Spring Break Workshop 2026 Class Descriptions & Schedule

Revolution! Music from Times of Rebellion

Exploring Music in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, England, France, Germany, and the USA from the Early Renaissance to Today

Workshop pitch is A=440

First Period  9:30 - 10:45 a.m. Saturday & 1:30 - 2:45 p.m. Sunday

RECORDER CLASSES
Revolutionize Your Playing! with Tish Berlin
Start your day with music and technique exercises designed to revolutionize your playing. We’ll work on tools to make your tone truly beautiful and varied, your fingers facile, and your tongue transformed, and then apply those skills to music by composers from the Middle Ages to today. Intermediate recorders.

Claude Le Jeune: The Life and Works of a Celebrated Huguenot Composer, with Rainer Beckmann
Claude Le Jeune was one of the most prolific and influential French composers of the second half of the sixteenth century. As a committed Huguenot, he was regarded as a heretic by the Catholic monarchy and faced periods of persecution. This class explores Le Jeune’s colorful and dramatic life through accessible examples of his vast and varied compositional output, including Parisian chansons, Italian canzonettas, Huguenot psalm settings, and French motets. Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders.

Wine, Women, and Song: Remembering the 1920s with music by Binchois, Lassus, Casulana, Telemann, Shannon and more with Wendy Powers
Our decade marks a century since the 1920s, aka the Jazz Age. 1920 was the year that that Prohibition became US law (Jan. 17, 1920-Mar. 22, 1933--WINE) and was also the year that American women were finally granted the right to vote (Aug 18, 1920--WOMEN), two events that women had prominent roles in bringing about. The 1920s were also, in many ways, the beginning of our modern world of popular music (SONG), with the popularity of 20s jazz bands, the growing use of microphones to give singers like Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby a more intimate way to deliver a song, with the Tin Pan Alley song publishers, and with the rise of radio. Class will play music from the far more distant past that extol the virtues of WINE, are about or by WOMEN, and are texted lyrical SONGS, ending with a little bit of jazzy stuff. Upper intermediate to advanced recorders.

Organic! Fabulous Organ Pieces arranged for Recorders: Sweelinck, Cabezon, Merulo, Phillips with Frances Blaker
So many Renaissance composers wrote interesting organ works, most of which are seldom, if ever, heard nowadays. A great number of these works are in four-part texture, just waiting for us to separate out those parts and play them as recorder quartets! These works turn out to be very rewarding to play and offer fresh pieces to add to our repertoire. We will play organ pieces (transcribed for recorders) by Sweelinck, Cabezon, Merulo and Phillips. Advanced recorders.

VIOL CLASSES
Leonora’s Fantasias with Sarah Cunningham
Explore the evocative 5-part fantasias of Leonora Duarte, a talented woman from a Jewish family, who migrated from Portugal to Antwerp. Intermediate to upper intermediate viols.

Collapse of the Old Order: Music of the English Civil War by Jenkins and Tomkins with Amy Domingues
The volatile political landscape in England is reflected in the remarkable fantasias of Jenkins and Tomkins, two of the consummate Jacobean composers. Advanced viols.

LUTE CLASSES
Plucking through the Propaganda: Spin Doctors of the Renaissance with Mark Rimple
16th-century propagandistic songs for kings & queens. The power of propaganda is well known to us today, whether we are feeling its effects on social media and cable television every day, or remembering the grainy, black-and-white news reels from the Second World War. Music has long been a tool used by powerful leaders to rally popular support and change the narrative. European monarchs in the Renaissance often engaged their poets and musicians to create works to extol their own virtues, and to steer the narrative in ways favorable to their regimes. In this class, we will explore several key examples of musical “spin" from the Valois, Medici and tudor courts (for G lutes - please email the instructor if you plan to bring a different-sized instrument). 

Dalza's Dances: The Rise of Published Dance Music for Lute with Chris Morrongiello
In this class, we will examine the fourth book in Petrucci's series of lute music, Joan Ambrosio Dalza's Intabolatura de lauto (Venice, 1508), which broke with the convention of drawing on polyphonic vocal models as the source for instrumental music. This landmark publication contains the first significant collection of dance music for lute. It is also, as Douglas Alton Smith points out, "the second-earliest volume of printed dance music for any instrument." There are 42 dances (three for two lutes), and many of these pieces are grouped by key and similar melodic and harmonic material into suites. Each of the nine dance suites (five ala venetiana and four ala ferrarese) contains a pavana, saltarello, and piva. This volume is also the most important source for the Italian and Spanish calata. Dalza's Calata ala spagnola in F is one of the most attractive pieces in the entire lute repertoire. We will explore the meters, tempi, rhythmic patterns, forms, and related choreographies of Dalza's dances. We will also look at Dalza's idiosyncratic playing style, what Pat O'Brien called the "Dalza Stroke," strumming on the lute, bringing out hemiolas, the Spanish influence, "weird notes," and ways of combining the dances with other free-form pieces (tastar de corde, ricercare) and frottole in his book. 

