2024 Festival Classes Week 2

Participants who have registered will receive a link to choose their classes. (coming soon!)
Pitch for classes is A=440 unless otherwise noted.

Early Morning Class Period: 9:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Early Notation for All with Patricia Petersen

Open to voices and soft instruments (recorder, flute, viol, lute, and others).

Class Description

Bring Renaissance music alive by playing directly from the source! Sacred and secular, masses, motets, and chansons, from Italian manuscript and print sources of the 15th and 16th centuries, featuring music from cathedrals, courts, and chapels. Increase your fluency and strengthen your theoretical understanding while creating beautiful music. Participants should have a bit of experience with Renaissance notation and C clefs. Class will review theory, ligatures, and triple meter, as needed by participants.

Francesco Mancini’s 12 Solos for Recorder and/or Flute with Gwyn Roberts

Open to alto recorders and flutes, plus instruments who can play a continuo line, including, but not limited to, bass recorder, bass viol, cello, bassoon, and harpsichord. Pitch: A=415.

Class Description

Although Francesco Mancini never left his native Naples, his lifelong struggle to step out of the shadow of Alessandro Scarlatti led him to send a set of sonatas to be published in London, in the hope of moving there and advancing his career. These 12 Solos for a Flute (ca. 1724) all fit on an alto recorder in F, the choice instrument of amateur musicians in London, but about half of them work even better on the traverso, which was beginning to be popular. The delicious continuo lines reflect the composer’s skill as a keyboard player and music theorist. We’ll delve into this masterful set together, play the sonatas with and for each other, and learn about Mancini’s musical signature moves and other quirks.

A Medieval Sampler: Music from 13th- and 14th-century Spain and Italy with Annette Bauer

Open to instruments and voices, all levels.

Class Description

Explore music from the Llibre Vermell (the “red book”) and early polyphony from Las Huelgas Codex and enjoy the monophonic lines of the cantigas and early Italian laude. Polyphonic secular music by Italian trecento poet laureate Francesco Landini & co. will also be on the menu for the week.

La Spagna with Mark Rimple

For recorders, viols, voice, and plucked instruments

Class Description

Class will focus on music by Franco-Flemish and Italian composers based on the tenor of La Spagna, a popular melody that first appeared as a basse danse tenor, “La bassa Castiglia,” and survived as a cantus firmus for polyphonic works in the Renaissance. We will begin by discussing and playing early two-part settings and trying out some simple improvisation skills, and then dive into polyphonic works on this tenor by Isaac, Ghiselin, and Josquin des Prez.

The Art of Consort Playing: Turning Notes into Music

With Rotem Gilbert, Eric Haas, Wendy Powers; for all levels of recorders

Class Description

Have you always wanted to be a more expressive and agile consort player? This class will work on the skills you need to not only be a better player yourself, but to inspire your fellow consort players to turn notes into music! We’ll play consort music by composers of the Renaissance, Baroque, and beyond, working on skills such as intonation, tone colors, articulation, rhythm, and ensemble precision. We’ll learn how to make decisions about tempo, ornaments, dynamics, and phrasing.

Renaissance Recorders with Frances Blaker

For players familiar with Renaissance recorder fingering who own or can borrow hand-built Renaissance recorders. Players must bring at least two sizes.

Class Description

One-on-a-part consort for accomplished players of Renaissance recorders. Blend and ensemble skills emphasized. Repertoire will include works by Italian and Spanish composers. Performance is a possibility. For players familiar with Renaissance recorder fingering who own or can borrow hand-built Renaissance recorders. Players must bring at least two sizes.

Double Trouble: A Reed Potpourri

With Daniel Stillman, Wouter Verschuren; for upper intermediate to advanced shawms and dulcians.

Class Description

Start your day with an emphasis on technique and lots of playing. There will be reminders and useful tips on good posture, embouchure, sound production, tuning, articulation, and dynamics. Dan and Wouter, in two separate groups, will have you celebrating the glorious sound of shawms and dulcians in Spanish and Italian repertoire.

Sackbut, or Getting Down to Brass Tacks with Liza Malamut

For sackbut players.

