Mi Contra Fa

Robin Hood!

Storvik Music Ensemble wants to dip into Robin Hood ballads! Huzzah!

Robin Hood and Arthur are both two period sources I've been wanting to do things with.  Just too many other projects to do it all... But now there's a reason for Robin.

My in-house outlawry resources:
The Rymes of Robyn Hood, ed. John Taylor and R.B. Dobson, 1997.
The Outlaws of Medieval Legend, Maurice Keen, 2001. (3rd edition of an older book, shows sometimes but Keen is a fairly big-name medieval historian.)
Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, or something very much like it.  It's a hardback (unlike the linked book which allegedly has no other editions) but I swear it's the same title.  Have to check later.

There are original Middle English ballads; there are translations into modern English; one can do one's own translations without too much difficulty if one really wants to.  Words are, for once, not a problem.

Music? Music's a problem.  I don't think there's any period music for the ballads.  My late-night skimming indicated that whether or not there even was music may be up for debate.  There may be something of a disconnect between the early ballads springing out of a romantic narrative tradition and the later "broadside ballads" that we're familiar with.  May. I need to look into this, clearly.  (On the other hand, I think Keen assumed de facto that of course these arose from folk carols.)

Anyway, let's say music is documentable.  Then... what music?  I see three major choices:

1. Use another 8-6-8-6 period tune
2. Write an original 8-6-8-6 tune in a period style
3. Use a known tune for a later version of the same ballad

I have, for example, music for Appalachian Robin Hood ballads.  The tunes have a lot of the features of English broadsides (although I'm not really conversant enough in the musical differences - if there are any - between say Ravenscroft's ballads and Child's). (And never mind that we're still talking 150 years between the Lytel Geste of Robin Hode and Ravenscroft.)

Each approach has attractions and drawbacks.  Option 1 combines two documentably period elements, but we'd be pretty certain that the tune would be the "wrong" one for the ballad. Option 2 allows for a demonstration of creativity but we know the tune is "wrong" since it didn't exist earlier.  Option 3 suggests that maybe this tune, or one like it, may be the "right" tune - but we can't really authenticate it.

It might bear playing some of the tunes and hearing if they "sound right."  Some Appalachian ballads sound pretty English, and some sound really Appalachian.

Fall University

So the Anglo-Saxon Performance class didn't get picked up for University. Can't say I blame them too badly; there were a passle of other neat performing arts classes proposed to fill out that track, at a variety of levels.

Now, just wait for the day when we have enough PA&S resources/interest that we can fill two tracks, one with introductory material and one with obscure stuff!  Bwahaha!

Ahem.

So the A-S Performance project is tabled for the moment.  Although honestly, it's really just a matter of finding my citations at this point.  Unless, you know, I totally switch gears and do make it "Lyre and Poetry 201."  I don't know... I kind of like pointing out the differences between a gleoman and a scop, and how there's room for both kinds of performer.

The Research class moves forward, now with more resources for non-music people!

Oral Poetry: The Center for Studies in Oral Tradition
Medieval Narrative: Performing Medieval Narrative

Both sites have extensive bibliographies.

Plus for music theory:
Early Music FAQ

Don't know any especially good introductions to basic music theory on the Web; you can Google for it but I don't know which websites will appeal to which learners.  My hunch is that a learn-by-ear performer will have a better time of it if they partner or team with a real live person to introduce them to the concepts, anyway.

I'm paring the Goal-Setting and Literature Search portions of the class way down to focus more on Aspects of Performance. I will talk to a few major resources in the field, I think, but want to mostly focus on breaking down an oral performance into components you can document.  I need to revisit my organization for that section because I'm wandering when I hit it; right now, it's a big long list of stuff which isn't as navigable as something with a narrative to link it all together.

A-S Performance Class: Basics

I was preparing for an informal one-on-one intro to the Germanic lyre, when I realized...

...I'm pretty darn good on lyre.

It's an important realization, because in my head, it's still "Lyre is easy!  Lyre is fun!"  And lyre is easy and fun.  But I've owned and played it, on and off, for six or seven years now.  I have confidence, in my technical and improvisational abilities.  I've improved my methodology and authenticity.  I've actually come a long way, baby.

And if I hand that lyre to a new player and say, "Do what I just did!  It's easy and fun!" I am going to crash and burn my own class.  Because for that person, handed a new instrument in front of a group, nervous and unaccustomed to it, it is unlikely to be very easy or very fun. 

It'll probably be fine for the old-time multi-instrumentalists who roll with such things.  But for vocalists or those accustomed to one and only one instrument?  It's intimidating!  Of course it is!  Here, do something you've never done before with ten people staring at you.  Come on, it's easy!

Lesson 1: I'm teaching a class on Anglo-Saxon performance, not on how to play Germanic lyre.  I can demo some of the possible techniques but I shouldn't try to teach them.

Lesson 2: The "unstructured play" part of the class should possibly have 10-15 minutes of prep time and similar for performance.  Asking people to just up and perform, cold, is a big thing to ask. 

Corollary to Lesson 2: That's 20-30 minutes, which reduces the time for the rest of the class to 30-40 minutes.  That's short.  Something may have to give.

Aethelmearc Cooks and Bards 2008

Is it not nifty?

"On the bardic end of things, we plan to feature a wide selection of opportunities including basic "how-to"s, roundtable and panel discussions, coaching sessions, master classes, recording opportunities, bardic challenges and plenty of opportunities both to perform and to enjoy the performances of others."

And they intend to publish proceedings.

Oh, I so want to go!

I feel happyyyyy...

No, I'm not dead yet.  I've just been on a combination of work travel, vacation travel and family travel.  No time for music research for the past two weeks... except to ponder how the performance of Hawaiian hula chants might be like or unlike other religio-historic oral traditions.  Also, my plane book was about music and magic in the Renaissance.

But, nose back to the grindstone!  I have a University class to teach in a month!