Classes March 7 & 8

Are you a morning person? Are you a morning person after six cups of coffee? Do you hate mornings with the fiery passion of a thousand suns? Larks and owls are welcome in this class exploring bright -and early!- morning-themed music from across the centuries. It’s your musical wake-up call! 

Class is recorder-centric, though other instrumentalists welcome. Mixed level, pitch: A=440

This class will explore improvisation in Medieval, Renaissance, and related styles, and although instrumentally oriented, can be useful and doable for singers as well. Our time will be spent working with ground basses and other chord progressions, basse danses, estampies, and some more general musical improvisation games -include playing with time, creating waltzes, jigs and other metrical forms. No experience needed, just a sense of musical adventure. We’ll be at A=440.

Isabella d’Este and Lucrezia Borgia would not have been happy to share even this sentence! These two Italian noblewomen loved to outdo one another wherever they could, including with their artistic patronage. Despite their differences and disagreements, they both valued music greatly, and used their vast riches to support the most promising young composers of their day. These powerful women had a huge impact on Italian musical life, and encouraged the development of the frottola! We will explore music from the courts of Isabella and Lucrezia, as well as pieces by other composers in their orbit. Enjoy the greatest hits of Marchetto Cara, Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Josquin des Prez, and more!

Open to recorders, intermediate and up (other instruments welcome - please note that reference sound files will be recorded on 4-foot recorders). Pitch: A=440