Category: Cantabile

The Cantabile Renaissance Band

Report on the May 26 meeting

We played:

Sermisy
Amy souffrez (2 voice)
Aupres de vous (2 voice)
Anonymous
Duet 113
Bicinia (ed. Phalese)
Fantasia 25
Fantasia 1
Fantasia 2
Sermisy
Amy souffrez (3 voice, with ornaments from the Attaignant
keyboard tablature)
Aupres de vous (3 voice)
Changeons propos
Vignons, vignons
Heurteur
Quand je bois
Purcell
He that drinks is immortal
Down with Bacchus

Schedule

We will not be meeting either next week or the week after,
because of the West
Gallery Quire rehearsal and the
Boston Early Music Festival.

After that, it will be Summer time, and the livin’ is
easy for lots of us, so we should get lots of people coming
and be able to do polychoral Gabrielli and other things with lots
of parts.

So here’s the schedule:

Tuesday, June 2
No meeting
Tuesday, June 9
No meeting
Tuesday, June 16, and subsequent Tuesdays
Meetings resume at 7:45 PM at my
place.
Sunday, June 21

Party at 4 PM at my place.

Party

From time to time, the Cantabile Band has parties, so that we
can invite all our friends to have as much fun as we do. The big
difference between the parties and the meetings is that we eat and
drink before as well as after singing and playing. Also because
we have friends we like to sing and play with who have trouble
making it on Tuesdays. And in this case, because the Walk for
Hunger wasn’t really the best environment for some of the music we
played there. I was very impressed that we didn’t get lost when
the helicopter went over, but the audience probably wasn’t able
to hear how impressive it was. So we might get together and burst into song from that program from time to time.

Since the party will be held shortly after BEMF, I’ll be
printing the invitation on the back of the flyers, so that people
can check us out by coming either to a meeting or to a party.

If you want to print either flyers or invitations, you can
download them. The invitation
includes the flyer as a second
page, so if you don’t have a double-sided printer, you may want to
print them separately.

Assuming the weather is at all friendly to such things, we’ll
be doing the eating and drinking in the backyard, and will have
the grill going, so you’re welcome to bring food contributions
that need grilling.

Cantabile at BEMF

At BEMF, I will be attempting to keep the flyer table at the
exhibition stocked with our flyers, in the version with the
invitation on the back. If you’re going to be hanging around the
exhibition, it would be good if you could help with that, at least
to the extent of letting me know if we seem to have run out.

If you’re going to fringe events of interest to the same
population we recruit from, it would be good if you could take
some flyers, either to leave on a table or to hand to likely
suspects.

BEMF events of interest

I have tickets to several of the BEMF concerts: all the 11PM
ones, all the recorder ones, and the Renaissance music ones. So
that’s Tuesday evening, Wednesday through Saturday at 11PM, Friday
evening, and Sunday afternoon.

There are fringe events where our friends will be playing or
singing:

Monday, June 8
12:30pm Seven Hills Renaissance Wind Ensemble (Elizabeth
Hardy, Cathy Stein & Matthew Stein, shawms & dulcians; Rigel
Lustwerk, cornetto; Daniel Meyers, sackbut; Daniel Stillman,
shawm, dulcian & sackbut). Musicians of the Golden Fleece: Wind
Band Music from the Hapsburg Courts of the 16th Century. Program
featuring sacred and secular works by Thomas Stolzer and Orlande
de Lassus, Kappellmeisters to Louis II of Hungary and Albrecht V
of Bavaria. First Church in Boston. $15 donation. 617-388-2363
or 7hillsband@gmail.com.

