Whew! This week has been a whirlwind! Classes are in full swing, choirs are all back in session as of tonight...the plates, they are a-spinning!
The most unusual thing I've been up to so far has been a presentation I gave to Douglas County music teachers on repertoire-driven musical literacy. These nice people sat through a lot of me talking and asking them lots of strange questions (you know, the kind of stuff I torture you poor AKI people with for 3 weeks straight every summer) and giving them various "gifts" (see previous parenthetical statement). It was a really good learning experience for me, and at the end of the day's activities, a very nice woman who teaches elementary general music stayed behind to talk to me for awhile. In my tired end-of-the-day state, I probably overshared my personal convictions about musical literacy -- basically, that I think of it as comparable in many ways to teaching people in impoverished conditions to read and write language, thereby empowering them to make their lives better (and I probably said something about overthrowing their oppressors, too...I guess that means my default setting in a state of mental fatigue is "Norma Rae"...). And, to my hindsight's surprise, this woman not only didn't start backing out of the room, she seemed to really agree. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at the general aura of receptivity over the course of the day. It seems that musical literacy may be an idea whose time has come.
Now, in my life as a graduate student, I am currently in a very cool class on vocal music in the Renaissance, and the focus of the first half of the class is polyphonic mass settings based upon the "L'Homme Arme" tune. Chances are you've come across this tune at some point in your musical studies, but I know I'm learning tons of stuff about it I never knew before...the folks writing these mass settings really went nuts with this tune, and folks in the 20th and 21st centuries have spilled a lot of ink over trying to figure out whose setting came first and what the significance of this tune was to the people who were using it (among other issues). I'll take the risk of over-simplifying and say that the tune definitely seems to have acted as a rallying point, a means for people to say that they were in on something, whether it was a musical idea, a military goal, or a political opinion. So, since I seem to be a little extra Norma Rae-ish these days, I thought we might have a little fun of our own with the Armed Man.
Rising Level 2's
Check out this link:
Sing through the original melody, which you could think of as basically being in 6/4, but felt in 2 -- the number of dotted-half-note beats is 32 (31 + 1, actually -- for specific political reasons, it seems...if you're curious, look up The Order of the Golden Fleece). I'd sing it as so-so' Mixolydian (feel free to transpose if it's more comfortable).
Now, look ahead to Ockeghem's Kyrie and sing through the tenor line (note that it's in 3/2). With the exception of the last 4 bars, what's going on with the tenor line as it relates to the opening melody?
OK, now the fun begins -- go back to the original melody and add a B-flat to the signature. Now sing the melody with the B-flat (I recommend re-re' Dorian). What do you think? Do you like it better this way? As it turns out, lots of composers decided to use the tune this way, too....Ockeghem did, too, later in this same mass, but not in the Kyrie.
Go ahead and sing through the other voice parts as written. Heck, have a little L'Homme Arme sing-along with some of your pals!
Rising Level 3's
Go through the same steps as the rising Level 2's.
Now, in addition to singing the melody in so-so' Mixolydian and re-re' Dorian, I'd like you to also experiment with a two-flat signature (Aeolian) and a one-sharp signature (Ionian). What works the best for your ear? Apply your favorite rendition to a sing-through of one of the other voice parts of the Kyrie. What happens?
Rising Level 4's
Go through the same steps as the rising Level 2's.
Now, in addition to singing the melody in so-so' Mixolydian and re-re' Dorian, I'd like you to also experiment with a two-flat signature (Aeolian), a one-sharp signature (Ionian), and a two-sharp signature (Lydian). Lydian is particularly difficult....why? Would they have used this version in the early Renaissance? Why not? Apply your favorite rendition to a sing-through of one of the other voice parts of the Kyrie.
All Levels
Knowing what you now know about the opening contour of this melody, do you hear a striking resemblance to the chorus of this well-known tune:
Hmmmmm.....
Oh, and you can listen to a cool performance of the whole Ockeghem Missa L'Homme Arme here:
Just keep following the links in the right sidebar to find the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. Now that you know the tune, can your ear pick it out of the polyphonic texture? Do you notice that the notes on the page for the Kyrie are somewhat altered in this performance, especially at cadences? What are the singers doing?
Enjoy!
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