Dear List,
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement for my CD and videos!
Yes, I agree improvised embellishment has to do with the genre and
function of the music, and only makes sense in historically
well-informed contexts.
For instance, I wouldn't feel comfortable embellishing most fantasies,
other than an occasional cadential emphasis or strummed flourish.
But in regard to those scalar diminutions in many of Le Roy's dances
that we discussed on this list some months back: I hear those as
suggested embellishments; the player has many options in those
passages.
As for accompaniment: I arranged much of my accompaniment to the songs
on my CD. I did most of them both as written and also arranged, in
different verses. In fact, I was still arranging when we recorded, in
short 10-minute breaks for instance with my pencil and tab, and
sometimes I even tried new things as we recorded. (Very exciting when
your singer only has a few hours to record with you before her flight
home.)
The written 4-course guitar parts in the songbooks published in
mid-16th century France have been the subject of some discussion: were
they meant to be played as written with the singer even though the
guitar parts have the entire melody? Or was the guitar part only for
guitar solo and if the singer takes the melody, should the guitarist
let the singer have it and do something else? I discuss this in my CD
notes.
Best,
Jocelyn
--
Jocelyn Nelson, DMA
Teaching Assistant Professor
Early Guitar, Music History
336 Fletcher Music Center
School of Music
East Carolina University
252.328.1255 office
252.328.6258 fax
[1]nels...@ecu.edu
___________________________________________________________________
From: Monica Hall <[2]mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:50:48 -0400
To: "Eugene C. Braig IV" <[3]brai...@osu.edu>
Cc: Vihuelalist <[4]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar
I think you have hit the nail on the head. The problem with the
baroque
guitar is that everyone seems to treat it as fair game for anything
ethnic/new agey.
I am inclined to think this is a mistake!
Monica
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eugene C. Braig IV" <[5]brai...@osu.edu>
To: "'List LUTELIST'" <[6]l...@cs.dartmouth.edu>; "'Vihuelalist'"
<[7]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 5:26 PM
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar
> Yes, I agree with all, especially regarding elaborating on brief
dance
> melodies or chord progressions. It's hard to guess what
improvisation on
> guitar might have sounded like in the renaissance or baroque era.
It's
> when
> there is an abrupt change of style leaning heavily on
new-agey-sounding
> suspensions, etc. that such improvisations can be distracting.
>
> Best,
> Eugene
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [8]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
[[9]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
>> Behalf Of Chris Despopoulos
>> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 12:23 PM
>> To: Eugene C. Braig IV; List LUTELIST; Vihuelalist
>> Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar
>>
>> Having just attended classes on the Baroque Guitar at La Semana
de
>> Musica Antigua in Gijon, Spain...
>> Eduardo Eguez pointed out that the Sanz manuscript is a book of
>> ensenyanza... that is, you're learning the pieces. Most
certainly,
>> any player above the beginner level would have taken these as
>> suggestions, and would have improvised on these themes. That was
how
>> I
>> took Eduardo's message on that front, anyway. Yes, there's music
that
>> is composed to the fullest extent, but Sanz (at least) seems to
have
>> made illustrations more so than compositions, per se. It may be
that
>> most of the existing guitar works are intended to be taken with a
>> similar grain of salt? (Still thinking about that...)
>> I have noticed a relatively recent movement in terms of Baroque
guitar
>> performance that tends toward improvisation. Xavier Diaz Latorre
does
>> this wonderfully, I think.
>> In the same festival I attended a series of classes on
disminuacion
>> and
>> ornamentacion. Again, the idea was that melodic lines were meant
to
>> include the addition of passing phrases from one note to another,
>> and/or ornamentation -- all at the discretion of the performer.
In a
>> word, improvisation. And again, I notice that players are
achieving
>> this today. Interestingly, we had another set of classes that
covered
>> a flame war between Monteverdi and Artusi, where Artusi
complained
>> that
>> Monteverti's dissonances would be fine in the context of
>> improvisation,
>> but a serious composition should not have such things. Then back
to
>> the improvisation class where we saw an example of Monteverdi
writing
>> a
>> series of disminuaciones and ornamentaciones in a singer's part
-- to
>> be performed exactly as written! Ostensibly, they were to
"sound"
>> improvised???
>> And of course, there's continuo, which is essentially structured
>> improvisation.
>> I think the bottom line is, there were lots of cases where
>> improvisation was appropriate, and lots where it wasn't. In
other
>> words, um... er... Well, you know...