Tuesday, June 9
12:30pm Harmonious Blacksmith (Ah Young Hong, soprano;
Justin Godoy, recorder; William Simms, lute, theorbo, guitar;
Nika Zlataric, viola da gamba; Joseph Gascho,
harpsichord). Phantasticke Spirites. Inspired by the bawdy and
joyous spirit of English songs, Harmonious Blacksmith improvises
and ornaments the music of Byrd, Morley, and their
contemporaries. Named after Thomas Weelkes’s fourth book of
madrigals, this program also draws from the keyboard music in
the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. First Church in Boston. $20/$10
st, sr, BEMF, EMA, ARS. 781-507-4160 or
info@HarmoniousBlacksmith.com.
4pm Seven Times Salt (Karen Burciaga, violin; Daniel Myers,
recorders; Josh Schreiber Shalem, bass viol; Matthew Wright,
lute; with guests Tracy Cowart, mezzo-soprano; Michael Barrett,
tenor; Kyle Parrish, narrator). A Brave Barrel of Oysters: Music
of Samuel Pepys’ London. Sample the delights of Restoration
England, as described in Samuel Pepys’ diaries. Music of Lawes,
Locke, Matteis, and Pepys himself! Beacon Hill Friends
House. $10 suggested donation. 508-878-7028 or
Karen@seventimessalt.com.
Wednesday, June 10
3:30pm Judith Conrad, clavichord. The Labyrinthine Keyboard
Music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621). Sweelinck’s
Fantasias are among the monuments of early Baroque music. They
require a different sort of listening from the classical forms
of music, in much the way that the walk of a cathedral labyrinth
is so different from a standard religious service. Performing on
a triple-fretted clavichord by Andreas Hermert of Berlin,
2003. The Paulist Center Library. $20 donation to benefit the
Iraq Family Relief Fund. 508-674-6128 or
judithconrad@mindspring.com
Thursday, June 11
9am Viola da Gamba Society of America. The Gamba Gamut. A
series of five mini-programs, spanning the repertoire of the
viola da gamba, performed by emerging and established artists of
the VdGSA. 9am: Empire Viols present The State of Gambo, a
program of accompanied duo viols, with music by Young, Jenkins,
Hume, and Simpson; 9:45am: Brady Lanier, viola da gamba & Molly
Hammond, harpsichord, present a program of Marais and Forqueray;
10:15am: Brandeis University Viol Collegium, directed by Sarah
Mead, presents a program of works drawn from manuscripts from
the Gorham Collection at Brandeis (includes Lasso, Willaert,
Vecchi, and others); 11am: Brook Green presents a program of
solo music for treble viol, including works by Bassano and Hume;
11:30am: Long and Away presents Ye Sacred Muses, a program of
English consort songs and dances. Cathedral Church of
St. Paul. FREE, donations welcome. 239-994-3924 or
scf@cwru.edu.
12:30pm Boston Recorder Quartet (Roxane Layton, Judith
Linsenberg, Roy Sansom & Tom Zajac, recorders). Recorder Music
from Seven Centuries. Works for recorder quartet by Byrd, Bach,
Rore, Merula, Sansom, Shannon, and Anon. Emmanuel Church. $15
donation/ $10 donation for st, sr, BEMF, EMA. 617-489-3906 or
dellalsansom@earthlink.net.
2pm Saltarello (Sarah Cantor, recorders; Angus Lansing,
viola da gamba; Andrus Madsen, harpsichord). Handel’s Italian
Passion and English Charm. Handel’s solo sonatas, most of them
written during the first two decades of the 18th century,
exhibit him at his best. At once tuneful and inventive, fiery
and tender, Handel was so fond of these pieces that returned to
them again and again, borrowing bits and pieces for use in other
works. Come hear what made these sonatas so irresistible! The
College Club of Boston. $15/$10 st, sr, BEMF, EMA,
ARS. 617-669-4292 or sarah@cantornote.com.
Friday, June 12
3:30pm Judith Conrad, clavichord. Tangled Mysteries:
Clavichord Music of Renaissance Poland. Music from 16th-century
tablature books from Lublin, Warsaw, and Gdansk, performed on
early clavichords, after original instruments from Silesia
(ca. 1470 & ca. 1600). The Paulist Center Library. $20 donation
to benefit the Iraq Family Relief Fund. 508-674-6128 or
judithconrad@mindspring.com.
Saturday, June 13
10:30am WIP Series (Works in Progress). Mini-recitals by
fabulous folk: featuring Judith Conrad, Sylvia Berry, Gail
Olszewski, Larry Wallach, and Mariken Palmboom. Harpsichord
Clearing House, Radisson Hotel Dartmouth Room, 6th floor. $5 or
FREE with BEMF Pass.
12:30pm Convivium Musicum, directed by Michael
Barrett. Going for Baroque. The Electors of Saxony made the
court at Dresden a haven for Protestant composers including
Hassler, Praetorius, and Schütz, shapers of the emerging Baroque
idiom. This concert will feature sacred works for voices by
these German masters. Church of St. John the Evangelist. $10/$5
st, sr, BEMF, EMA. 609-457-8573 or info@convivium.org.

