St. Cecilia at the Tower II: Classes

Time	Beginner Bootcamp	Fundamentals	(Mostly) Sight Reading	Lecture
10:00AM - 10:50AM	Rhythm	Period Embellishments	Neumes to Notes	Puns in Period
11:00AM - 11:50AM	Pitch	How to Play in Ensemble	Sight Reading	Roman de Fauvel
Noon - 12:50PM	Master Class lead by Mistress Amelie
1:00PM - 1:50PM	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
2:00PM - 2:50PM	Basic Recorder Technique	Intonation	How to Engage Your Audience	Claudio Monteverdi
3:00PM - 3:50PM	Easy Sight Reading	Articulation	Machaut Sight Reading	Musica Ficta
4:00PM - 5:00PM	Simplifying Difficult Music	Medieval Modes	How to Switch Recorders (or Play from Other Clefs)	What to Listen for at the Concert

Master Class

Mistress Amelie Leads Second Annual St. Cecilia Master Class -- This is a class for performers to play a piece of 3 to 5 minutes in length that they have prepared ahead of time. They will then receive advice, suggestions and coaching from the instructor on their performance, and things they might do to improve it. See the Wikipedia article on master classes for an excellent description. The class is limited to 3 performing participants (or ensembles), with an unlimited number of auditors. Performers should expect to send a copy of the performing edition of their sheet music to the instructor a week ahead of time.

Performers are:

Court and Country
Kasha Alekseeva

Beginner Bootcamp Track

The track is designed for the absolute beginner: someone with no formal western music training. It is optionally progressive, meaning, if you stay in the track all day each new class will follow logically from the previous class. However, people can come to whichever class they want meaning that those who know how to read staff music can just come to the recorder class and those who don't care about learning to play recorder but want to better read staff notation can do the opposite.

Intro to Rhythm: THL Kasha Alekseeva

This introductory-level class focuses on how music is organized by time. We will discuss rhythm and related concepts such as meter and tempo. The basics of modern Western rhythmic notation will be introduced, and class members will practice reading and producing simple rhythms. No instruments required--just bring yourself!

Intro to Pitch and Modern Staff Notation: Lady Margaret of Raynsford

In this class, you will learn how to identify notes on a staff and relate them to audible pitches. We will also talk about accidentals, treble and bass clefs, and scales.

Basic Recorder Technique: Master Christian D'Hiver

There are a few rough patches for the recorder novice, even one who reads music or plays another instrument already. This workshop teaches the fundamentals of breathing, finger placement, tonguing, dynamics and phrasing. We'll also talk about the history of the instrument. Given time, we can also cover topics such as reading music (if most of the students don't already know how) or simple historical techniques. Recorders and lesson book will be available.

Easy Sight Reading: Master Robyn Solarius

Putting together the stuff from the first part of the day. Reading really simple straight forward music. Bring whatever instrument you want. Or you can sing too.

Simplifying Difficult Music: Lord Aaron Drummond

Taking a piece of challenging music, or music that is played at a rapid speed, and making it so you can play along no matter what level you're at.

Fundamentals Track

This track is designed to help musicians level up their playing by looking at fundamental musical skills. The assumption is that attendees can play an instrument fairly well and have probably already played / sung in an ensemble. Every class is equally applicable to voice and instrument. No class is instrument specific.

Period Embellishments: Mistress Amelie d'Anjou

In this class we'll go over how to make your performance of dance melodies more interesting to listen to, less boring to play, and more period by adding period appropriate ornaments. This is a hands on class. Bring your instrument of choice.

How to Play in Ensemble: Master Christian D'Hiver

Music is a social activity, and as much as a performer communicates with his or her audience, more do performers communicate with one another when playing in ensemble. This lecture / workshop emphasizes the fundamentals of ensemble playing: leading, following, listening, responding. Oh, and tuning. Whether you're singing, playing a melody instrument, a harmonizing instrument such as a vihuela de mano, percussion, or any other instrument, we will address your musical role. If there's time, we'll talk about renaissance examples f musical ensembles.

Intonation - How to Play in Tune: Lady Jadwiga Krzyzanowska and Lord Aaron Drummond

In this class we'll practice singing and playing in Just Intonation. Bring your voice or your non-fixed-pitch instruments (like recorders and violins) and we'll make some consonant noise together.

Articulation: Master Robyyan Torr d'Elandris

This class can be summarized as "Lyrics win! And if there are no lyrics...". How do you make a piece of music sound like something other than just one note after another? What patterns are there that you should recognize and know? Why should percussionists study poetry? What to look for in a piece of music that gives you a clue how to shape it, and what tools do you need to do that shaping? An ability to read modern notation will be helpful, but not strictly required. Bring (soft) instruments or warmed up voices to class, we'll be making noises.

