[Ansteorra] iso european dancers ??

[Jeffrey Clark]

Ornamentation in period music is HARD, especially period ornaments. Ornamentation also only works if there is only one person playing the part being ornamented, and if that one part is the only part being ornamented. Talk about time invested in hours of practicing...

I'd also like to point out that most of the musical settings that I have seen in use for SCA dance music are not that great. Most of the added parts to the Early stuff tend to violate basic compositional rules and are wholly unstylistic. The stuff used for Playford is just anachonistic, with attempts to "renaissanceify" what is essentially early-Baroque music. Better settings which are freely availible would go some distance in helping the musical situation, however I'm swamped with compositional work for school as it is -- but willing to help guide someone if they want to take a stab at it.

I will also contest the music for dances (in use by the SCA) are not interchangeable. Having seen many of the dances and danced a few of them myself, I do not find that they are that tied to the music. Some of the Italian stuff is, especially a few of the dances that change tempo and meter. Non of the "standard" dance forms are tied to the music. Nothing in Playford is tied to the music. Again,were someone looking for a good compositional exercise, writing new music to go with existing dances would bema good one (again, I can help give guidance here, but I don't have the time to do it myself).

Dances are like the words to a hymn, anything with the right affect ("mood"), meter, and phrasing can be swapped around.

--AS Zorzi


> I've commented on the improvisational aspects in reply to a previous
> message. Lack of music is always an issue. For the European dances,
> most of the time the music is fitted to the dance so substituting
> isn't really an option. There are a few exceptions including galliards
> and basse danse. There's certainly no reason the musicians can't
> ornament the music to make it more interesting to play and listen to.
> Modern ECD musicians do it all the time and I've danced to ornamented
> Renaissance music in Italy. If all I have is one recording of a
> particular dance and that version is dreadfully dull...well, I don't
> blame people for not wanting to dance it.
>