If I’ve missed anything, you can leave a comment here, or email me and I’ll add you.

Other events

If you’re interested in the West Gallery Quire, come to either
the June 3 concert or the June 7 meeting.

The concert has the merit of having been rehearsed, and being a
selection of a lot of the better music. It will be at 8 PM on
June 3, at the Brighton-Allston Congregational Church, at 404
Washington St. in Brighton.

The meeting has the advantage that you too can play or sing.
It’s probably the best opportunity for several hundred or even
thousand miles for singing with a serpent.

Renaissance Band Flyer

I said recently that I wasn’t sure the
current Cantabile
Band flyer was the best flyer for our current purposes, and
also that I wanted to do the redesign before BEMF.

Since tonight is our last meeting before BEMF, I should get a
draft done now, so that people can comment on it.

The only obvious thing from the flyer of two years ago that’s
not really true any more is the statement:

Except for occasional meetings just before performances, we
welcome drop-in members who are not able to come regularly.

We do still welcome drop-in members when we aren’t preparing
for a performance, but we are performing more frequently and
preparing longer. So of the five months so far this year, three have
been closed to droppers in.

So I have a flyer with some minimal changes (new picture,
better description of the performing we do) up now at renband.pdf, and
I’ll see if the rest of the band thinks there need to be bigger
changes.

Report on the May 19 meeting

We played:

  • Sermisy, Aupres de vous (2 voices)
  • Campian:
    • When the god of merrie love
    • I care not for these ladies
    • Fain would I love a fair young man
    • When Laura Smiles
  • Sermisy:
    • Aupres de vous (3 voices)
    • C’est une dure despartie
    • Changeons propos

Schedule

Next week, May 26, we will have our usual dropin meeting at
7:45 PM at my place.

The following week, June 2, that meeting would conflict with a
rehearsal for a West
Gallery Quire performance on June 3. All the people who’ve
been coming to this group regularly are also singing in that
performance, so we may decide to rehearse instead of meeting that
night.

The week after that, June 9, is BEMF, and that meeting would
conflict with a Renaissance concert, so we’ll probably not meet
then.

But after that, we should go back to our usual dropin
meetings.

We’re also thinking about having a party on Sunday, June 21, to
celebrate the Summer Solstice.

Report on the May 5 meeting

We played:

  • Barnes (ed.), English Country Dance Tunes
    • Prince William of Gloucester’s Waltz
    • A Trip to Tunbridge
    • Bath Carnival
    • Fandango
  • Morley, Miraculous love’s wounding
  • Phalese (ed.), Motets from Bicinia
    • Beatus vir
    • Beatus homo}
    • O Maria mater pia,
    • Per illud ave prolatum
    • Oculus non vidit
    • Justus cor suum
    • Expectatio justorum laetitia
    • Qui sequitur me
    • Justi tulerunt spolia
    • Sancti mei
    • Qui vult venire post me
    • Serve bone
    • Fulgebunt justi sicut lilium
    • Sicut rosa
  • Glogauer LIederbuch:
    • Du lenze gut
    • Die Katzenpfote
  • Morley, Say, Deere, will you not have mee?
  • Harrison, Give me the sweet delights of love

Schedule

We’ll be having our usual Tuesday drop in meetings at 7:45 PM
at my place
for most of the forseeable future.

We will skip the meeting on June 9
during the week of BEMF.

We’re thinking about a cookout to celebrate the Summer Solstice
on June 21.

