Dear Eloy,
I'm very much with Monica on this: what little evidence we have (such
as Millioni) suggests a certain refinement in strumming ("... in this
way the music will be rendered more sweetly."). And the iconography (
not much to go on I confess) seem to predominate with people playing in
quite a dignified posture as befitting their station.
I think the great danger is looking back and assuming a later style was
generally employed in earlier times. So that, for example, the exciting
cross rythms found in Murcia's Spanish dances (post-1700) with their
wonderful and intricate cross rythms and the like becomes a fertile
breeding ground for the modern imagination ('thrashing about') - but
not often, I suggest, to the advantage of the music itself.
Moulinie's fine collection of 1629 with some songs to the guitar is
often overlooked, being neither a Spanish or Italian source. But we
must recall that Francois XIII's wife Anne of Austria was a Spanish
infanta and introduced Spanish tastes to the French court. Moulinie
employed tablature in block chords since, presumably, so few in Paris
at the time were familar with alfabeto. But this is a benefit in
disguise allowing us to clearly see the strumming pattern he expected
with each chord - another useful guide to early 17th century guitar
performing practice. Incidentally he calls his 5 course instrument just
plain ' guitarre' without any Spanish qualifier..
regards
Martyn
--- On Mon, 19/12/11, Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
From: Monica Hall <mjlh...@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: [VIHUELA] Re: Strumming as basso continuo
To: "Eloy Cruz" <eloyc...@gmail.com>
Cc: "Vihuelalist" <vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Monday, 19 December, 2011, 19:44
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" <[1]eloyc...@gmail.com>
To: "Vihuela List" <[2]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 espanola de cinco ordenes 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: Hagase cuenta que la mano
derecha
> que toca la Guitarra es el Maestro de Capilla que lleva el compas, 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
>
>
>
>
>
> To get on or off this list see list information at
> [3]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
References
1. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=eloyc...@gmail.com
2. http://us.mc817.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=vihuela@cs.dartmouth.edu
3. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