Medieval Modes: Mistress Amelie d'Anjou

If you play music, you probably know what a scale is, but medieval music didn't! Come learn what they did use instead. "We'll start at the beginning" and learn where Do-Re-Mi started. Handout includes music in each mode, and class will teach you how to tell which it is. Bring a pencil.

(Mostly) Sight Reading Track

Most of the classes in this track are sight-reading / sight-singing classes. The exceptions are the Notes to Neumes and How to Engage Your Audience classes. For the sight-reading classes, bring your instrument as there will be music to play.

Neumes to Notes - performing Cantigas d'Amigo by Martin Codax: Master Robyyan Torr d'Elandris

This class will present a case study, preparing a performance of the Cantigas d'Amico by Martin Codax. We will look at the extant manuscript (c.1275) and explore the problems of transcription from neumes to notes. We will review available modern editions and recordings, and the different choices made by different editors. We will examine the process by which a group makes decisions about instrumentation and arrangements.
Prerequisites: Since many of the issues revolve around notation, an ability to read (modern) notation will be very helpful, although not strictly required.

Sight Reading: Lady Lynnette la Petite

Lets just have fun playing. Bring any instrument and your Red, Green and Blue books (The Recorder Consort by Steve Rosenberg) and I will pick some easier pieces that are accessible to everyone.

How to Engage Your Audience: Lady Chaya-Simcha

In this class we'll find either a song people already know (King Henry's Madrigal?) or one that's very easy to learn (Sumer is icumen in?) and work on how to get your nose out of your sheet music and pay attention to your audience... which, in turn, makes them want to pay attention to you!

Guillaume de Machaut: Rockstar of the 14th Century: THL Heregyð Ketilsdóttir and THL Heinrich von Stuttgart

Composer, poet and courtier Guillaume de Machaut's fame, long career and prolific writing in his day rivals the Rolling Stones in ours. This class is a sight-reading jam session with some commentary about the composer and aspects of his works. Players will explore several of Machaut's works that are musically interesting even if you don't know French. The teachers are instrumentalists, but if singers attend who do read French, they are welcome to sing those tunes with lyrics. Audience welcome as space permits.

How to Switch Recorders (or Play from Other Clefs): Lady Jadzia Krzyzanowska

In this class we'll discuss how to go from a C recorder to an F recorder, and then spend most of our time practicing doing just that. Some fairly straight-forward music will be handed out that's suitable to different sizes of recorder. For more advanced players we'll have some editions of the music in various C clefs, Baritone Clef, French Violin Clef, and facsimile.
Note: This class will be geared toward recorder players, although other musicians are welcome to join in. The ideal student is one who can sight-read proficiently either soprano or alto recorder.

Lecture Track

Puns in Period: Lady Chaya-Simcha

Is the swan in in "Il Bianco" really dying over and over again or is he "dying le petit mort" as it were? ... ^_~ Or is "Of all the Birds" really about a sparrow? Which double meanings of today were intended then? And which were intended then that are not used today? All these questions and more will be answered in this class.

Le Roman de Fauvel: A Horse Is a Horse . . . Or Is He?: Lady Margrett Norwoode

Le Roman de Fauvel is a satirical poem from the early 14th century that was turned into an elaborate illuminated manuscript with narrative text, paintings and accompanying music both monophonic and polyphonic. It tells the story of an evil horse named Fauvel, his tenure over man in a reversal of man's dominion over beasts and his search for love and security. This class will explore the story and manuscript as well as listen to a selection of recorded music from Le Roman de Fauvel.

Claudio Monteverdi - Life, Work, and Legacy: Gyuri of Cynnabar

It is often recognized but not so often emphasized how instrumental Claudio Monteverdi had been in shaping the history of music as we know it today. This workshop attempts to place the life and works of Monteverdi in their historical context, discussing the early influences he had acting on him as well as the influence he had on future generations of composers. A historical discussion, with plenty of musical excerpts to listen to.

Musica Ficta: Lady Margaret of Raynsford

Musica ficta are notes which are not normally present in the mode of a piece of early renaissance music (i.e. accidentals), but which were meant to be added by performers according to a set of rules. They are often notated in modern editions of period music as accidental signs above the note. In this class, we will go over the rules and how to apply them to period manuscripts. Exciting topics such as avoiding tritones and the tierce de Picardie will be discussed.

What to Listen for At the Concert: THL Kasha Alekseeva

Listening to a piece of music can be more than just a passive activity. When we know the historical context, theoretical ideals, and important musical aspects of a piece, we are better able to listen and appreciate what we hear. In this class, we will examine the music of tonight's concert and the features that make these pieces special. The class is aimed at both musicians and non-musicians.