Bringing Live Music back into the Living Room

Short version: it was a great space to sing in, not as large an audience as we'd have liked, but they seemed to enjoy what we did.

There aren't as many photographs as from the previous week, since the photographer was performing, but see the video below, and here are some sound clips:

• Good Morrow, fair ladies of the May,
• What ayles my darling?
• See, see, mine own sweet jewel,

I meant these to go on yesterday’s post, but I put it up without the pictures and then had to spend the rest of the day on other things. So here are the pictures.

How did it go

The short answer is that everybody had a good time. Unfortunately, the camera got packed up before the party got going, so you can't see the audience and performers staying around to continue to enjoy themselves, or the glass harmonica party music provided by our hostess, Vera Meyer.

A longer answer is that the performers agreed that we had done a lot of good things musically, but had missed a few things that we wanted to do. And we agreed that we've gotten really good at recovering from mistakes, and we wished we could get a bit better at not making the mistakes in the first place.

The bottom line is that I was catching myself smiling about it for most of the next two days.

What it sounded like

Cease, mine eyes

Love learns by laughing

So if this looks like fun...

Come on Sunday, March 25, 2012, to the repeat performance at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl St., Cambridge, MA. It might be even better than last Sunday.

Meeting report

We played:

• The Scottish Psalter, 1635: WIGTOWN (One who is all unfit to count)
• MEINE HOFFNUNG
• Genevan Psalter, 1551: ST. MICHAEL
• Wilbye, Lady, if I behold,
• Rore, Signor mio caro and Carità di signore,
• Holborne, Heigh ho holiday.
• Ravenscroft, Now God be with old Simeon
• Berg, Let us drink and be merry

Schedule

Here's the schedule for the next couple of months:

• Tuesday, February 28, No meeting
• Tuesday, March 6, regular meeting. (Anne has agreed to open up.)
• Tuesday March 13 regular meeting
• Sunday, March 18, Concert: Shakespeare's Neighbors 3 pm at 521 Fellsway East, Malden
• Tuesday March 20 regular meeting
• Sunday, March 25 Concert: Shakespeare's Neighbors 7pm at 263 Pearl St., Cambridge
• Tuesdays March 27, April 3, 10 and 17, Regular meetings
• Tuesdays March 24 and May 1, meetings restricted to and compulsory for performers at the Walk for Hunger
• Sunday, May 6 10am to 3pm, Walk for Hunger

Walk for Hunger

Remember that you should let me know as soon as possible whether you want to play at the Walk for Hunger. A lot of what we're thinking about playing is five part music, and we shouldn't work on that unless we're going to have at least five performers.

Another Concert Announcement

Or more specifically, an announcement of another performance of the same concert. Vera Meyer is graciously allowing us to perform Shakespeare's Neighbors in her living room, at 3pm on Sunday, March 18. It's free and open to the public, and there will be a pot luck supper following the concert. Please come, and bring all your friends.

The Cantabile Renaissance Band will be performing "Shakespeare's neighbors: an evening with Thomas Morley, William Shakespeare, and others" on Sunday, March 25 at 7pm at the 263 Gallery, 263 Pearl St., Cambridge, MA.

This performance will include the complete Morley Canzonets to three voyces, interspersed with readings from Romeo and Juliet, Phillip Sidney, and The Aminta by Tasso.

For more details, see the concert webpage.

There's a flyer you can print and paper your neighborhood with and give to all your friends.

We are trying to set up other performances of this program, which I will announce on this list as we finalize the arrangements. If you have an idea for somewhere West or South of the central metropolitan Boston area where we could do it, let me know.

Meeting Report

We played:

• Scottish Psalter, 1615: York and Psalm 80
• Campian: When the god of merrie love, and Though your strangeness frets my heart
• Weelkes, Come, come let's begin
• Morley, Sing we and chant it,
• Arcadelt , Je ne suis pas si sot
• Courtois , Petit Jacquet
• Cider Round

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place with the following exceptions:

• Tuesday February 28 will not be a dropin rehearsal, as the Morley group will pre-empt that time.
• On March 6, I will be working at the polls for the presidential primary, so someone will have to open up if we want to meet that night.
• The meetings in March and April will concentrate on the Walk for Hunger program. The meetings of April 24 and May 1 will be limited to (and compulsory for) the performers at the Walk for Hunger.
• On Sunday, May 6, we'll be playing between 10am and 3pm. You shouldn't sign up unless you can be there at least between noon and 3pm.

Next week, February 21, will probably be our last meeting for a while where we will not be concentrating on the Walk for Hunger program, and where we will have a new piece to sightread. So if you have ideas about what you'd like to do, either for the new piece or for old pieces that aren't suitable for the Walk program, let me know.

Walk for Hunger

We will be performing again this year, as we have every year since 1999, at the Walk for Hunger, in a beautiful spot on the Charles River, at the Cambridge-Watertown line. Unless you're a major rock star, it's probably your only opportunity to perform for tens of thousands of people.

Let me know if you want to play. If you do, let me know what you would like to play.

I'm leaning towards an all-English program, with some Morley, Weelkes, Holborne, Dowland and Byrd. Let me know your likes and dislikes in that range. Also, if that would leave out your favorite upbeat walking music, let me know about that.

Meeting Report

We played:

• Gibbons, Song 67
• Bach, Ich halte treulich still
• Crequillon, Alix avoit aux dens la malerage,
• Morley, About the Maypole
• Byrd, This sweet and merry month of May,
• Holborne, 9. Pavane and 10. Galliard
• Ravenscroft, As I me walked in a May morning,

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Tuesday February 28 will not be a dropin rehearsal, as the Morley group will pre-empt that time.

On March 6, I will be working at the polls for the presidential primary, so someone will have to open up if we want to meet that night.

Walk for Hunger

We have again been invited to play at the Walk for Hunger, in our usual time and place. This year it's on May 6, and we'll probably be playing informally starting at 10 am and doing our usual two sets at noon and 2 pm.

If you'd like to play, please let me know as soon as possible. In addition to being available on May 6, you should also plan to come for both of the Tuesdays immediately before that (April 24 and May 1), and as many other Tuesdays in March and April as you need to learn the music.

I would like to have a playlist by the beginning of March, but I can't do that until I have the list of performers, so please let me know as soon as you can.

Also let me know if there are pieces you'd particularly like to play, or pieces that would cause you to not want to play if they appeared on the playlist. We would like to have a mix of the complicated polyphony we spend most of our time on and simpler polyphony that comes across better in the noisy outdoor setting. We need to spend at least half the time on instruments, since it's quite strenuous singing in that setting.

Meeting report

We played:

• Tallis, third mode tune
• Byrd, This sweet and merry month of May,
• Verdelot, Dormend'un giorno,
• Campian, Never weather-beaten saile
• Weelkes, Death hath deprived me of my dearest friend
• Ravenscroft, Oaken Leaves

Schedule

We will be meeting as usual on Tuesdays at 7:45 PM at my place.

Tuesday February 28 will not be a dropin rehearsal, as the Morley group will pre-empt that time. If there's interest, we could have a dropin meeting on Thursday, March 1 instead.