CHORUS Speech and Song: Vocal and Diction Techniques in Early Music—with Richard Robbins and accompanist Steven Alan Honley
This session introduces the foundational vocal techniques required for historically informed performance of Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire. Emphasis is placed on clarity of text, vowel formation, consonant articulation, and breath management, with attention to the music of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Through close work with sacred and secular repertoire, singers will explore how rhetorical delivery and speech-like singing shape musical phrasing. Repertoire such as William Byrd’s Ave verum corpus and Sacerdotes Domini, along with the French chanson Bonjour ma mie, provides contrasting contexts for sacred legato singing and lighter, speech-driven secular style. The session aims to establish a technical and linguistic toolkit that supports both ensemble blend and textual intelligibility. 

Second Period  11:15 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Saturday & 3:15 - 4:30 p.m. Sunday

RECORDER CLASSES
Vendetta! Music by Contentious Italians - Tromboncino, Landini, Festa, with Frances Blaker
Intermediate recorders
There is so much Italian Renaissance music - how do we choose? For this class, I have chosen to play works by troublesome, contentious composers. Crabby men who wrote great music! While working on the music, using all our abilities to create interesting and compelling interpretations, we will also learn about these fractious musicians. 

1776: Music Recalling Days of Revolution, with Wendy Powers
With the 250th anniversary of the signing of America’s Declaration of Independence, this year seems appropriate for exploring music of the period as well as modern works that relate to the older music. Class will play works by William Billings (1746-1800) and more recent repertory chosen from works of Will Ayton, Eric Haas, David Goldstein, and/or John S. Kitts-Turner. Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders.

English Intrigue: Composers and (?) Spies, on Renaissance Recorders, with Tish Berlin
The Dutch music copyist Petrus Alamire spied for Henry VIII, John Dowland and Thomas Morley are suspected of having spied on English Catholic exiles while they traveled on the Continent. Ferrabosco the Elder led a double life as a secret agent for both Elizabeth I and Catherine de’ Medici of France. Whatever their reasons for their clandestine work, they are known to us for having left music that delights, inspires, and fascinates. Upper intermediate to advanced players with Renaissance recorders

Ringing in the Restoration: Matthew Locke’s Consort of Four Parts (ca. 1660) with Rainer Beckmann
Matthew Locke lived through the turbulence of the English Civil War (1642–1651). When Charles II returned from exile in 1660 and the English monarchy was restored, Locke had become England’s leading composer. This class focuses on Locke’s activities at the Restoration court, documented in part through the suites that make up the Consort of Four Parts. Like similar works in collections of three-part consorts, these suites combine contrapuntal fancies (fantasias), favored at the court of Charles I, with the fashionable French dances preferred by Charles II. Advanced recorders.

VIOL CLASSES
Masterclass: Solo Viol music with Sarah Cunningham
Viol repertoire from the ancien regime (Marais, Ste. Colombe, Caix, Boismortier) and from across the channel during the French revolution (Abel). Advanced viols. 
Faith and Fury in France with Amy Domingues
We’ll read viol consorts from the time of the Huguenots, including the highly-wrought counterpoint of the fantasias of du Caurroy and the fantasias and sacred vocal works of Claude Le Jeune. Intermediate to upper intermediate viols. 

LUTE CLASSES
Playing the New Kithara: Greek music theory and its influence on 16th-century polyphony with Mark Rimple
For G lutes - please email the instructor if you plan to bring a different-sized instrument. Renewed interest in Ancient Greek music accelerated after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, as scholars brought their knowledge and works unknown in the West to Italy. Humanist theorists/musicians Giovanni Spataro, Giovanni del Lago, Pietro Aaron and Franchino Gaffurio wrote and published works indebted to Greek theory in a way that exceeded what most Europeans had learned from their familiarity of its Latinized summary found in Boethius. Composers (including Gaffurius) soon followed suit by exploring these ideas in their own works. Eventually, Giovanni de’ Bardi and Vincenzo Galilei would use these theories to undermine the very fabric of Renaissance polyphony itself. Lutenists know some of the early effects of this musical Hellenism through isolated solo pieces by Simone Molinaro, Giovanni Kapsperger, John Dowland and, as continuo players, Henry Purcell. In this class, we will survey Humanist harmony and melody in the 16th-century zenith of imitative vocal polyphony through lute ensemble arrangements of vocal compositions by Adrian Willaert, Vicente Lusitano, Niccola Vicentino, Luzzasco Luzzaschi, and Don Carlo Gesualdo.

