[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Amateur recordings

[Rob MacKillop]

Oh oh... you've opened a can of worms here, Stephen. Dotting in French music
is a majorly contentious issue - people have come to blows over such a
thing. But these are important questions which we all have to address if we
are to play French lute music with any degree of stylistic awareness. I'll
admit that I struggle with it myself. What seems to work in a courante might
not work so well in an allemande or sarabande, etc (o there may be National
issues here), and what works for Mouton might not work for Mesangeau, etc.
Also, what works on a harpsichord might not sound so great on a lute.

With my work at Queen Margaret University I have a baroque ensemble in which
I am the conductor. We are currently playing some pieces by Charpentier. The
students (who are not music student - this is an escape for them from
studying nursing, hotel management, etc) had never heard of unequal quavers,
and trying to get them to play together in a tum ti tum ti tum ti rhythm
without sounding ridiculous is hard - at least it was at first, they are
relaxing into it now after several weeks.

We need to compile all the 17th-century discussions re dotting (are they
online?), and experiment with them, but ultimately play what you think is
appropriate. Some people like to have a fixed stance, backed up by a bunch
of quotations of rules - it should come as no surprise to many on this list
that I am not one of those. But I do like to absorb all the relevant
information.

One distinction I do make is between a *gesture* (playing uneven quavers
where appropriate - not indicated by the composer) and timing (playing
exactly the rhythm notated). Gesture is important in all music, be it blues,
jazz, or French Baroque, and I feel that composers did not notate it simply
because it was hard to capture on paper without performers making it sound
too automated, much like swing in jazz. Even when jazz swing is notated in
'exact' notation, players play it differently than if it were in straight
quavers. The problem is created when you try to analyse exactly the length
of the first quaver compared to the second quaver, because it is tempting to
see it as a triplet divided into two plus one - the brain sees that in
diagrammatic form, and then quite naturally asks, 'why didn't they notate it
this way?'.

We have a big problem here. Ever listened to classical musicians playing
jazz? The notes might be right, but the feel is different from a 'true'
jazzer, someone who has grown up with the whole sound world. But students of
jazz can listen to recordings, go to gigs, have lessons with these players.
We can't. And when it comes to something as subtle as dotting in French
baroque, we naturally find it very difficult, and don't necessarily know
when we have got it 'right'.

So we have to be practical. Experiment. Play what we feel is right. Then
experiment again.Then play what we feel is right. And don't get too bogged
down in it. I might not agree with so-and-so playing an allemande by XXX in
such a way, but I can still enjoy listening to it if it is played with
feeling.

Sorry I don't have a formula...

Rob

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