Other events

John Tyson’s student recital will take place on Saturday, June
9 starting at 6 PM. If you’re interested in coming, let me know
and I’ll send you directions.

Lots of people we know will be playing at the BEMF fringe
concerts. More details later.

Another picture from the Walk for Hunger

It’s far too late to do a real post, so here’s another picture
from the Walk for Hunger:

[Sunny, Ishmael, Laura, Paul, Anne]

The photographer was Ishmael Stefanov (left) by time delay.

One of the performers, who didn’t read any preliminary play
lists, and still didn’t really have his notebook in
order at the actual performance, told me yesterday that we should have done a
completely different kind of program.

This is probably why the great conductors never socialize with
the orchestra.

Walk for Hunger, 2009


[walk for hunger 2009]

We had good weather for what we were doing. There were a
couple of raindrops at about noon, and a few more at 2:30, when
the other group was playing, but the clouds made it easier to
see the music, and it was close to t-shirt weather. (I had warm
underwear under mine; otherwise I would have been wearing a
sweater.)

We were worried about whether the pieces with just vocals would
carry to where the walkers could hear them, and they certainly
didn’t carry as well as the recorders or the brass or string
instruments, but I checked while Ishmael and Anne were playing a
duet, and you could certainly hear that it was happening, so you
could go closer if you wanted to hear better.

Of course, the ipod generation doesn’t believe it’s music if
you have to move to hear it. We’ve been asked several times
playing at picnics why we couldn’t just amplify what we were
doing so they didn’t have to move.

I’ve looked into amplification, and my impression is that even
when I was younger and stronger, anything light enough for me to
carry sounds pretty tinny. And of course, for this application,
we’d need something that ran on batteries, which increases the
weight.

The serpent was a big hit, as was Paul Ukleja’s trumpet
rendition of Stardust Memories.

We needed to ask Paul to play some solos to give us breaks in
the morning, because the only group we could find couldn’t start
playing until 1 PM. They had 6 recorder players and a violinist,
and played very well out of an anthology of Elizabethan
music.

For breaks from the singing, Paul, Ishmael, and I played
Country Dance music, and found a few things that really worked
pretty well with fiddle, recorder, and serpent.

I decided to do all the performing standing up, so the serpent
was resting on a 24 inch stool, which seems to allow it to
vibrate more freely than when it’s supported on my legs. I
think I’ll make a point of performing that way in the future.
But I think I’ve said that in the past, too.

Walk for Hunger Retrospective

This is usually my big performance of the year. I gave the
details in my Cantabile Band
post yesterday. For this one, I thought I’d dredge up
some pictures from previous Walks.

I’m certainly not going to have time to post tomorrow morning.
I may post to the spindle later today, or I may wait until I get
home with a picture and post that.

2008

This was last year. The real performance was when we played
for Bonnie in her hospital room. This one was dampened by both
rain and Bonnie dying; one performer had done dropin rehearsals,
and another performer had another event to go to and dropped in
for the first set but had left before this set. The rain actually
stopped by noon, but I don’t think most of us remember it that
way. We did a lot of trios, some of which we’re repeating this
year; I hope it’s more cheerful to sing about walking over hills
an dales and birds singing.

[walk08]

2007

The year before may have been a high point of some sort. We
did a performance of a lot of the same repertoire at the Boston Recorder
Society Play the Recorder Day, and really knew things pretty
well. People had learned some things about how to secure music
and stands from the wind the previous year.

[walk07]

2006

2006 was the year we played at the Jeremiah
Ingalls festival in Vermont, so we put a bunch of shape note
stuff on the program. I think it was an entertaining program if
you liked both listening to music and watching musicians run up
and down the riverbank chasing their music.

[walk06]

2005

2005 was another year it rained, although, again, it really
cleared up pretty well by the time we were playing. But the viol
player didn’t want to get her instrument out, and a less
experienced performer freaked out when I suggested switching some
parts so that I could play bass on the serpent. It wasn’t even
her part I wanted to switch — it was the person she was standing
next to. So now there’s language in the FAQ
about how in a dropin group you have to be prepared to be either
one-on-a-part or not one-on-a-part.

