Dear friends,
In my opinion, the "Guardame las Vacas" ground, as
treated by Narváez does indeed alternate binary and
ternary groupings, but not in a regular fashion.
Almost all of the first diferencia is organized in a
ternary pattern, save for the cadences at "bars" 10-12
and 20-22. This organization becomes evident from the
fact that the melodic pattern in "bars" 1-3 is
mirrored in "bars" 4-6 and their subsequent
repetitions.
The second differencia offers more variety, beginning
with two ternary groups followed by three binary, two
ternary and three binary ones. The repeat begins in a
similar fashion: two ternary groups, but is followed
by six binary ones plus the final chord. In this
case, besides the logic of the melody, the bass
provides a further guide as to the internal
organization.
The first section of the third diferencia is made up
by eight ternary groups, clearly indicated by the
repeated melodic motiff. The second begins with two
further ternary groupings, followed by a section
("bars" 16-18) which could be intrepreted either as
binary or ternary groupings. In my view, this passage
is still organized in ternary groups judging from the
way in which the "harmony" (if I may use
anachronistically the term, purely for pragmatic
reasons) shifts at the middle of bar 17. The remaining
three groups are binary, closing with the final chord.
The first half of the final diferencia is, again,
organized in eight ternary groups; a glance at the
rhythmic signs shows plainly the regular pattern in
which the motiffs are organized. This is followed by
an ascending scale which could be interpreted in
several ways; the one I find most logical is three
binry groups folowed by two ternary ones which leads
us into a transition before the final cadential
passage; this transition is made up of two ternary
groups and two binary ones. The final cadence begins
with a binary group followed by six ternary ones.
Finally, it is not altogether correct to thing of
tablature bars as having similar implications as the
modern bar-line in terms of accentuation. They serve
as a guide, dividing the piece into small sections of
similar duration, but they do not determine its
accentual organization. Perhaps this is better
illustrated in the editions of Capirola by Gombossi
and Da Milano by Ness, or -in Spanish sources- by the
"Gallarda" by Mudarra and the "Pavana muy llana para
tañer" of Pisador, both of them ternary pieces barred
entirely in "bars" of two.
Cheers,
Antonio
--- Ed Durbrow <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> On Oct 10, 2005, at 2:06 AM, Rob MacKillop wrote:
>
> > I must admit it came as a bit of a revelation to
> me that the
> > piece was based on threes and twos. I had known
> for decades that most
> > Spanish music alternates these groupings, but for
> some reason I never
> > applied it to 'Vacas', and I can't remember anyone
> else doing so
> > either. I
> > may be completely wrong. However, for me, it was a
> 'Duh!' moment.
> > How could
> > I have missed it for so long? And now I'm
> wondering if everyone
> > thinks I'm
> > crazy, and it has nothing to do with these
> groupings...The original is
> > notated entirely in twos.
>
> I had something similar happen with a Dalza piece
> recently. I'd
> always known where it went into two or three, but I
> suddenly got an
> insight that the twos were always in groups of
> threes, sometimes two
> groups of threes. It is like stepping up a level and
> seeing the big
> picture. And I felt exactly the same way, a bit
> embarrassed that I
> hadn't noticed such an 'obvious' organizational
> parameter earlier.
> cheers,
> PS. Your playing always sounds great to me, and the
> Guardame was no
> exception.
>
> Ed Durbrow
> Saitama, Japan
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
>
>
>
> --
>
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>
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