August 2008

Consider this a “whet your appetite” type of article on ballads. At some point later when I’ve done more research I’ll write a series describing what makes a song a ballad, and the wonders that they are. For now here’s a bit of what I’ve found so far: Greg Lindahl’s site on 16th century ballads, [...]

Here are three reasons why I believe SCA singing groups should include ballads and other solo music. The main reason I think it’s a good idea for singing groups to include period ballads in their performances is that it enables the group to be more flexible at events. Sometimes there will only be one or [...]

The following vocalize is in the Dorian Mode, meaning it’s in D minor without the B flat. For more info check out the Wikipedia article on Dorian. Dorian is a popular key for Medieval and Renaissance music, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with it. vocalize12 This is an exercise worth getting into [...]

At Pennsic last week, Aaron attended a class on performing medieval music. I didn’t go because I was learning how to use my new inkle loom, but I did get to look at the handout afterward, and Aaron told me what was discussed during the class. The point I’m going to discuss here is combining [...]

Every so often you run into songs with tricky rhythms. It’s hard enough for you as the director to figure them out at home at your own pace, let alone expect your choir to pick it up on the spot. In this post I’ll discuss several strategies to help your singers more easily internalize the [...]

Remember how a couple weeks ago I promised some variations on the cadenza exercise? Well here they are, albeit, a little late. Just as a refresher here’s the basic solfege version: vocalize11 The vocalize can be divided easily into 3 sections of 3 notes and one section of 4, making for many possible variations. So [...]