Apr. 8th, 2007

telerib: (Default)
Why the heck didn't I check Timothy McGee's "Medieval and Renaissance Music: A Performer's Guide" out of the library five years ago?

This book is teh awesome. I have heard, from time to time, that early monophonic music was "rhythmically complex" but never really heard that explained. In about five pages, McGee covers:
  • How modern rhythm and bar lines are fairly simple (ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three) and complexity comes from other things (like harmony)
  • How early music didn't have regular, simple rhythms that you could delineate with neat bar lines, even though modern editors do
  • How to make a good stab at uncovering the original rhythm of a piece, using three simple rules.

I feel like I need to re-read it a few more times to really, really get it, but boom. There it is, a nice take-away crunchy bit to put into my music tool box. In five pages. Makes me want to go back to L'homme armé and redo it; I've been forcing it into 3/4 time. That seems to work, even if it created some stresses in odd places - I thought that was an interesting "feature" of the piece, sort of like syncopation. Now I wonder what an alternate analysis would get me.

I wonder if McGee will cover percussive accompaniment. How do you have a drummer work with you on this stuff?

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