Class Description

Start your day with brass warm-ups, technique, and wonderful repertory for sackbut ensemble. Liza will help you play with more ease and get to the next level. Embouchure, articulation, breath control, and much more, as well as satisfying music making. For sackbut players.

Cornetto Revealed with Nathaniel Cox

For cornetto players

Class Description

Mysteries of the cornetto revealed! In the Renaissance period, apprentices learned to play their instruments by working with masters, who were known to guard vital information closely. Luckily for us, Nathaniel will share with you his deep understanding of how to bring out the best in these expressive and sometimes difficult instruments. Individual attention and group playing will be part of the mix in this class for cornetto players. Bring questions!

Viol Consort: Petrucci’s Prints

With Lawrence Lipnik, Rosamund Morley, Pitch: A=440.

Class Description

The early years of the 16th century witnessed the stunning successes of Ottaviano Petrucci, the first music primer in Italy–a time that roughly corresponds with the ascendancy of the viol in Spain and Italy. This class will explore the music of the Odhecaton and other early Petrucci prints, which were eagerly collected for use by musicians in these two countries and throughout Europe. We will also examine Spanish polyphony preserved for us by other Venetian printers before music printing was firmly established in Spain in 1551. Consorts will be carefully sorted according to level of technical and musical proficiency. Viols please note that class pitch is A=440.

Harpsichord Master Class with Peter Sykes

For keyboard players.

Class Description

Bring any music you like, related or not to the workshop theme. We will address issues of fingering, articulation and touch, practice techniques, style and interpretation.

Coffee Break 10:30 - 11:00 a.m.

Late Morning Class Period: 11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Lions of Venice: Music of Monteverdi and Gabrieli for voices and mixed instruments

With Emily Eagen and Lawrence Lipnik; open to voices, recorders, viols, flutes, lutes, and other soft instruments. Viols please note that class pitch is A=440.

Class Description

As the proud image of the Lion greets visitors to Saint Mark’s in Venice, so did two of Venice’s musical lions: Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi. Their iconic, monumental works reverberated through churches and palaces across the city and beyond, defining an age and setting the course of music for generations to come. Immerse yourself in an array of musical genres, including works for double choir, madrigals, motets, and canzoni, as well as movements from Monteverdi’s exquisite Messa a quattro voci. Singers will delight in the sumptuous choral writing and the flourishing melodic lines, and instrumentalists will enjoy the sonorous, rich multi-part writing. Come raise a lion’s paw to Gabrieli and Monteverdi! Open to voices, recorders, viols, flutes, lutes, and other soft instruments. Viols please note that class pitch is A=440.

Gygges and Squeakings with Shira Kammen

Class Description

For string players who can get around on their instruments and consider themselves intermediate or higher. Violin, gamba or other playing positions are all fine, and modern instruments are acceptable.

we'll explore the role of strings and instruments in early Medieval music. Since so little of the written music from this era is specific to instruments, our challenge is to create/synthesize/arrange pieces and accompaniments based on the existing vocal models. This class will involve some daily improvisation exercises (no experience with improvisation necessary). We'll also work with existing polyphonic repertoire such as early motets. For string players who can get around on their instruments and consider themselves intermediate or higher.

Polychoral Ensembles: Music of Venice and Seville

With Liza Malamut, Wouter Verschuren; for upper intermediate cornetto, sackbut, shawm, dulcian.

Class Description

Two ensembles playing double and triple choir music by composers from late 16th- and early 17th-century Italy and Spain. We’ll recreate the glories of San Marco in Venice and the cathedral in Seville. The focus will be on making a wonderful, well-blended sound and exploring superb repertoire. Please let us know if you would like to play a quart or quint bass dulcian or other less common brass or reed instrument. For upper intermediate cornetto, sackbut, shawm, dulcian.

When Old Music was New: Musica Nova, 1540 and 1559 with Rosamund Morley

For viol players, a full set of Renaissance viols have been generously loaned to AEM for this class.

