Fall 2024 Class Selection

Make one selection for each of the seven class periods (5 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday morning). If you have a second choice, put it in the comment box for that period. Each class selection lists what instruments or voices the class is designed for, and the level. UI means Upper Intermediate.

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Period 1Class choice for this period; put 2nd choice in comment field

Period 1 - Saturday 9-10:15amPlucking Technique (Hector Torres) - Group technique work: study chords, melodies, reading, and ensemble exercises.
For: Renaissance Lute, Baroque Guitar, and Theorbo, Level: All levelsO Ciconia! (Mary Springfels) - Motets and songs by a master of lyricism, the great Johannes Ciconia, a Franco-Fleming who took up residence in Padua, circa 1400.
For: All instruments and voices, Level: UI and upIntro to Baroque violin (Stephanie Noori) - Have you ever wanted to try your hand at Baroque violin? It might look similar to the modern violin, but playing the early violin is a totally different beast. Come have a go! It's Ok if you don't have a Baroque instrument or bow. Bring your modern and some shelf liner and we'll get you going!
For: Anyone, Level: All levelsThe Breath of Winter (Jennifer Carpenter) - “The breath of winter holds a hushed enchantment, a captivating stillness.” Scenes of winter captivated many Renaissance poets and composers, including Lassus, Malvezzi, Weelkes, and others. We’ll focus on how we use our breath as both an intimate connection to the instrument and to the character of the poetry expressed through music.
For: Recorders, Level: Intermediate and upThe “House Music” (Carol Deihl) - A selection of lovely pieces in various styles from the late 1500's through the late 1600's, arranged for three instruments. Written in treble clef, but octave doubling is encouraged!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upPlay Better (Frances Blaker) - Recorder Technique for the Eager Player: focus on fixing problems and giving you tools for ever better playing
For: Recorders, Level: Intermediate – UINo choice this period

P1 altIf you have a second choice, or any other comment, enter it here0 / 50

Period 2

Period 2 - Saturday 10:40-11:55amEnglishmen abroad (Mary Springfels) - Music by John Dowland, Thomas Simpson, and William Brade.
For: All instruments, Level: UI – AdvancedSpicy mustard! (Susan Richter) - “Senfl” is a German word for mustard – and Ludwig Senfl did write some pretty spicy secular music! Let's play and sing through some of his songs about drinking and other pleasurable pursuits.
For: All instruments and voices, Level: Lower intermediate and upPlayford tunes (Therese Honey) - A selection of dance tunes from the famous collection assembled across many years and many editions by John Playford.
For: All instruments, Level: Intermediate and upBeginning/Refresher Viol (Carol Deihl) - An introduction to all sizes of viols: you don't need any string instrument experience. Also great for rusty players to get back into the swing! Viols in all usual sizes provided, or bring your own. Guaranteed you will be playing a famous viol tune by the end of the class, even if you’ve never touched a viol before!
For: Anyone, Level: All levelsLet's Be an Orchestra! (Frances Blaker) - Music for a large group of recorders and viols. Music by Pierre de la Rue and Frances Blaker
For: Recorders and viols, Level: Intermediate and upNo choice this period

P2 altIf you have a second choice, or any other comment, enter it here0 / 50

Period 3

Period 3 - Saturday 1:05-2:20pmThe Plucks Ensemble (Hector Torres) - Lute ensemble music from the 16th and 17th centuries.
For: Lutes, other instruments welcome!, Level: All levelsLoud ensemble (Susan Richter) - Bring your shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, cornetti – we will find music to play together. This class is not suitable for krumhorns or other limited-range instruments.
For: Loud instruments, Level: Intermediate and upViolin band (Stephanie Noori) - Initially used primarily as a dance instrument, the violin family began its rise to prominence in the early 17th century. By the middle of the 1600s, the violin band became fashionable thoughout continental Europe and Britain in place of the tried-and-true viol consort. So lets have our own little violin band and enjoy playing some of what the violin does best - dance tunes!
For: Violin Family and Gambas -- , Level: All levelsSolo song workshop (Danny Johnson) - One-on-one instruction on your song: bring your own music, or choose from Danny's.
For: Singers, Level: All levelsAll roads lead to Romanesca (Jennifer Carpenter) - Take a trip to experience the melodic-harmonic pattern that created the foundation for a number of 16th- and 17th-century pieces. We’ll play music by Narvàez, Mudarra, Banchieri, and others.
For: All instruments, Level: Intermediate and upNo choice this period

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Period 4

Period 4 - Saturday 2:35-3:50pmFantasías y Tientos (Hector Torres) - Ensemble settings of Spanish fantasies and variations from the 16th century. Including music by Alonso Mudarra, Antonio de Cabezón, Luis de Narváez, and others!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upSongs With or Without Words (Mary Springfels) - The madrigal fantasias of Giovanni Coperario. As far as is known, John Cooper never actually travelled to Italy. This didn't stop him from creating an Italianate persona, or from writing lovely instrumental music with Italian texts.
For: Viols, need at least 5 or 6, Level: Any levelPlay from any music (Susan Richter) - You can learn to play from music that isn't specifically written for recorders! Choral music, and especially church hymnals, fit almost exactly for SATB recorders: you just have to be able to manage the way it looks on the page. Learn to read multiple parts on the same staff, read alto parts down below the soprano (aka “alto up”), read tenor parts written on a bass clef staff.
For: Recorders and others, Level: Intermediate and upBeginning Harp (Therese Honey) - Learn the very basics of holding and playing a historical harp. Instruments provided.
For: Anyone, Level: All levelsLove for Lassus (Carol Deihl) - Orlando de Lassus (c. 1532 - 1594) visited and lived in many countries all over Europe, and composed songs in the local languages and vocal genres. Another whirl-wind World Tour of his beautiful music in various languages.
For: All instruments and voices, Level: Intermediate and upRenaissance Recorders (Frances Blaker) - Playing consort music using your renaissance recorders. Ideally hand made copies of recorders from the 16th century, but any renaissance style recorder welcome.
For: Renaissance recorders, Level: Intermediate and upNo choice this period

