David Kilpatrick wrote:
..
> OK, maybe they didn't sit in the pub playing Planxty Irwin,
..
They might have sat in the village inn playing Greensleeves and Rakes of
Mallow though - just to mention two session tunes that existed back
then. ;-)
..
> flute' which supports my general feeling that instruments which go so
> well together today have gone well together in the past, and modern
> sessions using guitar or cittern are not anachronisms even if the
> setting and style may be.
There's definite proof you're feeling is right. Even the setting and
style might be far less anachronistic than you think.
Back in the late 16th Century Britain a typical "pop band" (they used to
call it "mixed consort" or "broken consort") consisted of a flute
(virtually identical to a modern keyless Irish flute), a treble viol, a
cittern, a lute, a bandora and a bass viol.
If you keep the flute and substitute the rest with modern equivalents
you might end up with the lineup:
+ flute
+ fiddle
+ mandolin
+ solo guitar or octave mando or tenor banjo
+ rhythm guitar or Irish cittern or Irish bouzouki
+ double bass.
Fairly typical of a modern day "folkband."
There are a few stylistic differences:
+ The flute would usually play a counterpart rather than
doubling the tune
+ The cittern would play chords while a mandolin today
usually plays the tune
+ The low solo string instrument would play melody/chord
style rather than just single string lead
+ A bass instrument was almost mandatory back in the
16th C, less common today.
But that's only to be expected. Traditionally there used to be much more
emphasis on accompaniment and less on the tune than what is common today.
It's hard to find any evidence of a continuous ensemble tradition
through the 17th, 18th and 19th century though, and that makes this
soundhole rose decoration very interesting.
David Kilpatrick also wrote:
>
> German flute normally means a side-blown flute with a certain range.
> Prior to the mid-1700s 'flute' in Britain meant what we would call a
> recorder, and that's what the instruments look like.
That's not strictly speaking true. There was a period from late 17th C
to mid 18th C when "flute" in England usually meant (F alto/treble)
recorder, but before that a flute was a transverse flute and a recorder
was called a recorder. In 1755, when Oswald published his Airs for
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter modern terminology seems to have been
firmly (re)established. There seems to be little doubt that the flute he
refers to is the trasnverse flute.
Frank Nordberg
http://www.musicaviva.com
http://www.online-guitarist.com
http://www.gitar-siden.com
http://www.tablatvre.com
http://www.mandolin-player.com
http://www.blues-harmonica.com
http://www.irish-banjo.com
http://www.blues-banjo.com
http://www.folk-banjo.com
http://www.roarogfrank.com
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