Class Description

Two publications from Venice twenty years apart offered "new music" to the public. The earlier book contains instrumental music in a new idiom–the ricercar–by composers in Adriano Willaert's circle at San Marco. The later collection contains motets and madrigals by Willaert alone. This class will explore these two wildly different but equally beautiful repertoires to discover what was new and what was not! This class will use a full set of Renaissance viols that have been generously loaned to AEMF for this week.

Beginning Lute with Jason Priset

Open to all.

Class Description

A hands-on course covering the mechanics involved in playing the Renaissance lute well. From experience playing a variety of fretted, plucked instruments, Dr. Priset will deal with the fundamentals of technique, the principles of left-hand finger placement, and learning to read from lute notation (tablature). This class will also provide a list of problems to avoid, while offering insights into various ways of holding the lute, practicing, producing good tone, and playing in a relaxed, focused manner. Students who already have experience on the lute are also welcome to join in order to focus on developing a better foundational technique on the lute.

Introduction to Partimento with Alissa Duryee

For keyboard players, other instruments welcome.

Class Description

Partimento is a pedagogical tool originating in Neapolitan conservatoires between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. Its influence reached into neighboring European countries; its widespread practice gave rise to generations of keyboardists prolific in improvisation, composition, and interpretation of repertoire (Pasquini, Porpora, A. Scarlatti, Donizetti, for example). In this class we will learn about its history and gain hands-on experience realizing partimenti at the keyboard. Have no doubt about whether this class is your speed: ample accommodations will be made to enable participants of any level to be involved. Though partimento is primarily a keyboard-centered practice, the participation of students without keyboard background is also welcomed.

New London Assembly Lectures, Presentations & Concerts

A different presentation every day from faculty in the New London Assembly. Open to all. You may drop in if you are not taking another class at this time.

Class Description

Monday—Historical Social Dance (Murray and Olsson)

A workshop in select European social dances from the late Renaissance and Baroque periods. The presentation will include dances from the “Inns of Court” sources, which show similarities to English country dance, as well as a minuet country dance.

Tuesday—Come and Join the Masquerade (Shaw)

References to masquerades or masked balls in London begin around 1711. They would become hugely popular upper-class entertainments under the commercial promotion of the Swiss emigre Johann Jakob Heidegger, known as "Count Heidegger", friend of Handel and central figure in the introduction of Italian opera to London. In the words of Terry Castle (Masquerade and Civilization, Stanford, 1986): "It is easy to forget the pervasiveness and magnitude of these events". This presentation will attempt to redress the balance and also suggest why, among publishers of English country dances, John Walsh is the only one to mention them. (See also the description of 15 "masquerade dances" from Walsh at 1:45.)

Wednesday—Revisiting the Rigadoon (Marsh)

The term “rigadoon” (French rigaudon) has many meanings: a folk dance from the south of France; a Baroque dance popular at French and English courts; an instrumental piece found in many Baroque suites; and a distinctive dance step that is used both in choreographed rigadoons and in other dance types. Musically, the rigadoon is usually a lively duple-meter piece similar to the bourée, but 6/8 meter rigadoons are also found in English sources. A number of English country dances and French contredanses are also set to rigadoon tunes. This talk will explore these various meanings and will investigate the ways in which the rigadoon step is used in both Baroque and English country dances. Audience participation is welcome but not required!

Thursday—Come to a British Folk Festival (Yeomans)

A look at some of the longest-running folk festivals in Britain. Victoria has been to Chippenham and Sidmouth festivals as a child, a member of a display team, a caller, a musician and a dancer so has a unique perspective on these and other festivals.

Friday—The Evolution of English Country Dance Music (Foster)

Brad will share his fascination with how “modern” music (starting in the early 20th century) has changed over the years with audio clips from contemporary and archival sources and commentary on the musicians, their history and musical style.

Saturday—Concert: Dance Music, Old and New, from Here and There (Axelrod, Jaber, Kammen, Martin)

Our faculty musicians will play a tapestry of dance music from around the world.

Early Afternoon Class Period: 1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Intermediate Early Notation: Nota Bene with Wendy Powers

Open to recorders, flutes, viols, and other soft instruments and good sight singers who don’t mind vocalizing on untexted parts. All should have a bit of experience with Renaissance notation and C clefs.

