Author: Laura Conrad

News of the week of April 23

Meeting report, April 16

We played:

Meeting report, April 23

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Next Tuesday, April 30, Anne has agreed to be there on time to open
the door for people, so we will meet as usual, although I won’t get
there until some time after 9 because of the election.

Walk for Hunger

People who are playing the Walk for Hunger are reminded that it is on Sunday
May 5, and we’re responsible for covering 10am until 3pm. I will be
there for the whole time; it would be good if someone else would
commit to being there by at least 10:30.

If you’re not playing, it’s a beautiful spot on the banks of the
Charles River (Greenough Boulevard, across from the Cambridge Cemetery), and you’re welcome to drop by. It’s pretty informal
this year, so if you drop by, you’ll be able to sit in if you
want to.

News of the week of April 9

Meeting report, April 9

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Other events


Tonight

(April 10) and also on

Sunday

, John Tyson, recorder, joins El Dorado Ensemble (Carol Lewis, Janet Haas, Paul Johnson, Mai-Lan Broekman and Alice Mroszczyk, viols; Olav Chris Henriksen, lute and theorbo) to perform Italian diminutions, fantasias and dance music of the renaissance by Bassano, Dalla Casa, Rognoni, Terzi, Kapsberger and others.

Also tonight, Ishmael will be playing with

Seven Times Salt

at the Harvard Square English Country Dance.

Next weekend is

NEFFA

, a wonderful place to see and participate in singing, dancing and other folk arts. The

West Gallery Quire

will be having their workshop on Sunday at 11 am. This is one of the better places to sing with a serpent, if you haven’t had the chance to do that yet.

Judith Conrad, forte piano, and the Delight Consort will play on April 21, 2013 at
3:00 p.m., at the historic

Loring-Greenough House

, 12 South Street,
Jamaica Plain MA. The program will welcome back the reconditioned box forte piano, and will feature the late 18th
century genre of music for piano with instrumental accompaniment,
including works of C.F. Fischer, W. Williams, W.A. Mozart and J.C.
Bach.

News of the week of April 2

Meeting Report, March 27

We played:

Meeting report, April 2

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I’m assuming that I know about everybody who wants to play at the Walk
for Hunger. If this isn’t true, let me know soon.

News of the week of March 19

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I have accepted our invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years. (May 5, 10am to 3 pm,
on Greenough Boulevard across from the Cambridge Cemetery.)

If you would like to play with us, let me know by April 5. You should
bring your copy of Barnes English Country Dances, if you have it (I
recommend acquiring it if you don’t), and we may have group
playing of some Renaissance dance music and singing of rounds.

In the past, we’ve discouraged people from signing up if they only
play an instrument that doesn’t work in bad weather. Due to the
informal nature of this performance, this year we welcome our
fair-weather string-playing friends. Of course, if you also play
recorder, you can also come play a plastic recorder in the downpour,
blizzard, or hail, just like the rest of us.

If you’re working up a solo or duet that isn’t suitable for everyone
to join in on, let me know what it is and how long it will take so
that I can schedule things.

News of the week of March 12

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I have accepted our invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years. (May 5, 10am to 3 pm,
on Greenough Boulevard across from the Cambridge Cemetery.)

If you would like to play with us, let me know by April 5. You should
bring your copy of Barnes English Country Dances, if you have it (I
recommend acquiring it if you don’t), and we may have group
playing of some Renaissance dance music and singing of rounds.

In the past, we’ve discouraged people from signing up if they only
play an instrument that doesn’t work in bad weather. Due to the
informal nature of this performance, this year we welcome our
fair-weather string-playing friends. Of course, if you also play
recorder, you can also come play a plastic recorder in the downpour,
blizzard, or hail, just like the rest of us.

If you’re working up a solo or duet that isn’t suitable for everyone
to join in on, let me know what it is and how long it will take so
that I can schedule things.

News of the week of March 5

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I have accepted our invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years. (May 5, 10am to 3 pm,
on Greenough Boulevard across from the Cambridge Cemetery.)

People who want to play should let me know when they
plan to get there. I will need to know
who is coming, their t-shirt sizes, and who will need a vehicle
permit, by April 5.

If you’re working up a solo or duet that isn’t suitable for everyone
to join in on, let me know what it is and how long it will take so
that I can schedule things.

Serpents at BEMF 13

Pierre Ribo, from Brussels, Belgium, will be bringing 4 serpents to the Boston Early Music Festival in June, 2013.
Pierre Ribo, from Brussels, Belgium, will be bringing 4 serpents to the Boston Early Music Festival in June, 2013.

I got an email this morning from Pierre Ribo:

Let me introduce myself. My name is Pierre Ribo and I am a serpent
maker in Brussels, Belgium.

I will be present at the Boston Early Music Festival from June 12th
until the 15th to present four of my serpents (with four keys and 6
holes church serpent).

My purpose is to propose my instruments in the USA and also to meet
musicians, since their reactions are very important to me.

I would be pleased to meet you during my stay in Boston, if possible
for you.