>> cud
>>
__________________________________________________________________
>>
>> From: Eugene C. Braig IV <[10]brai...@osu.edu>
>> To: List LUTELIST <[11]l...@cs.dartmouth.edu>; Vihuelalist
>> <[12]vihu...@cs.dartmouth.edu>
>> Sent: Fri, July 30, 2010 11:39:51 AM
>> Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar
>> Such improvised indulgences seem to me to find home amongst a
greater
>> proportion of 4- and 5-course guitarists (Lonardi, Lislevand,
Ferries,
>> etc.)
>> than lutenists or players of modern classical or early 6-string
>> guitars. I
>> wonder why that is. Sometimes it sounds quite nice, but is
sometimes
>> a
>> bit
>> distracting.
>> Eugene
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: [1][13]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> [[14]mailto:[2]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
>> > Behalf Of Stuart Walsh
>> > Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 11:20 AM
>> > To: Eugene C. Braig IV
>> > Cc: 'List LUTELIST'; 'Vihuelalist'
>> > Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Four c. guitar
>> >
>> > Eugene C. Braig IV wrote:
>> > > Craddock's recording is now super-hard to find. I would love
to
>> have a
>> > > copy, but can't seem to track one down at a reasonable price.
>> > >
>> > > Also look into:
>> > >
>> > > Lonardi, Massimo. 2006. Comienc,a la Musica para Guitarra.
>> Stradivarius.
>> > >
>> >
>> > Massimo plays very well indeed but for many of the little
dances he
>> adds
>> > a sort of intro/outro (and sometimes interlude) vamp. Listeners
who
>> > didn't know the originals might have thought these
(modern-sounding,
>> > folksy) vamps were in the original tablatures . I can see that
he's
>> > trying to frame them and make them special but I've often
thought of
>> > actually taking the trouble to edit them out.
>> >
>> >
>> > Stuart
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > > Marincola, Federico. 1994. Pieces pour Luth/Pieces pour
Guitare.
>> Disques
>> > > Pierre Verany.
>> > >
>> > > Smith, Hopkinson. 1992. Alonso Mudarra: Tres Libros de Musica
en
>> Cifras
>> > Para
>> > > Vihuela. Auvidis/Astree.
>> > >
>> > > The former is all 4-course guitar and quite nice to my ears.
The
>> latter
>> > two
>> > > features mostly lute or vihuela, but include a fair number of
>> tasty
>> > guitar
>> > > solos and are also quite nice. ...Not to mention Jocelyn's
fine
>> recent
>> > > effort: [3][15]http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nelsonbartram. Even
Anthony
>> Rooley
>> > > indulged in a little 4-course guitar on Renaissance
Fantasias, but
>> only
>> > a
>> > > little.
>> > >
>> > > Best,
>> > > Eugene
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >> -----Original Message-----
>> > >> From: [4][16]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> [[17]mailto:[5]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On
>> > >> Behalf Of Laura Maschi
>> > >> Sent: Thursday, July 29, 2010 11:05 PM
>> > >> To: Bruno Correia
>> > >> Cc: List LUTELIST
>> > >> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Four c. guitar
>> > >>
>> > >> Also check michael Craddock wonderful recording released
around
>> 2008...
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> Enviado desde mi iPod
>> > >>
>> > >> El 29/07/2010, a las 23:40, Bruno Correia
>> <[6][18]bruno.l...@gmail.com>
>> > >> escribio:
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>> I think John Williams never read anything about the
history of
>> his
>> > >>> own
>> > >>> instrument. Check at 1:38. Couldn't believe he said that,
>> specially
>> > >>> after watching those great videos by Jocelyn Nelson.
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> [1][7][19]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>> --
>> > >>>
>> > >>> References
>> > >>>
>> > >>> 1.
>> [8][20]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
>> > >>>
>> > >>>
>> > >>> To get on or off this list see list information at
>> > >>>
[9][21]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
>> > >>>
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>>
>> --
>>
>> References
>>
>> 1. [22]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 2. [23]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 3. [24]http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nelsonbartram
>> 4. [25]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 5. [26]mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
>> 6. [27]mailto:bruno.l...@gmail.com
>> 7. [28]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
>> 8. [29]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
>> 9. [30]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
>
>
--
References
1. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/nels...@ecu.edu
2. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk
3. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/brai...@osu.edu
4. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/brai...@osu.edu
6. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/l...@cs.dartmouth.edu
7. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
8. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
9. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
10. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/brai...@osu.edu
11. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/l...@cs.dartmouth.edu
12. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
13. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
14. mailto:[2]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
15. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nelsonbartram
16. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
17. mailto:[5]lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
18. file://localhost/net/people/lute-arc/bruno.l...@gmail.com
19. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
20. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
21. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
22. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
23. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
24. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/nelsonbartram
25. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
26. mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu
27. mailto:bruno.l...@gmail.com
28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
29. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LNU1-s4BE&feature=related
30. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/%7Ewbc/lute-admin/index.html