Class Description

Class will work on basic Renaissance notation skills–clefs, ligatures, duple mensuration, and we may dip our toes into triple time. Works by composers such as Du Fay, Busnois, Josquin, Brumel, or others will be chosen for beauty and clarity. Open to recorders, flutes, viols, and other soft instruments and good sight singers who don’t mind vocalizing their parts with no texts. All should have a bit of experience with Renaissance notation and C clefs.

Et in Terra Pax: Exploring the Late Medieval Polyphonic Mass in Italy with Mark Rimple

For intermediate to upper intermediate voices and instruments.

Class Description

Learn mass movements written by musicians active in or whose works were heard in Italy at the turn of the 15th century, including Mass Ordinary movements from the Modena Codex (ModA) and Oxford Canonici 213. The contrast between the late 14th and early 15th centuries will be exemplified in works by Matteo da Perugia, Zacharias da Teramo, Hugo and Arnold Lantins, Guillaume Du Fay, and others

Recorder and Flute Master Class with Gwyn Roberts

To perform or audit. A= 415 and 440 instruments welcome.

Class Description

Italian or Spanish repertoire encouraged, but other repertoire welcome. Some technique work will be included, with group participation. Please bring an extra five copies for class study. A= 415 and 440 instruments welcome.

Birth Pangs of the Baroque: Frottole and the Early 16th-Century Madrigal with Tish Berlin

For intermediate to upper intermediate recorders.

Class Description

Take a deep breath and dive into the first stirrings of the Baroque with the catchy, chordal frottole of native Italian composers such as Marchetto Cara and Bartolomeo Tromboncino, and the more serious contrapuntal styles of northerners such as Verdelot and Arcadelt who came south to work in the courts and churches of Italy. Italy met the Franco-Flemings and the madrigal was born! We’ll also take a glimpse at the mid- and late-century madrigal by composers such as Marenzio and Monteverdi.

IBERIA! Music of Spain and Portugal, from the 14th to the 17th Centuries, with Patricia Petersen

For intermediate to upper intermediate recorders.

Class Description

Music of Spain and Portugal, from the Cantigas de Santa Maria of the 14th century to the Llibre Vermell of the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, to the lively villancicos and ravishing motets of the 16th and 17th centuries, including surprising music by little-known Portuguese composers.

Polyphonic Pleasures: Splendid Music from Renaissance Italy and Spain with Sian Ricketts

For voices (all ranges) and low recorders (tenor, bass, great bass, and contrabass).

Class Description

Enjoy splendid music from Renaissance Italy and Spain that merges the sonorities of the human voice (that paragon to which all instruments strove) with low recorders. From the contrapuntal genius of Victoria and Morales to the madrigals and motets of Arcadelt, Festa, and the Gabrielis, we will revel in some of the most beautiful music of the 16th century.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Italians in Oxford Can. 213 with Valerie Horst

For recorder players who are comfortable with triple mensuration and ligatures.

Class Description

Almost buried by the prolific Du Fay, Binchois, and other northerners, a few interesting Italian composers made a place for themselves in this titanic 15th-century manuscript: the well-known Zachara da Teramo, yes, but also Bartolomeo da Bologna and others. We will say “buon giorno” to them all.

Renaissance Recorders Consort with Annette Bauer

For players familiar with Renaissance recorder fingering who own or can borrow Renaissance consort recorders. Players must bring at least two sizes.

Class Description

One-on-a-part consort for accomplished players/owners of Renaissance recorders. Blend and ensemble skills emphasized. Performance is a possibility. For players familiar with Renaissance recorder fingering who own or can borrow Renaissance consort recorders. Players must bring at least two sizes.

A Mediterranean Miscellany for the Renaissance Flute with Eric Haas

For upper intermediate to advanced Renaissance flutes.

Class Description

Madrigals, fantasias, frottole, laudae, villanelle, villancicos, canzonas, and dances of Italy and Spain from Anchieta, Bassano, Cara, de Rore, Encina, Fogliano, Giamberti and all the way to Zarlino.

