It's not my wish to deny that the trick of transposing by using barre
chords was completely unknown. But Amat is rather pedantic about his
invention, and eager to prove his right.
I don't know what you mean by that. What he says is quite simple and
straightforward and works perfectly well in practice. Using a barre is not
that difficult!
Still, Millioni (1627) is later than the period I was thinking of
All surviving copies of Millioni's book belong to later editions. The
earliest is Quarta impressione del primo, secondo, et terzo libro.
Presumably there had been three previous printing of this compilation and
all three books would have appeared separately earlier.
>> As far as using a barre is concerned Chords G, H, M and N, to name but a
few feature all the time in Millioni's books. And earlier in Montesardo.
Indeed. But if we consider the keys the dances are in, they are almost all
in G major, G minor, D major, D minor and C major. That seems to reflect
daily practice.
So..........if you are just dancing it doesn't matter what key you are in.
The keys of the songs in the song books I have seen are mostly in keys with
no sharps or one flat. This is because the singers read them according to
the solisation symbols. It doesn't necessarily indicate pitch literally.
Transposing may have been for a more advanced level.
Well - even stable boys may have wanted a bit of variety from time to time.
M
Lex
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