The Essex Rebellion: Music Inspired by the Tempestuous Relationship of Robert Devereux and Queen Elizabeth I with Chris Morrongiello
When Essex rebelled against the queen in February 1601, several of his followers went to the Globe Theater and paid the actors (the Lord Chamberlain's Men) to perform Shakespeare's Richard II, making certain that these actors included the deposition scene. Many ballads, songs, and instrumental pieces were inspired by the Earl's plight, rebellion, and subsequent execution. This class will explore the lute songs by John Dowland, Daniel Bacheler, Richard Martin, and other Elizabethan composers who knew the Earl well and set his impassioned lyric poetry to music. These highly allegorical works open the oaken door to Elizabethan melancholy, intrigue, allusion, courtly love, and conflict. Several of the songs were likely to have been sung before the queen herself. She may also have enjoyed playing the instrumental music dedicated to her and her impetuous suitor on the virginals or lute.

CHORUS
Tactus and Dance: Building Rhythmic Awareness in Early Music, with Richard Robbins and accompanist Steven Alan Honley
Focusing on rhythmic vitality and flexibility, this session examines how meter, tactus, text stress, and dance influences inform rhythmic interpretation in Renaissance and early Baroque music. Participants will explore proportional relationships, hemiola, and text-driven rhythmic nuance, particularly in psalm settings and madrigal-like forms. Works such as Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s Psaulme 96 and Claude Goudimel’s Psaume 42 serve as vehicles for understanding psalmody, declamation, and the balance between regular pulse and expressive freedom. English consort-style song, represented by Thomas Tomkins’s O Let Me Live for True Love, further highlights how rhythm supports affect and narrative flow. The session equips singers with strategies to internalize pulse while remaining responsive to text and ensemble.

Third Period  2:00 - 3:15 p.m. Saturday (does not meet on Sunday)

RECORDER CLASSES
Soundtrack for the Lutheran Reformation: Johann Walter and Georg Rhau, with Tish Berlin 
Martin Luther loved music, which is a good thing for us! Johann Walter (1496-1570), was Luther’s chief musical collaborator. Georg Rhau (1488-1548) was a publisher who helped Luther promote music in the schools and churches. Join me for polyphonic settings of chorale tunes, the backbone of Lutheran worship, to drinking songs and dances known by the new Lutherans of the early 16th century. Intermediate to upper intermediate recorders.

Framing the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648): Intradas by Michael Altenburg (1620) Meet Motets by Heinrich Schütz (1647) with Rainer Beckmann
The lives and careers of German composers Michael Altenburg and Heinrich Schütz were deeply affected by the Thirty Years’ War. Altenburg, a pastor from Thuringia, ceased composing when the war brought suffering to his homeland. Because of wartime disruptions, Heinrich Schütz, Kapellmeister to the Protestant Elector of Saxony, was often forced to write for smaller musical forces in Dresden or to spend time in Italy and Copenhagen. This class features Altenburg’s sonorous intradas based on Lutheran chorales, published shortly after the outbreak of the war, alongside rhythmically interesting German motets by Schütz, which he was finally able to publish toward the war’s end. Upper intermediate recorders.

Hank and Frank - Music for Rival Kings: Mouton, Frye, Cornish and more, with Frances Blaker
England and France warred with each other through generations. England's Henry VIII and France's François I were both vigorous young men ruling great countries. They, with their vast entourages, met at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June of 1520. Opulent tents, sumptuous meals, games, jousting, music both sacred and secular, all contributed to this remarkable event. We will play music by composers who were there or who worked in the French or English court. Upper intermediate to advanced recorders.

Into the Fray: Musical Portrayals of War, with Wendy Powers
Music that portrays warfare goes back at least to Du Fay in the early 15th century, and impressive works are salted throughout the 16th century, works by Isaac, Janequin, Bachieri, and Andrea Gabrieli. Also found in the Renaissance are vocal works that express the glory of victory and the grief that war causes, chosen from works by Verdelot, Lassus, and anonymous English repertory. For this year’s big July anniversary, we also offer a setting of a more recent battle piece—The Star-Spangled Banner. Advanced recorders.

VIOL CLASSES
Lawes/Scheidt with Sarah Cunningham
These two composers both worked in tense times leading to war. Scheidt’s instrumental works such as the epic collection Ludi Musici reflect an ordered clarity which belies the turmoil of the Thirty Years War and bouts of famine and plague. William Lawes, as a court composer to Charles I, fought on his king’s side in the English Civil War and left his legacy of viol consorts full of expressive counterpoint and argumentative, conversational textures. Advanced viols.

Before the Break: (c.1500–1520) with Amy Domingues
Music from the late medieval–Renaissance German sphere just before Luther’s reforms. We’ll explore instrumental works by Isaac and Senfl, including instrumental settings of lieder which later became Lutheran chorale tunes. Intermediate to upper intermediate viols. 