Song of Solomon with Liza Malamut, Daniel Stillman

Upper intermediate to advanced cornetto, sackbut, dulcian.

Class Description

Late 16th-century composer Palestrina’s influence on sacred polyphony lived on for decades after his death in 1594. His five- and six-part motets based on the beautiful texts of the Song of Solomon will be the central focus of this class. As time allows, works by contemporaries Guerrero, Lassus, and Victoria will also be played. This repertoire represents the pinnacle of Renaissance polyphony.

Cornet and Sackbut Ensemble with Nathaniel Cox

For upper intermediate and up cornets and sackbuts.

Class Description

Late Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire for brass ensemble. There’s a reason why modern brass ensembles play these pieces in their concerts: because they are fabulous! Using Renaissance instruments, we can mine the true beauty of the early brass sound and celebrate the repertoire of this time, especially Italian canzoni from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Arise My Beloved: Sacred and Secular Music from Italian Sources with Rotem Gilbert

For advanced shawms, sackbuts and dulcians.

Class Description

Come and play songs about different kinds of love: from the anonymous “Ave Maria gratia plena” in Petrucci’s Motetti A to “Surge propera” by Johannes de Pinarol. This famous poem “Arise My Beloved” from the Song of Songs ends with the lovely text “vox enim tua dulcis, et facies tua decora” (for sweet is your voice, and your face is beautiful).

Rubies and Pearls: Treasures from Italian and Spanish Manuscripts and Partbooks on Renaissance Viols with Lawrence Lipnik

Explore music of Italy and Spain using a full set of Renaissance viols that have been generously loaned to AEM for this class. For upper intermediate to advanced viols.

Class Description

Using a full set of Renaissance viols that have been generously loaned to AEMF for this class, we’ll explore the evolving tastes of illustrious Spanish royal and Italian ducal patrons’ treasured collections of music manuscripts, cancioneros, and partbooks, as well as the emergence and rising demand for Italian madrigals and Spanish villanescas in printed collections. Musical highlights will include selections from Cancioneros de Palacios and Upsala, madrigals by Verdelot, Willaert, Ferrabosco I, and Flecha, as well as villanescas by Vásquez. Please note that class pitch is A=440.

Viol Consort: Frescobaldi and Friends with Rosamund Morley

For upper intermediate to advanced viols.

Class Description

In the early 17th century a huge number of canzonas were composed and published, but few composers offered such variety within the form as Girolamo Frescobaldi. His ensemble canzonas challenge and delight players with their sectional variety, sudden flights of virtuosic fancy, and occasional beautiful folk melodies. We’ll explore this repertoire in the company of the music of some of his contemporaries such as Merula, the Gabrielis, and others. Please note that class pitch is A=440.

The Frottole of Marchetto Cara and Friends with Patricia Ann Neely

For intermediate viol players.

Class Description

Marchetto Cara (ca. 1465-ca. 1525) was an Italian composer, lutenist and singer of the Renaissance. He was mainly active in Mantua, was well-connected with the Gonzaga and Medici families, and, along with Bartolomeo Tromboncino, was well known as a composer of frottolas. In this class, we will work on technical issues with bowing, including how to articulate vocal music to effectively create an illusion that viols are expressing the sentiments of the text. Please note that class pitch is A=440.

"With Freedom Comes Responsibility" with Peter Sykes

For keyboard players

Class Description

In his first book of toccatas published in 1615, Girolamo Frescobaldi wrote a set of instructions giving guidance as to how to play his music expressively through not keeping a strict tempo. We will examine this most subtle music in light of his advice, and come up with ways to play his music in a compelling and expressive manner. Participants could bring any 17th-century toccata or portion thereof for the class to examine, discuss, and perform.

Late Afternoon Class Period: 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Early Notation - Circa 1400, Italy: Music by Matteo de Perugia with Annette Bauer

Open to recorders. Solid foundations in reading early notation are required!