In case you would know other musicians interested in the serpent, may
I ask you to forward this mail or spread the word around you?

The official concert schedule is as much of an early brass wasteland
as ever, but it looks like there will at least be a few serpents at
the exhibition.

News of the week of February 26

Meeting Report

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I have accepted our invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years.

There seems to be no enthusiasm for working up a program for this, as
we have done for the last several years, so we won’t do that. The
March and April rehearsals will continue as usual to be dropin
rehearsals with a mix of sightreading new pieces and learning the
polyphonic music of the Renaissance.

If I hear from people with enthusiasm for working up a program before
tomorrow’s rehearsal, we can change this, but I really have canvassed
all the usual suspects, and they sound like they’d just as soon not
commit to major rehearsal time for the next two months. And I would
prefer not to commit to rehearse a large program with a group of
people who don’t want to commit to rehearsing.

So this year, the the afternoon of the Walk for Hunger will be similar
to what the morning has been for the last several years. People who
want to play solos or duets should let me know when they plan to get
there, and I’ll set up a schedule. I’m hoping that there will be
enough good dance musicians that in between the solos and duets we’ll
have a band that can play Playford and maybe Susato and Gervaise. It
isn’t necessary to make a commitment to doing that at this point, but
I’ll want people to say whether they’re coming by some time in April,
so that I can get you t-shirts and parking permits.

News of the week of February 19

Meeting report February 19

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

. In March and April, the
meetings will concentrate on the music we will be planning for the
Walk for Hunger, but except for the last two rehearsals in April,
others are welcome to come. But see below about rehearsal discipline.

Walk for Hunger

I have accepted our invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years.

I will need to know by the March 5 rehearsal who is planning to play.
I have so far been unable to do serious thinking about repertoire
because hardly anyone has signed up.

As for the last couple of years, only the last two
rehearsals before the walk are compulsory, but you will need to come
to enough of the other rehearsals in March and April to learn the
music.

Basically the commitment is:

  • To learn the music we decide on in March and April.
  • To come to the final two rehearsals in April. This means a regular
    rehearsal on Tuesday April 23, and one some time in the week or April 28.
    Because I will be working at the election on April 30, we may try
    to schedule the final rehearsal at some other time, and possibly
    even some other place, since rehearsing indoors for an outdoor
    performance is sub-optimal. We will schedule this rehearsal when
    we know who needs to come.
  • To play two 1-hour sets, with at least a half hour break between
    them on Sunday, May 5, at the beautiful site on the banks of the
    Charles River, some time between 10 AM and 3 PM. This has usually
    meant being at the site between 11:30 AM and 3 PM, but this time
    can be modified slightly for the convenience of the performers. If
    you don’t have at least three and a half hours free on May 5, this
    is the wrong performance to sign up for.

In addition, rehearsal discipline is a bit tighter when we’re being a
performing group than when we’re being a dropin group. Performers should
expect to show up for rehearsals on time, to let me know whether
they’re coming or not, and to bring the music and instruments they
will be performing on.

There’s also a possibility of scheduling a second performance of the music
we learn for the Walk, but that’s another thing we schedule when we
know more about who is doing what.

News of the weeks of February 5 and February 12, 2013

Meeting report February 5

We played:

Meeting report February 12

We played:

Schedule

We will be meeting regularly on
Tuesday nights at 7:45 PM at

my place

.

Walk for Hunger

I now have our official invitation to play the

Walk for Hunger

at the
same time and place as the last several years.

I will need to know by the March 5 rehearsal who is planning to play.
As for the last couple of years, only the last two
rehearsals before the walk are compulsory, but you will need to come
to enough of the other rehearsals in March and April to learn the
music.

As anyone who has planned events knows, I can’t tell you the details
of what we’ll be doing until I know who’s going to be doing it.
Basically the commitment is:

  • To learn the music we decide on in March and April.
  • To come to the final two rehearsals in April. This means a regular
    rehearsal on Tuesday April 23, and one some time in the week or April 28.
    Because I will be working at the election on April 30, we may try
    to schedule the final rehearsal at some other time, and possibly
    even some other place, since rehearsing indoors for an outdoor
    performance is sub-optimal. We will schedule this rehearsal when
    we know who needs to come.
  • To play two 1-hour sets, with at least a half hour break between
    them on Sunday, May 5, at the beautiful site on the banks of the
    Charles River, some time between 10 AM and 3 PM. This has usually
    meant being at the site between 11:30 AM and 3 PM, but this time
    can be modified slightly for the convenience of the performers. If
    you don’t have at least three and a half hours free on May 5, this
    is the wrong performance to sign up for.

In addition, rehearsal discipline is a bit tighter when we’re being a
performing group than when we’re being a dropin group. Performers should
expect to show up for rehearsals on time, to let me know whether
they’re coming or not, and to bring the music and instruments they
will be performing on.

There’s also a possibility of scheduling a second performance of the music
we learn for the Walk, but that’s another thing we schedule when we
know more about who is doing what.