MacKillop, Mizen, King, UkeVal, Early Music and All That!

The books and videos by Rob MacKillop, Tony Mizen, John King and UkeVal have really turned me on to the possiblities for Early Music (Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque) played on ukulele.

I want to share some other great sources I've discovered and am wondering what other people have found out there.

UkeVal has already recommended this book of renaissance tunes arranged for the renaissance guitar (a four-stringed instrument tuned like the baritone):

http://www.sf-luth.org/index.php?Partitions/Le_Secret_des_Muses
Volume 18 : 108 pièces pour guitare renaissance, (France, Italie, Espagne, Angleterre et Irlande) Arrangements par Pascale Boquet. Paris 2000. 60 p. Prix : 15 € / 18 € + (FR / 4 €) (EU / 7 €)

My copy arrived last week and I'm lovin' it. It's written in French tabulature, but it's very easy to figure out and fits perfectly on a bari or low G tenors, concerts and sopranos. UkeVal tells me some tunes also work well with high G, and you can see him beautifully playing many of these tunes on YouTube.

There's a whole other book out there with 133 other pieces written by composers of the period specifically for the renaissance guitar. Written in standard notation, it should all fit on the bari as well. Unfortunately,
it's not currently available to me at bookstores here in Thailand.

Guitar Music of the 16th Century by Keith Calmes
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Music-Century-Archive-Editions/dp/0786603127#reader_0786603127

While viewing the many great videos of Rob MacKillop, I discovered the Scottish "Guittar" of the baroque era. The music fits almost perfectly on a bari (which of course translates to a low G tenor, etc.).
And guess what! All that music is free right here:

Twelve Divertimentis for the Guittar by James Oswald
http://academic.luther.edu/~goodinjo/oswald/oswald12.htm

Totally awesome, eh?

Luke El U said:

UkeVal has already recommended this book of renaissance tunes arranged for the renaissance guitar (a four-stringed instrument tuned like the baritone):

http://www.sf-luth.org/index.php?Partitions/Le_Secret_des_Muses
Volume 18 : 108 pièces pour guitare renaissance, (France, Italie, Espagne, Angleterre et Irlande) Arrangements par Pascale Boquet. Paris 2000. 60 p. Prix : 15 € / 18 € + (FR / 4 €) (EU / 7 €)

My copy arrived last week and I'm lovin' it. It's written in French tablature, but it's very easy to figure out and fits perfectly on a bari or low G tenors, concerts and sopranos. UkeVal tells me some tunes also work well with high G, and you can see him beautifully playing many of these tunes on YouTube.

There's a whole other book out there with 133 other pieces written by composers of the period specifically for the renaissance guitar. Written in standard notation, it should all fit on the bari as well. Unfortunately,
it's not currently available to me at bookstores here in Thailand.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the links!
Would you please clarify about the above link? So it it is for 4 strings, but how is it tuned? GCEA?
Also, do you have a link to a simple explanation of French Tablature?
Finally, what is the " whole other book out there with 133 other pieces written by composers of the period specifically for the renaissance guitar. Written in standard notation" that you are referring to?
Thanks,
Paul

Paul December said:

Thanks for the links!
Would you please clarify about the above link? So it it is for 4 strings, but how is it tuned? GCEA?
Also, do you have a link to a simple explanation of French Tablature?
Finally, what is the " whole other book out there with 133 other pieces written by composers of the period specifically for the renaissance guitar. Written in standard notation" that you are referring to?
Thanks,
Paul

Click to expand...

This YouTube video, "How to read French Tablature" may help understand how to read the "108 pièces pour guitare renaissance" by Pascale Boquet.
See this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuROUj10bmk
He goes into it at about 2:40.
So, basically the Boquet tab is for a small four-stringed guitar tuned dgbe, but the book doesn't give notes, just tab. Instead of numbers that we are used to, for example 0=open string, 1=first fret, 2=second fret, etc., with the Boquet's French tab you have a=open string, b=first fret, r=second fret, d=third fret, etc.
Why "r" instead of "c" you may ask? My guess is to avoid confusing "c" with "e" which is the fourth fret. Also note that the "d" has a very limp staff! You can see a free sample here:
http://sf-luth.org/Album_SFL/secret_des_muses/slides/vol_18.html
Don't be intimidated, it's easy after a few tries.