P4 altIf you have a second choice, or any other comment, enter it here0 / 50

Period 5

Period 5 - Saturday 4:05-5:20pmEl Arte del Baile Español (Hector Torres) - Ensemble settings of popular Spanish dances from the 17th and 18th centuries. Including Españoletas, Jácaras, Fandangos, and others!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upKrumhorns for the win! (Susan Richter) - Ensemble playing for as many krumhorns and other buzzies as we have! Bring your own instruments, please.
For: Krumhorns and cornemusen, Level: Intermediate and upLoopy for Lupo (Stephanie Noori) - Another English composer - you can't lose! You may be reminded of Gibbons, but Lupo has his own flavour. Join me as we go loopy for the music of Thomas Lupo
For: Violin Family and Gambas, Level: UI – AdvancedMore Marenzio! (Carol Deihl) - More extraordinary 5-part pieces from Luca Marenzio’s Second Book of Madrigals (1581) - dipping a toe in the waters of the more than 400 madrigals that he wrote!
For: All instruments and voices, Level: Intermediate and upHistory doesn’t repeat itself... (Jennifer Carpenter) - ...but it often rhymes. Though the origins of this aphorism are disputed (often attributed to Mark Twain), the idea that studying historical events can give us insight into present and future outcomes presents a parallel in music! We’re going to look at a twist of this logic: music that evolves from a prominent theme - the more we understand the theme, the more we understand how it is developed. Enjoy playing old music by Byrd, Bevin, Dowland and others - but expect to look at it in new ways!
For: All instruments, Level: UI – AdvancedLow Blow (Frances Blaker) - Playing recorders from tenor on down to contrabass: it's all about playing renaissance music on large recorders. We'll work with expression, features of each piece, breathing, tone - all in the service of inspiring music making.
For: Players of tenor and larger recorders, Level: Intermediate and upNo choice this period

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Period 6

Period 6 - Sunday 9-10:15amThe Thrill of the Chace (Mary Springfels) - Guillaume de Machaut was a brilliant fabricator of canons, or chaces. The Lai de la Fontayne is a 12-part lyric work written entirely in canons: we'll play as many as time allows.
For: All instruments and voices, Level: Intermediate and upA Musical Feast (Susan Richter) - Johann Hermann Schein wrote numerous dance suites in 5 voices, which he named “Banchetto Musicale”, or Musical Feast. We will read through one of the suites, and hopefully feel the dancing. If you have percussion to bring, feel free – it always helps!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upRhetoric and bowing (Stephanie Noori) - This is a technique class where we will be exploring some basic rules for shaping and how to use a historical bow (and even a modern bow) to its best advantage to create the beautiful shaping that early music is known for.
For: Violin Family and Gambas, Level: All levelsTurlough O'Carolan (Therese Honey) - Songs by the legendary Irish harpist, available to all comers!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upFlorentine Music from the time of Lorenzo de Medici (Jennifer Carpenter) - We will explore a small sampling of music from the fifteenth-century manuscript, Banco Rari 229, which contains wordless compositions likely compiled for instrumental use. Brave looking at/playing one of the pieces from original notation (but in modern clefs). I will provide modern notation editions, too!
For: All instruments, Level: UI – AdvancedTogether! Ensemble (Frances Blaker) - Work to enhance our skills and our musical enjoyment.
For: All instruments, Level: Intermediate and upNo choice this period

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Period 7

Period 7 - Sunday 10:40-11:55amLute Songs/Baroque Songs (Hector Torres/Danny Johnson) - Bring your solo lute song, or select one from Danny's list!
For: Singers, Level: All levelsWhat if... (Mary Springfels) - A clever musical game played by Agricola, Obrecht, and others , who manipulated Josquin's motet "In pace idipsum" into a cure, for what?
For: All instruments, Level: AdvancedRockin' some Locke (Stephanie Noori) - We are going to explore some 3 part music of Locke. His music can be challenging but lends itself well both to violin and gamba families. His music can be a bit quirky but is totally rocking. Let's rock it together.
For: Violin Family and Gambas, Level: Intermediate and upArrange your own! (Therese Honey) - Learn to arrange 16th-century Italian dances for solo harp.
For: Harps, Level: All levelsA Pinch of Saltarello (Carol Deihl) - Italian Saltarellos, and other lively 4-part dances.
For: All instruments, Level: Intermediate and upThe Brade Bunch (Jennifer Carpenter) - The late-renaissance/early baroque composer William Brade composed a number of fabulous dances and was the first Englishman (turned German) to compose a canzona, a form already very popular in Italy. We’ll play a (small) bunch of dances and one of his canzonas!
For: All instruments, Level: Lower intermediate and upNo choice this period

P7 altIf you have a second choice, or any other comment, enter it here