[walk05]

2004

2004 was the year of the best professional coperformers.
It was really hot and two very good recorder players came and
played duets and lots of people stopped to listen to them.

[walk04]

2003

This was a big band performance. I think I made everybody come
to at least one rehearsal, but not necessarily enough rehearsals
for them to have learned the music. And it was a big enough crowd
that it was hard to hear. I think it wasthe year we started having
other groups to help us out, but I got several groups, only some
of whom showed up when and where they were supposed to.

[walk03]

2002

This was a big band where not everybody came to a rehearsal,
and nobody could hear anything from the other end of the group.
It might have been the first year we had the whole day to cover,
and I pretended we could do it with solos, and people had the idea
they should be able to walk to the bathroom (a mile or so away)
between sets. I opened my big mouth at dinner afterwards about
how to run a recorder society, and
that’s how I got stuck doing it for a while.

[walk02]

Previous

2001 was the year I founded the Cantabile Renaissance Band.
For two or three years previous to that, I had a fairly good
recorder trio, and we just bought some of the books of recorder
arrangements we knew pretty well and played. I think we were only
covering two hours, and we met regularly anyway without random
people dropping in. The biggest problem I remember was that if
the wind came up and you were facing the wrong direction, the
sound didn’t come out of the tenor recorder. A recorder group
that meets regularly really makes more sense in this context than
the crazy stuff we do now, but I don’t have one of those, and I
don’t know many people who do.

Come, join us

We’re going to be playing at the Walk for Hunger on Sunday, May
3, from 10:30 AM to 3 PM. We’ll be joined by Paul Ukleja and a
recorder group led by Sarah Cantor.

Our spot is on the banks of the Charles River, on the
Cambridge-Watertown line, across Greenough Boulevard from the
Cambridge Cemetary. If you’re walking, stop and say hi. If not,
just come hang out and enjoy the music. Here’s a sneak peak
at the program.

Schedule

On Tuesday, May 5, we resume our regular dropin meetings, at
7:45 PM at my
place.

These will continue on Tuesdays for the forseeable future,
except that we’ll probably skip Tuesday, June 9, during the Boston Early Music Festival.

Report on the March 31 meeting

We played:

  • Loeillet, Sonata, Opus 1, number 8 in D minor
  • Playford, various
  • Weelkes, Upon a hill
  • Farmer, Fair Phyllis
  • Arcadelt, Il bianco e dolce Cigno
  • Two rounds based on The Silver Swan, Gibbons

Schedule

Meetings in April will be restricted to the people who want to
play the Walk for Hunger
on May 3. If you really want to, and are an instrumentalist or
a bass or soprano vocalist, and you let me know real soon, we can
still squeeze you in on the performance.

Think about dropping by while we’re playing the Walk for Hunger
— we’ll be on the banks of the Charles River roughly at the
Cambridge-Watertown line from 10:30 AM to 3 PM.

Dropin meetings will resume in May.

Report on the March 24 meeting

We played:

  • Barnes, English Country Dance, various.
  • Byrd:
    • Lord, in thy rage rebuke me not
    • I have been young
  • Weelkes, Strike it up, tabor
  • Ravenscroft, Ut, re, mi, fa
  • Ravenscroft, As I me walked in a May morning
  • Purcell, Cakes and Ale

Schedule

Next week is probably the last regular dropin meeting until
after the Walk for Hunger, so if you like coming and sight
reading, or you have particular stuff you want to play or sing,
that’s your chance. The usual time (7:45 PM) and place.

I also need to know by then whether you want to play the Walk for Hunger on May 3.
So far, we have me, Sue, Anne, and Ishmael, and we could use a
couple more. It’s a great opportunity. Often the first Sunday
in May is one of the first really good Spring days, and you get to
be outdoors in it at a beautiful spot on the banks of the Charles
River with tens of thousands of people walking by. There are
opportunities for solos and duets as well as for our usual
repertoire.

I also try to find a group the doesn’t intersect with ours that
can play a couple of sets so that we can take breaks and go to the
bathroom and such. If you have or know such a group, let me
know.