ren. Dances and continuo, she is the president of
the
French Lute Society and had wrote many publications, one on doing
continuo
with old tuning (in fact on a ren. Lute) (vol 12 of Le Secret des
Muses
collection, on the French lute society web site) and another on
improvisation on standard grounds... Perhaps such courses should be
organized in other countries too... very interesting for any lutenist
!
The course was organized by the Compagnie Outre Mesure (I'm afraid
the web
site is only in French) :
http://www.compagnie-outre-mesure.com/
for the publications of the French Soc. :
http://www.sf-luth.org/en/?%26nbsp%3BMusical_Publications/Le_Secret_des
_Muse
s
Val
-Message d'origine-
De : lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] De
la part
de t...@heartistrymusic.com
Envoye : mercredi 2 novembre 2011 02:44
A : Lute Net; Stuart Walsh
Objet : [LUTE] Re: strumming Gervaise
I think the comment about looking for the correct tempo by knowing
how
it was danced is spot-on. There are now quite a few Renaissance
dances
filmed and available on YouTube. Assuming that these troups are
performing
the dances correctly, an average tempo for a dance like #s 39 40,
Bransle IIIand Bransle IV, would be somewhere between quarter note =
196 and
212
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWNe-6EdsBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBnlfigRQlw
As for MHO on strumming: four part arrangements for different voices
/
instruments lend themselves to chord changes on every beat when the
arranger
desires it. But this is not practical for chordophones. For actual
dancers,
the correct rhythm and tempo are paramount. Trying to strum a
different
chord on every beat at these tempos would be distracting in most
dance
situations and potentially ruinous. Better to accommodate the chord
structure
to the limitations of the instrument, and the harmonic rhythm to the
rhythm
of the dance.
Playford is alright, but for these dances Thoinot Arbeau's
Orchesography,
published in 1589, may be even more enlightening. It shows how to
dance
bransles
and gives reccomendations on tempos. (Available cheap from Amazon).
No matter what, if you're actually playing for dancers, the rhythm
and a
rock-solid
correct tempo are THE most important aspects. Everything else is
secondary
(yes- even the melody ;)
Good dance players would have known particular dance melodies by
memory,
and would have known from experience how to strum to facilitate the
dance.
Like Ron Andrico said in his post - it ain't rocket science. It's a
matter
of really
knowing the dance and what fits musically.
Hope this helps,
Tom Draughon
How would a strummer strum chords to these tunes composed
(arranged?)
by Gervaise in the 1550s?
http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Gervaise/
They are strong melodies (Poulenc arranged some Gervaise dances for
piano - but not these particular tunes). Maybe you just strum a
chord
according to the bass line. It's easy enough to work out what each
chord would be. But playing at speed it would be formidably
difficult
to actually play them unless you were a Freddy Green-type
professional. These Gervaise arrangements are in four parts and, as
it
stands, the bass is very easy to play as a single note. But really
not
so easy at all when the chords are changing very quickly.
But it's often said that strummers strummed in these, and even
earlier, times. And, if so, surely they would have strummed to
accompany tunes like this. Would they have strummed a chord for
each
note as dictated by the rules of four part harmony? Or something
simpler - but potentially more rhythmic?
Stuart
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Tom Draughon
Heartistry Music