The "whole other book" I mentioned is the Guitar Music in the 16th Century by Keith Calmes. That's written in standard notation.

I should have added this site of FREE recordings of the Oswald "Divertimentis" by Rob MacKillop. Scroll down to the bottom:
http://robmackillop.net/guitar/cittern/
The FREE notation is at that site I mentioned in my first post above. Really, I highly recommend these Divertimentis for a bari (or Gcde transposed) uke.
They fit almost perfectly on the uke and are beautiful and fun to play!!!

Good luck!

Back when I lived down in Central America, I had a lot more time on my hands. I was a much better player in those days than since I've moved back north. I always loved classical music on a 4-string, but I don't even remember the last time I sat down to do some real practicing.

At any rate, I discovered an old CD recorded back in those days. If anyone is interested, I've uploaded it onto our website, and you can right click and download it with this link (hope this is O.K.!):

http://www.southcoastukes.com/Misc/Musica Renacentista.zip

These are Renaissance pieces, and there are about 16 songs here; it may take 5 minutes or so to download. They're pretty good, but I don't have the arrangements in hand. If anyone is interested, though, I might be able to dig them out.

southcoastukes said:

Back when I lived down in Central America, I had a lot more time on my hands. I was a much better player in those days than since I've moved back north. I always loved classical music on a 4-string, but I don't even remember the last time I sat down to do some real practicing.

At any rate, I discovered an old CD recorded back in those days. If anyone is interested, I've uploaded it onto our website, and you can right click and download it with this link (hope this is O.K.!):

http://www.southcoastukes.com/Misc/Musica Renacentista.zip

These are Renaissance pieces, and there are about 16 songs here; it may take 5 minutes or so to download. They're pretty good, but I don't have the arrangements in hand. If anyone is interested, though, I might be able to dig them out.

Click to expand...

"Pretty good"?! Ha, that's an understatement. They're virtuosic! Is that you playing? I for one would love to have the arrangements when you find the time.
It would be fun to try to play them on the uke, but probably without the fast diminutions and ornaments. Hope I'm not the only one interested. Thanks so much for sharing.

Luke El U said:

This YouTube video, "How to read French Tablature" may help understand how to read the "108 pièces pour guitare renaissance" by Pascale Boquet.
See this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuROUj10bmk
He goes into it at about 2:40.
So, basically the Boquet tab is for a small four-stringed guitar tuned dgbe, but the book doesn't give notes, just tab. Instead of numbers that we are used to, for example 0=open string, 1=first fret, 2=second fret, etc., with the Boquet's French tab you have a=open string, b=first fret, r=second fret, d=third fret, etc.
Why "r" instead of "c" you may ask? My guess is to avoid confusing "c" with "e" which is the fourth fret. Also note that the "d" has a very limp staff! You can see a free sample here:
http://sf-luth.org/Album_SFL/secret_des_muses/slides/vol_18.html
Don't be intimidated, it's easy after a few tries.

The "whole other book" I mentioned is the Guitar Music in the 16th Century by Keith Calmes. That's written in standard notation.

I should have added this site of FREE recordings of the Oswald "Divertimentis" by Rob MacKillop. Scroll down to the bottom:
http://robmackillop.net/guitar/cittern/
The FREE notation is at that site I mentioned in my first post above. Really, I highly recommend these Divertimentis for a bari (or Gcde transposed) uke.
They fit almost perfectly on the uke and are beautiful and fun to play!!!

Good luck!

Click to expand...

I remember in one of his videos Val wrote the 4 course guitar was GCEA... No?

Paul December said:

I remember in one of his videos Val wrote the 4 course guitar was GCEA... No?

