AEM ONLINE Classes - February 3 & 4

Recently sea shanties have been popularized across social media, and with good reason: these songs offer a wealth of musical material to work with. We will take a selection of shanties from different countries, and interpret them in different ways: in a traditional folk style (derived from Irish music), with Renaissance divisions, the French baroque, and even a little Vivaldi! At the end of the class you will have lots of new music to play, and hopefully feel more confident in applying these techniques of ornamentation to other music too. Suitable for melody instruments, intermediate and up. A =440. Sheet music will be provided beforehand. Open to: melody instruments, intermediate and up. Pitch: A= 440Hz

Bagpipes are the true pan-European folk instrument, with almost every European country having at least one native bagpipe tradition. We know from writing and iconography that bagpipes were played extensively throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, but unfortunately no instruments from those eras survive. Happily, modern makers have reconstructed plausible Medieval and Renaissance bagpipes, and they’re very rewarding to play.

There are challenges, though: how do we get the hang of the blowing technique if we’re used to recorder or other woodwinds? How should we articulate and ornament with just our fingers on an instrument where tonguing isn’t applicable? How should bagpipes be tuned? What music is best for bagpipes? Dan Meyers will answer some of these questions, demonstrating various types of pipes and giving an overview of basic techniques; we’ll explore together how to select or adapt Medieval and Renaissance tunes so that they work well on bagpipes. We may also touch on some maintenance tips, discussing how to tune your pipes and keep them in optimal playing condition.

This session is aimed at players who already have Medieval or Renaissance pipes and have at least experimented a bit with playing them, but the “pipe-curious” (particularly those who play other early winds) are welcome to audit. We’ll be focused on pipes using open fingering (i.e., similar fingerings to a recorder); while the Baroque musette de cour and folk pipes like the Great Highland Bagpipes (Scottish pipes) and uilleann pipes are wonderful instruments, they use different fingering systems and are outside the scope of this session. Open to: bagpipe players with instruments, “pipe-curious” welcome to audit. Pitch: A= 440

We will begin our class with a brief historical background about the transformation of this Iberian dance, including the chord progressions used in Diego Ortíz’s Trattado de glosas (1553) and Marin Marais’ Pièces de viole, Livre II (1701).
We will take a close look at two examples from Ortiz, Recercada Quarta and Recercada Ottava, breaking them down (desglosar) to learn from him, and as well as some of Marais’ Couplets de folies (Les folies d’Espagne), both solo part and continuo part. The class is open to all ability levels: you can choose what to play and when to join in. All types of viols and everyone interested on other instruments (such as recorders, guitars, and fiddles) are welcome. Open to: all viols, open to other instruments as well, recorders, guitars, violins… Pitch: A= 440