LUTE CLASSES
Renaissance Lute Masterclass with Chris Morrongiello
Participants are encouraged to perform prepared pieces from the Renaissance lute repertoire for discussion and coaching.

CHORUS
Reformation and War: Conflict and Art in Transitional Renaissance Forms—with Richard Robbins and accompanist Steven Alan Honley
This session situates early music within its political, religious, and social upheavals, examining how conflict shaped evolving musical styles. Through the lens of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, singers will explore how composers responded to confessional identity and wartime instability. Heinrich Schütz’s Kleine geistliche Konzerte selections reveal a highly expressive, text-centered sacred style born of both Italian influence and the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War. Johann Hermann Schein’s Zion spricht provides insight into Lutheran theology and musical rhetoric, while Thomas Tomkins’s I Heard a Voice reflects the emotional and stylistic tensions of post-Reformation England. The session connects musical form to historical necessity, showing how composers crafted specific artistic responses to crisis.

Fourth Period  3:30 - 4:45 p.m. Saturday (does not meet on Sunday)

RECORDER CLASSES
Marc Antonio Ingegneri and Claude Le Jeune (?): A Motet and a Chanson with Frances Blaker
Explore two very different works: Ave verum corpus, an 8-part motet by Ingegneri, and Bonjour ma mie, a chanson celebrating the new year attributed to Claude Le Jeune. The entire workshop – chorus and instruments – will join on Sunday afternoon to perform these two works. Take a deep musical and logistical dive into both with Frances and then be blown away as members of the all-workshop performance on Sunday. Intermediate recorders.

A Peace Celebration: Compère’s Motet Quis numerare quæat-Da pacem Domine with Rainer Beckmann
Loyset Compère was one of the leading chanson and motet composers of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. He served in the chapel of the French court and accompanied Charles VIII on his invasion of Italy in 1494. This class explores Compère’s motet Quis numerare quæat, which is thought to have been composed for one of the peace treaties associated with the campaign. The three-part motet reflects on themes of war, including references to the groans of the people and to Italians offering prayers. As a cantus firmus, the motet uses the chant Da pacem, Domine. Upper intermediate recorders and bass viols.

A Musical Revolution: Petrucci and Mass Printing of Music, with Wendy Powers
Ottaviano Petrucci's 1501 Odhecaton launched the revolution of printing music from movable type, opening up a world of music literacy to a far wider world of musicians. Josquin des Prez's reputation directly benefited from this innovation, lucky for him and for us. Class will explore works by Josquin that Petrucci published: a frottola, a chansons, and a motet. Both modern and facsimile editions will be provided, so those with experience reading mensural notation are welcome, as are those who prefer reading modern notation. Upper intermediate to advanced recorders and viols. Music provided in original and modern notation.

By a Woman Writ with Tish Berlin
Revel in a sampling of the wealth of repertoire by women composers with music by Leonora Duarte, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and Florence Price. An instrumental sinfonia by 16th-century composer Leonora Duarte, member of a family of musicians who immigrated from Portugal to Antwerp, a gorgeous hymn to the evening by Fanny Hensel, Felix’ less famous but equally talented sister, and a beautifully-atmospheric arrangement of Adoration by Florence Price, the first Black woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer. Advanced recorders

VIOL CLASS
Totally Tutti with Amy Domingues. 
Join Amy for a TBD large consort piece reading followed by a rehearsal of the instrumental parts of Ingegneri’s motet Ave verum corpus and the French chanson Bon jour ma mie for our Sunday tutti session. For all viols. Upper intermediate to advanced viols may also choose classes with Rainer Beckmann and Wendy Powers listed under Recorder.

LUTE CLASS
Grande Bande rehearsal with Mark Rimple.
Prepare for Sunday’s tutti session by working on Ingegneri’s motet Ave verum corpus and the French chanson Bon jour ma mie. For all lutes.

CHORUS 
Beyond the Notes: Expressive Singing in Early Music—with Richard Robbins and accompanist Steven Alan Honley The final session synthesizes technique, rhythm, and historical understanding into a focus on expressive delivery and affect. Singers will explore how dynamics, articulation, and text emphasis convey emotional meaning within stylistically appropriate boundaries. Drawing on Schütz’s sacred concertos and Byrd’s expressive motets, the session examines how early composers used contrast and harmonic color to heighten textual impact. Secular repertoire, such as Bonjour ma mie, reinforces the connection between character and vocal color. The goal is to move toward communicative, emotionally resonant performances enabling singers to inhabit the expressive world of early music with confidence and stylistic awareness.

5:30 – 6:15 Saturday: Faculty Concert 
5:00-6:00 Sunday: All-workshop session with Richard Robbins, Amy Domingues, Mark Rimple, and Tish Berlin, performing Ingegneri’s motet Ave verum corpus and the 16th-century French chanson Bonjour ma mie.