Dance, Music, & Song CampsAugust 10-17, 2019 // Plymouth, MA
Dulcis Memoria: Sweet Memory
Program Description
This year, Early Music Week will explore musical memories, from pieces that memorialize or recall earlier times to memory aids and skills. We’ll create new sweet memories while bringing musical styles from earlier times to life in the present.
Early Music Week offers joyful opportunities and challenges to players, singers and dancers of every level, from beginners to the highly experienced. As classes unfold through the week, we will explore and discover the innovation and creativity that lie behind some of the world’s most vibrant and compelling music, listening and playing with deeper understanding, as well as dancing together and enjoying all that the Pinewoods community has to offer.
The week also offers Accademia, an intensive program of High Renaissance Ensembles for advanced voices, viol and wind players with strong sight-reading skills (16th c. viols and recorders provided for student use).
Less experienced recorder players who want to focus on improving their technique and rhythmic skills can opt for Recorder Boot Camp classes.
Instrumentalists may focus intensively on their primary instruments, enjoying the opportunity to play with others in mixed ensembles and find time to explore something completely new. Singers can delve into early music repertoire in small groups and sing in a chorus and/or a mixed consort, and try an introductory instrumental class. Dancers (and those interested in dance) will find classes in English country dancing and historic dance. Everyone is invited to enjoy English country dancing, with instruction during the day for all levels. This elegant, low-impact, fun and welcoming style of participatory dance is the highlight of every evening. Dances are led by expert callers with music played by an elegant live band. All are warmly encouraged to participate.
Our outstanding faculty includes active professionals and acclaimed teachers and coaches of early winds (recorder, flute, capped reed/bagpipe, shawm, dulcian, sacbut, cornetto) strings (viola da gamba, Baroque violin, vielle, rebec), voice, chorus, harp, lute, and keyboard. The program also includes mini lecture/recitals by faculty as well as side-by-side play/sing-ins, with more advanced participants assisting those less experienced. The week closes with a faculty concert and student performances before a final banquet and celebration.
Experience this in-depth music and dance week surrounded by exceptional natural beauty, with time for relaxation — swimming, hiking, canoeing — and delicious home-cooked meals in the open-air dining hall. What better way to get inside music, and to bond with others of like mind, than to play, sing, dance, and learn together in this magical environment?
Early Music Week offers joyful opportunities and challenges to players, singers and dancers of every level, from beginners to the highly experienced. As classes unfold through the week, we will explore and discover the innovation and creativity that lie behind some of the world’s most vibrant and compelling music, listening and playing with deeper understanding, as well as dancing together and enjoying all that the Pinewoods community has to offer.
Instrumentalists may focus intensively on their primary instruments, enjoying the opportunity to play or sing with others in mixed ensembles and find time to explore something completely new. Singers can delve into early music repertoire in small groups, sing in a chorus and/or collegium, and try an introductory instrumental class. Everyone is invited to enjoy English country dancing, with instruction during the day for all levels. This elegant, low-impact, fun and welcoming style of participatory dance is the highlight of every evening. Dances are led by expert callers with music played by an elegant live band. All are warmly encouraged to participate.
Emily O’Brien – Program Director
Lisa Terry will be the Viol Maven for Early Music Week this summer. She’ll have a supply of nylon strings to sell, a few Sensicore strings to lend, and the expertise to get your pegs turning and your soundposts upright. See the Viol Maven each day during breakfast and lunch to make an appointment before first morning or afternoon class. Please read Viol Survival Tips, and put them in practice BEFORE camp!
Staff
Program Director
Emily O’Brien
Staff
- Anney Barrett
- Michael Barrett*
- Graham Christian
- Héloïse Degrugillier*
- Jan Elliott
- Frances Fitch
- Eric Haas
- Nicki Herbst
- Michelle Levy
- Liza Malamut
- Sarah Mead*
- Daphna Mor
- Christa Patton
- Jacqueline Schwab
- Mary Springfels
- Lisa Terry*
- Anne Timberlake
* Program Advisors, plus Steve Howe & Larry Zukof
Class Descriptions
Daily Schedule
9:00-10:25
Instrumental and vocal consorts grouped by level
Beginner to Advanced: Recorder, viol, voice, strings, harp, mixed instrument, and Accademia (see below for link to description) Voice Classes will include rhythmic, interval and sight reading exercises to strengthen the students’ musicianship. (B to A)
Loud Band (I+) – Liza Malamut
Open to players of winds and reeds who want to hone ensemble technique and explore works drawn from the vast oeuvre of sacred polyphony in the 16th century. We will address tuning, tactus, tempo, phrasing, and Renaissance style while playing motets from Renaissance Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal.