Class Description

At the turn of the Quattrocento, we find the short flowering of the ars subtilior style, with vastly expanded rhythmic expressions and creative and complex new notational practices, including the merging of elements from French and Italian notation of the 14th century, and increased use of syncopation. We will focus on the music of Matteo da Perugia (fl. 1400-1416), the first magister capellae of the Milan Cathedral from 1402 to 1407, as it is transmitted in Modena A.

Beginning Renaissance Notation for Singers and Instrumentalists with Carol Marsh

Open to all.

Class Description

Ever wonder about the music-making experience of a 16th-century musician? Bring Renaissance music alive by singing or playing directly from manuscripts and prints of the period (without the indignities of primitive plumbing). We will learn the basics of white mensural notation using Spanish and Italian original manuscripts and prints, including the Segovia Codex from the court of Queen Isabella (c. 1500, music by Juan del Encina and others); the Cancionero de Barcelona (c. 1520, music by Francisco de Penalosa and others); bicinia by Lasso (published 1577), and Mass movements by Victoria (published 1583).

Late Medieval Italian Music: The Trecento with Shira Kammen

For instruments and voices.

Class Description

14th-century Italy was a hotbed of artistic talent in literature, visual arts, and music. We'll explore the magnificent music of the Trecento, both monophonic and polyphonic styles. Repertoire will focus on works of the stellar composers Francesco Landini and Johannes Ciconia.

Let’s Start At the Very Beginning… with Mark Rimple

For singers, intermediate to upper intermediate recorders, viols, and other soft instruments.

Class Description

Singers and instrumentalists will explore excerpts from 15th- and 16th-century polyphonic masses that use solmization syllables as a basis for composition, including Ockeghem’s Missa mi-mi, Cristobal Morales’s Missa Super ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la, and Palestrina’s Missa Super ut-re-mi-fa-sol-la for six voices. Along the way, students will learn some “first hand” information about the solmization system and how it helps us to hear this music more clearly.

Renaissance Music Theory with Loren Ludwig

Open to all.

Class Description

Renaissance music theory offers a powerful set of tools to aid performers and scholars in their approaches to polyphonic music. With instruments in hand, we’ll explore some of the key concepts of music theory using Renaissance sources including Tinctoris, Zarlino, Morley, and others. Over the course of the week, we’ll tackle concepts including solmization and the hexachord, modes, cadences, ornamentation, and imitation, splitting our time between analysis, composition, and music making.

Baroque Ensembles

For experienced singers and players of recorder, flute, oboe, bassoon, viol, violin, cello, and harpsichord.

Class Description

Faculty will be drawn from the following: Devine, Gilbert, Sykes, and others. These one-to-a-part Baroque ensembles are for advanced treble and basso continuo players who are musically and technically prepared to explore challenging repertoire. Our priority will be to provide advanced players with well-matched ensembles. If there are more players of treble instruments than of continuo, one set of treble-line players in a trio sonata class may share a continuo section (and a coach) with another set, or some treble players may receive their second or third choices. Please list clear second and third choices. Indicate pitch: “440” or “415” or “either.”

Venetian Canzonas with Gwyn Roberts

For intermediate and up recorders.

Class Description

These enjoyable Venetian instrumental pieces from the turn of the 17th century have their roots in French chansons from the middle of the previous century. We’ll play a varied selection of canzonas, recognize their hallmarks, and marvel at quirky innovations. Pieces by Gabrieli, Merulo, and Frescobaldi, among others.

The Many Sides of Francisco Guerrero with Valerie Horst

For upper intermediate to advanced recorders.

Class Description

Of the Spanish Big Three composers, Guerrero has been described as “the most purely Spanish.” Unlike the more high-minded Morales and Victoria, he wrote not only masses (e.g. a rousing Missa Batalla), motets (e.g. “Sound the Trumpet”), and Magnificats, but also many secular pieces; some cheerful, some lovelorn, and some celebrating Christmas. We will play them all!

Flanders invades the Vatican! Masses and Motets from the Vatican Libraries, with Patricia Petersen

For upper intermediate to advanced recorders.

Class Description

Many well-known composers from the north countries worked in the various Vatican chapels. We’ll explore gorgeous and challenging masses and motets from the Vatican libraries that contain works of Du Fay, Ockeghem, Josquin, Mouton, and many others.

