A discussion of the Court, and the court trumpeters in particular. Insights on the instruments used, the music they played, and a look at a few pieces. There will be an opportunity to play a trumpet sonata from the court’s repertoire at the end (but playing is NOT required to attend). A limited number of trumpets will be available if you wish to play but don’t have one.

If you are interested in starting or continuing your harp journey, come take your next step! This class’s level will be tailored to the harpists that show up. Please email jkeeslar@hotmail.com if you are planning on attending with your current level and what you would most like to work on.

Should you consider using a tablet for sheet music? See tablets‐for‐musicians.com for far more than we’ll have time to cover. If you prefer an interactive session to reading, we will explore the value of using a tablet for your sheet music collection, discuss advantages and disadvantages, which hardware and software to consider, and any other topics that come up. This is intended to be a discussion session, with lots of audience interaction. Come prepared with questions, and your possible solution (if any) for how to organize a sheet music collection, create and maintain set lists, find a piece by title or composer (or other criteria), mark up music with performance notes, and turn pages in performance, for a few topic suggestions. Note, the moderator uses MobileSheets on an Android (Galaxy) tablet. Hopefully someone using ForScore on an iPad will participate. Suitable for any musician that uses sheet music or chord charts.

Owain Phyfe brought tunes from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to life. I have examples to show and a collection to share. Multiple song sources will be given and sheet music provided.

A brief history of the recorder, how it evolved, and why it’s such a common instrument today.

Do you feel like you could be getting more out of your practice sessions? Do you have things that help you in your practice? Come share your tips and tricks while learning others’ ideas in a moderated roundtable discussion regarding what makes your practice effective, productive and motivating.

For singers and players of any instrument.

Gemshorns and Crumhorns and Cornamusen, oh my. (Rackets too) Bring your 9 note instruments for a jam session. Music orchestrated for 9 note instruments will be provided. There will be some loaners for those who want to try. Most instruments use recorder fingering with few changes.

Trying to play music in non-western modes is challenging. Let’s try to break things down to make it easier. We’ll start with maqams with Western equivalents, mode-wise, then move on to add those difficult notes. Will also cover a bit on rhythms. Handout with music different from my other Ottoman class.

This class is for all levels of harpists. We will do three things: 1) Everyone give a tip on how and when they practice. 2) Play some songs together. I like doing a round and then one with melody and chords. 3) The Pentatonic Scale. After tuning the harps and practicing a bit, each harpist who wants one would get a solo slot, while the others accompany.

Players of shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, trombones, cornetti, and anything else that can play LOUD: We’ll play a selection of reasonably straightforward Renaissance music and work towards producing a pleasing sound as a consort.

We seldom get to sit back and listen to the harp. In this class we’ll close our eyes and one person will be picked to play. They will play for a few minutes and then another person will play. The audience will have their eyes closed so we won’t be watching you. afterward we’ll talk about how it was listening and playing.

Are you a self-taught recorder player? Would you like to improve your technique on recorder for Medieval and Renaissance music? If so, then this is the class for you! We’ll go over how to articulate phrases, how to play in tune, how to get nice sounds on your instrument, and how to play fast.

The Arbor Consort will lead an hour of madrigal singing. We will choose well-known songs from Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and England. Each song will be introduced with a brief commentary on what made each song particularly famous or interesting. If more than 20 persons attend, then music will be shared. The Arbor Consort is the official madrigal singing group of the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

Non-singers are also welcome to come listen!

Early music scores can often look ambiguous to a modern musician, raising questions such as which instrument should play which line? What difference will it make? What about those parts with names that don’t match the instrument I’m told to play? We’ll explore questions of relative pitch and pitch relationships between parts, deciphering what the score is actually telling you, and we’ll play a few pieces with ambiguous instrumentation to see what effect different choices can have. Prerequisite is the ability to read music (modern notation) in at least one clef, vocalists are welcome but this class is relevant primarily to instrumentalists playing in consort.

Handout

To better understand modal music vs modern music, we will play several pieces and compare them. Come learn about the similarities and differences through active learning! This is intended to be a play-along class, so bring an instrument and be prepared to sight-read. If you are interested but would rather not play, that’s fine too because an audience is always appreciated.

You may already know Holborne from his works “The Faire-round” and “The Teares of the Muses.” His 1599 collection of dance tunes is an important source of instrumental music by a single composer. We’ll discuss Holborne’s life and work, then play some of his most popular pieces. Period and nonperiod instruments, as well as nonmusicians, are welcome! Sheet music will be provided. $1 fee for photocopying.

Rehearsal for the Big Sing