Chamber music with continuo – Frances Fitch
Rosin Bran (Bowed strings) – Michelle Levy
Get your day off to a good start with a complete breakfast and the recommended daily dose of rosin dust. If you play a bowed stringed instrument, and if you’re comfortable reading music, then this class is for you! Enjoy polyphonic music through the ages, from 13th c. two part motets to Mozart’s ‘Table Music’, composed for parties.
Accademia: Instruments and Voices (Pre-registration) – Michael Barrett, Sarah Mead
10:45-11:45
English Country Dancing: An Introduction, and Then On We Go! (B) – Jan Elliott
On Sunday and Monday, we will get you started so that you can enjoy Nikki’s class and the evening dances for the whole week.
English Country Dance for All (B and up) – Nikki Herbst
Music by: Frances Fitch, Michelle Levy: We will dance historical and newly choreographed selections that have won the hearts of dancers for good reasons. If these dances are new to you, you’ll soon know why people love them. And if they’re already your favorites, here’s a chance to do them even better! Please join the fun-this session is for all dancers.
ECD: Experienced (A) – Graham Christian
Music by: Jacquesline Schwab, Emily O’Brien: This class will offer a wide array of English Country Dance’s gems, familiar and unfamiliar, historical and modern. While there will be a few dances that offer something to chew on, we will focus on the fun and pleasure of dancing well together. Some ECD experience needed.
1:45-3:00
Collegium (I+, Mixed instruments, voices) – Mary Springfels
Compére and Contrast: Loyset Compere and Josquin Despres.
ECD in Performance (Experienced) – Graham Christian, Nikki Herbst
Music by: Jacquesline Schwab: Together, we will select a handful of dances old and new that display well, and allow us to grow as dancers. We will focus on timing, posture, and movement texture, to bring out the best in the dances and ourselves, all heading toward performance for the camp on Friday. Some ECD experience needed.
Accademia Viols (Pre-registration) – Lisa Terry
Accademia Voices – Michael Barrett
Accademia recorders – Héloïse Degrugillier
Bagpipes (for All) – Christa Patton
Ever fantasized about playing the bagpipe? Be careful what you wish for. This class will challenge the returning pipers and break in the beginners in a relaxed and jovial atmosphere. Learn how to keep the sound of the drones and chanter going and even play a bit of a tune. If we get really good, we will try walking and playing at the same time!
Purcell Fantasias (HI+ Recorders) – Jan Elliott
Henry Purcell was one of the most important and influential early baroque composers. Early in his too-short life and career, he penned a set of 15 Fantasias for varying numbers of viols, some of which have been transposed for SATB recorders. Written in the span of just a few weeks, they are deep, delicious and challenging, hearkening back to renaissance polyphony from the ears of its musical future. We will tackle several of these luscious gems, exploring the array of changing meters, tempos, and harmonies that — in the words of one reviewer — “hurt like a great massage.”
Selections from the Chansonnier de Noailles (1275-1300) (LI+ All Instruments) – Michelle Levy
Music was always in the foreground of medieval courtly entertainment, and the Chansonnier de Noailles is one of the most important resources of this kind, containing 481 French songs, 358 of which are preserved with music in the same manuscript. The collection includes monophonic Trouvère song (the Northern French equivalent of the Troubadours), lyric lais, and a series of motets with two to five parts. We’ll read a number of these motets together, but also we will try our hand at developing our own arrangement for at least one of the monophonic songs. No written instructions on how instruments were to accompany these have passed through the ages and it remains one of the great mysteries of music to this day. We’ll read from modern notation, but will also view the facsimile it comes from.
DIY Consort (I+, All instruments) – Daphna Mor
Do you have music you want to try out, but never get a chance at home? Do you wish you had more time for more informal playing at camp? In this “class” you’ll be able to arrange your own self-directed groups, with assistance and coaching to keep everything running smoothly. Try out something new, or just play whatever strikes your fancy!
Off the Page: Hear it, Remember it, or Make it up (LI+, All instruments, voices) – Emily O’Brien
We often think that playing by ear, from memory, and improvising are things you have to be born with. But they’re actually skills that everyone can learn and improve! Not only do they open up new possibilities for music making, they’ll even help your sight reading, ensemble playing, and performance skills! And these skills also open up whole new ways of having fun with your instrument! This class is suitable for players of a wide range of instruments and levels, as long as you have some degree of facility.
