You are right - we know very little about how they actually strummed.
Millioni gives the following very brief description but he not giving much
away..
"These will give more pleasure if played with three or four fingers of the
right hand, holding them separately one from another, sounding all the
strings together and playing close to the rose and the neck; in this way
the music will be rendered more sweetly."
As far as the alfabeto songs are concerned there are a very small number of
sources which do supply fully notated accompaniments. There are two
printed sources - the 1622 edition of Sanseverino's guitar book and a
collection of vocal pieces by Fasolo printed in 1627 and a few manuscript
sources - notably I-Fc Ms. B 2556. All of these indicate that the
strumming patterns reflected the note values of the voice part. There are
also pieces in the books of Colonna and Foscarini's 1629 book which seem to
be song accompaniments although they don't include the words. These also
have strumming patterns based on note values.
Not much to go on.
I do whether the people who performed these songs in the early 17th century
would have gone in for flamenco style strumming. They were not peasants or
"little people" and they might have regarded it as beneath their dignity to
imitate what the lower orders did.
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eloy Cruz" <eloyc...@gmail.com>
To: "Vihuela List" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 19, 2011 4:47 AM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Strumming as basso continuo
Dear List
Although the subject of this thread is labeled "Strumming as basso
continuo", the exchange of different list members has to do with how to
conduct or organize the harmony in the fingerboard, not at all with
strumming.
I think the 2 main features of guitarra española de cinco órdenes are on
one
hand (left), its peculiar harmonic language -all these inversions- and an
apparently limited palette. On the other (right) hand, and much more
characteristically, strumming.
When dealing with an alfabeto piece (a solo or a song) the problem of
harmony is solved by the alfabeto itself (inconsistencies aside). If the
player wants to give some different colors to harmony, he can use
alternative higher chord positions (using Sanz´s Laberintos, for example).
But rasgueado is an entirely different matter. The alfabeto notation gives
not one single clue on how to realize it. Most of the time you won't even
find indicators of up or down strokes. I know of not one single set of
original instructions on how to make it -do someone in the list know
something about it? We know about trillo, picco and repicco, and little
more, but I think the basic thing about strumming is precisely, strumming.
The old ones are clear about this. Sanz: Hágase cuenta que la mano derecha
que toca la Guitarra es el Maestro de Capilla que lleva el compás, y los
dedos de la mano izquierda son los instrumentos y voces que rige y
gobierna
por ella. The right hand is the chapel master that rules and conducts the
instruments and voices, represented by the left hand fingers.
I think strumming itself is a powerful tool to make clear the rhetoric of
a
piece, particularly a song. I think the main job of a guitar player
accompanying a singer, or himself, is to shape harmony with the right
hand.
As someone put it, to illuminate the text from within.
The old ones don't give detailed instructions about strumming because, in
my
opinion, strumming is an elusive art and science. It's something you learn
by playing along with your teacher or with the community. Witness the
master
strummers of Latin American guitars -each instrument has its own complex
and
unique strumming language- some of these players have an outstanding level
of performance and are as virtuosos in their field as any "classic" guitar
player. They make what many old Spanish sources say: hacen hablar a la
guitarra, they make the guitar speak.
Regards
eloy
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