Lerma and Puebla: Music of the Ministriles with Douglas Kirk

For upper intermediate shawm, cornetto, dulcian, sackbut who can sight read well.

Class Description

This class, for loud wind instruments and perhaps even krummhorns, will explore some of the music that we know was played by ministriles in Spain and Spain’s New World colonies in the late 16th and 17th centuries. Sources will include the two ministrile manuscripts used by the wind ensemble of the Duke of Lerma (in Lerma and Valladolid), and the Puebla Cathedral (Mexico) ministriles who played from music compiled in Puebla Libro de Coro XIX.

Music of Cristobal Morales

With Nathaniel Cox, Wouter Verschuren; for upper intermediate to advanced shawm, cornetto, dulcian, sackbut.

Class Description

Morales (1500-1553) was a composer in the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, whose style he influenced. He was called “the light of Spain in music” by Juan Bermudo, and was highly valued for his sacred polyphony. In addition to works by Morales, we will play music by others of the post-Josquin generation, such as Verdelot, Willaert, and Andrea Gabrieli.

Beginning Dulcian with Sally Merriman

Open to all.

Class Description

Enter the satisfying world of “loud” instruments and experience the resonance of the dulcian in this introductory class. You’ll get results from day one! Learn to play a full octave (or more), blow freely on these double reed instruments, and play Renaissance music with your fellow dulcian players by the end of the week. Tenor and bass dulcians will be available. Open to all.

Vicente Lusitano: An Afro-Portuguese Composer in Rome with Patricia Ann Neely

For upper intermediate to advanced viols.

Class Description

Get to know the mixed-race composer, considered to be the first black composer to have his works published, through his 5-part motets, published in Rome in 1551. We’ll work on articulating text in his motets as a vehicle for refining phrasing, and explore his use of chromaticism and unorthodox harmonic progressions, devices that influenced Gesualdo and angered his rival Nicola Vicentino, who attempted to discredit Lusitano’s scholarship.

Plucked from the Renaissance and Transported to the Baroque! with Jason Priset

For lutes and other plucked strings.

Class Description

This class will focus on the music of three composers who are not well-known outside of the medium of guitar and lute playing: Luis de Milán (vihuela, 16th century), Gaspar Sanz (guitar, 17th century), and Santiago de Murcia (guitar, 17th and early 18th century). Although the names might be recognizable, most musicians don’t have access to playing the music because it was originally written in tablature. This class will be accessible for plucked instrument players as well as others (winds and bowed instruments). Select pieces by these composers will be put into modern notation and explored. Part of the class will also focus on understanding tablature and teaching you how to transcribe it into modern notation.

Vocal Technique with Historical Inspirations for the 21st-Century Singer with Emily Eagen

For vocalists

Class Description

This weeklong version of Emily's popular AEM online class is a vocal technique and repertoire class–with a twist! Singers of all levels are welcome to participate in this daily vocal workout, and from the beginning we will be up and singing. Build confidence and versatility as we do exercises for resonance, breath, articulation, and phonation, and stretch our range and stamina. The twist? We will draw inspiration from ideas from 17th- and 18th-century vocal pedagogy as we sing. What imagery, wisdom, and science helped singers use their voices in these centuries? What is "news we can use" today to help us sing? We'll draw from historical ideas of the voice to gain inspiration as we do a full vocal workout, then sing some simple songs from the Renaissance and early Baroque to try out the ideas. Gain new tools and tips for your voice, and leave with a stack of some of the most beautiful songs of the eras, as we travel back in time while we sing!

Schiaffo sul viso! Drumming in Italy and Spain with Spiff Wiegand

Open to all.

Class Description

End your long day of classes with a slap in the face–of a frame drum of course! Grab a tambourine, tar, or pandeiro, let the steam rise off your espresso, and fall into a meditative state of rhythmic repetition. Focus on historic dance rhythms with frame drum techniques of the Italian tamburello and the Spanish pandereta. There are a limited number of drums to share, bring your own if possible. While a light drum with jingles is ideal, techniques can be translated across instruments. Open to all levels.