King Hal (LI+, Soft instruments) – Anne Timberlake
Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded survived… Henry VIII had six wives- and 49 recorders! If that isn’t a sign of which category he valued more, it’s at least a testament to his love for, and support of, music. We’ll explore musical gems from Henry’s era, including a few penned by the monarch himself.
Louds (A) – Liza Malamut
Open to experienced players of wind and reeds. This will be a faster-paced class in which players will explore 16th c. motets and madrigals in a “reading-session” style meeting. We will dive deeper into polyphonic works, expanding our reach from the motets of Italy and Germany to Spanish canciones and villançicos that recall sweet memories of love won and lost.
Aide-Memoire (HI-A Soft instruments) – Sarah Mead
Use 16th-c teaching aids to build your skills in hearing and constructing polyphony. Learn by doing to build simple counterpoint, improvise canons, imitate ornaments, and play from memory, all while building confidence in your ensemble skills.
3:20-4:35
Recorder Orchestra (I+) – Anne Timberlake
Expunge your memories of youth symphony and upgrade your orchestral experience to all recorders all the time! We’ll tackle larger-scale works using recorders of many sizes, with a focus on ensemble and articulation.
Ad Fontes: A Return to the Sources (Some ECD Experience) – Graham Christian
Music by: Lisa Terry: We will look at the first four editions of John Playford’s Dancing Master as well as tantalizing manuscript sources such as the Pattrick/Lovelace manuscript and the Ward manuscript, learning everything we can about the origin, nature, and idiosyncrasies of English Country Dance when it was the hottest new thing. There will be dancing, discussion, mini-lectures, and small-session reconstruction workshops: heaven for dance and music history nerds. Some ECD experience will be helpful.
What every musician needs to know about the body (All) – Frances Fitch
Learn fundamentals of Body Mapping to help play more comfortably and effectively and prevent injury. This class is invaluable to anyone who has ever struggled with the ergonomics of playing an instrument!
The oral tradition of the Sephardic Jews’ Diaspora (All levels , All instruments) – Daphna Mor
Following the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 -known as the The Alhambra Decree – by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), the Sephardic jews (meaning ‘Spanish’ jews in hebrew) found their way to the Medeteranian lands who would accept them as immigrants. We will explore their music which has been preserved for many centuries through oral tradition recalling the sweet memories of Spain and the lasting yearning for Jerusalem. We will explore Sephardic folksongs-both bawdy and mournful, sacred melodies, and the traditional instrumental music of Morocco, Turkey, and the Balkans, as well as the current living tradition called ‘Sepharad- Yerushalaim’.
Advanced Mixed Consorts – Sarah Mead, Héloïse Degrugillier
Mixed Renaissance ensembles for advanced players, involving a combination of coaching as well as independent work.
ECD Band (I+ All instruments) – Jacqueline Schwab
Experience music through the movements of dances. Work with one of the best ECD musicians to improve your dance playing, including improvisation skills, communication with your fellow musicians, rhythmic sense, and interpreting the tunes to better support the dancers. And of course have a ton of fun!
Chorus: In memoriam: commemoration in Renaissance polyphony – Michael Barrett
Some of the most compelling music of the Renaissance memorializes the dead. The Requiem Mass is the most generic type, but many motets from the period mourn the loss of either a significant church or secular leader, or, often more poignantly, a fellow composer. This summer the Early Music Week chorus will explore this fascinating repertoire, including works by Ockeghem, Josquin, and Isaac.
Tutti Flutti (LI+ Flutes) – Eric Haas
Improve your flute technique and enjoy the ensemble experience. This group could involve Baroque or Renaissance flutes or both, depending on the interests and preferences of its members, so fill in your thoughts on your questionnaire!
O Fortuna (LI+, Soft instruments) – Mary Springfels
Dame Fortune in music in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Improve your ensemble skills with Fauvel, Machaut, and Fortuna Desperata.
Mixed Ensemble (I+) – Liza Malamut
We will dive into the beautiful and under-explored repertoire of Salamone Rossi and his contemporaries. A master of the canzona, the madrigal, and sacred polyphony, Rossi’s works were performed from Jewish synagogues in Italy to the royal court of Mantua. We will also play works by Rossi’s influencers and those who influenced him, including Monteverdi and Bassano. Open to cornetts, sackbuts, dulcians, recorders, strings, voices, and continuo instruments at A440.
Fabulous Frottole (I+ Harps and other soft instruments) – Christa Patton
Fun frolicy and fascinating, the Frottola of the 16th century Petrucci editions have something for everyone. With gorgeous melodies, stylish and complex counterpoint and beguiling poetry, they lend themselves to voices and instruments of all kinds. If you pluck, bow, blow or sing you are welcome.