Click to expand...

Maybe. Anyway, it doesn't matter when using the Pascale Boquet book for uke with linear tuning.

Can someone please help me decipher these letters...
...I'm guessing the "r" looking character is actually a "c", but what is that other thing (circled)? Is it a "d"?

Paul December said:

Can someone please help me decipher these letters...
...I'm guessing the "r" looking character is actually a "c", but what is that other thing (circled)? Is it a "d"?

View attachment 50177

Click to expand...

Wow, wish I had had the tech skills to get that graphic up on a post! Anyway, yes, I believe the "r" is used in place of what one would expect to be a "c."
Take the other symbol, which almost looks like a "p" sometimes as really a "d" which has wilted! If you follow those rules, the music will make sense.
BTW, here's a list of the tunes: http://sf-luth.org/Album_SFL/secret_des_muses/slides/vol_18_index.html
I love this book. And some pieces are much easier to play on a tenor or concert with a low G.

This is mainly a note to myself and any other Early Music geeks out there who might be interested in playing 4-coarse renaissance guitar music on the bari or a low G uke. Please forgive my obsession.

FREE digital facsimiles can be found at The Lute Society of America:

http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/links/Digital-Facsimiles.html

Under the heading: "Works in Tablature for Lute, Theorbo or Vihuela in Renaissance Tuning" I found the composer and book, "Miguel de Fuenllana, Libro de mvsica para vihuela intitulado Orphenica lyra, 1554" The text is in Spanish and he uses the Italian tab system with numbers.

I had to do some detective work to find the 7 renaissance guitar compositions for this large book. They are here:

http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/162v.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/163.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/163v.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/164.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/164v.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/165.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/165v.jpg
http://www.gerbode.net/ft2/facsimiles/fuenllana_orphenica_lyra/book_6/166.jpg

Then, if you scroll down near the bottom of the Lute Society's Digital Facsimiles page you'll find the heading:

"Works for Cittern, Early Guitar, Mandolino or Other Plucked Strings"

Under that heading you will find these renaissance guitar composers and their works in French using the French tab system:

Gregiore Brayssing

QVART LIVRE DE TABV/LATVRE DE GVITERRE, CONTENANT / plusieurs Fantasies, Pseaulmes, & Chansons: auec L’alouette, & la Guerre, / Composées par M. Gregoire Brayssing deaugusta, Paris, Adrian le Roy & Robert Balard, 15533

Adrian le Roy

PREMIER LIVRE DE / TABVLATVRE DE GVITERRE, CONTE/nant plusieurs Chansons, Fantasies, Pauanes, Gaillardes, Alman/des, Branles, tant simples qu’autres:/ Le tout composé./ Par / ADRIAN LE ROY, Paris, Adrian le Roy & Robert Balard, 15513
TIERS LIVRE DE TABV/LATVRE DE GVITERRE, CONTE/nant plusieurs Préludes, Chansons, Basse-dances, Tour/dions, Pauanes, Gaillardes, Almandes, Bransles, tant / doubles que simples. Le tout composé par / ADRIAN LE ROY, Paris, Adrian le Roy & Robert Balard, 15523
CINQIESME LIVRE DE GVI/TERRE, CONTENANT PLVSIEVRS CHANSONS A TROIS / & quatre parties, par bons & excelens Musiciens: Reduites en Tabu/lature par Adrian le Roy, Paris, Adrian le Roy & Robert Balard, 15544
SECOND LIVRE DE GVI/TERRE, CONTENANT PLVSIEVRS CHANSONS EN / forme de voix de ville: nouuellement remises en tablature, / par Adrian le Roy, Paris, Adrian le Roy & Robert Balard, 1555 (not in Brown)

I have a couple of Renaissance books/pieces by Jamie Holding but it looks like his website is down right now. Here's his youtube channel that has a number of the pieces he transcribed for uke: http://www.youtube.com/user/JamieUkuleleArranger He's here on UU so I'll try PM'ing him to see if he's still selling the music.