This is a bit complicated to explain. When there are what appear to be
single notes with strum marks it is not always clear whether they should be
included in the chord or whether they should be played as single notes -
assuming that this is actually practical. There are also places where it
is obvious that the "single" note can't be included in the chord and even
that it shouldn't be but there are still stroke marks.
It depends a bit whether you regard the notation as representing the music
in the same way as staff notation or whether you regard it as an indication
for what the right hand should do.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martyn Hodgson" <hodgsonmar...@yahoo.co.uk>
To: "Lex Eisenhardt" <eisenha...@planet.nl>; "Monica Hall"
<mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2010 8:17 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: stringing and performance
Dear Monica,
I'm really not sure you're right when you say below 'And while we are
on the subject please note that you can't strum a single note - that is
a contradicition in terms. They may put a strum mark under a single
note but it is still a single note.'
In many cases I think the expectation is that one strums at least part
of the chord and so keeps up the underlying harmony EVEN THOUGH the
single note is dissonant. Foscarini is a good example of this.
as ever,
Martyn
--- On Wed, 1/9/10, Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: stringing and performance
To: "Lex Eisenhardt" <eisenha...@planet.nl>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Wednesday, 1 September, 2010, 17:10
> Of course you can add whatever you like. The question is, however,
who did
> what. And when. The basis of early alfabeto, as it has come to us in
songs
> and dances from >1600 - 1620, is predominantly very stereotype.
It is what happened to be published.
This is to
> say that [probably] alfabeto and cifras were [at least] originally
used to
> give a hand for remembering the chords to your tune. This was most
likely
> also its function in the printed villanelle repertoire from Italy.
Feel
> free to speculate about fantastic harmonic experiments, but it would
be
> helpful to know the sources. We should indeed use our imagination,
but how
> far should that go?
It would be interesting to know your sources. The only printed guitar
book with dances to have survived from before 1620 is Montesardo,
although there are some manuscripts. How many of these have you seen?
Nobody is speculating about fantastic harmonic experiments. Just
suggesting that there are ways of getting round some of the more
obvious problems of combining a strummed accompaniement with a bass
line.
The one source which I have to hand is Sanseverino's songbook from 1616
- which I doubt whether you have seen or Alex Dean. Most of the songs
in it are part songs and at least Sanseverino's (and he was a
guitarist) way of dealing with a 4-3 suspension seems intentional and
works in practice.
> I may bring to mind my 'dissonance' article (also in The Lute 47) in
which
> I give the example of the manuscript of Pedruil (c.1614), with all
kinds
> of extra notes added.
As far as Pedrual is concerned I think that you are mistaken in
assuming that in your second example all four chords are to be strummed
in full. It is a very early example of a passage which is intended to
be in mixed style. The fact that there are stroke marks does not mean
that the second and third chords are to be strummed including all open
courses. There is in fact a dot after the stroke symbol above the
first chord which you have ignored. It should probably be a dotted
crotchet followed by a quaver.
The point is that in very early sources they were experimenting with
ways of indicating the rhythm and the duration of the notes as well as
just indicating the chords and the direction of the strums. In a
situation like this where there are no bar lines and no note values the
stroke marks have a dual function. They indicate the duration of the
notes and make the music easier to read. A suitable notation was not
invented overnight. It evolved - and that is true of notation as a
whole not just baroque guitar notation. You are simply working on the
assumption that what the signs mean in later sources should be
interpreted in the same way 20-30 years earlier.
And while we are on the subject please note that you can't strum a
single note - that is a contradicition in terms. They may put a strum
mark under a single note but it is still a single note.
Perhaps you should read "The baroque guitar made simple" on my web
page.
M
>
>
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