The topic of plectrums comes up every so often and I was really
surprised that for medieval (or early renaissance) music, some people
use the other end of the quill - not the bit you might use as a pen. So
I've having a go. I'm left-handed playing right-handedly so any kind of
plectrum is a bit of a problem. But the wobbly quill thing is no better
nor worse than a modern plastic one, once you get used to it.
I went on a one-day course, years ago, run by Ian Gatiss, an early dance
specialist. Fifteenth century dance, evidently, is something of a mine
field, both in the interpretation of the dance moves and in the music -
which just survives as tenor lines. Ian had composed some lines above
and below the existing tenor in something like the style. So his version
of the music is in three parts. There's lot of evidence of plucked duos
from the fifteenth century. Possibly, probably... there were amateurs as
well as professionals playing this stuff? One player was the tenorista.
So I've put the tenor and Ian's lower line on a five course 'lute' - the
tenorista role, using the emerging finger-plucked technique. And the
faster, upper line (Ian's own imagining) on a quill-plucked home-made
(!) citole.
Here's an mp3 version of one of the dances, Giloxia, by Domenico:
http://www.pluckedturkeys.co.uk/Giloxia.mp3
and a version with a pretty picture, on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJrt1wxFko0
Stuart
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