Viola da Gamba Society of America

Learn to play with more ease and comfort and power and to coordinate musical gestures with physical ones. We will do lessons on the floor and in chairs and will apply them to our viol playing from day two. Bring loose, comfortable clothes and a mat or blanket to lie on. (We will provide some blankets for those traveling by airplane.)

This beginning viola da gamba class is free to off-campus beginners, ages 18 and older (or a minor with a guardian), who would like to learn to play the viol in a relaxed and supportive group environment. This class is tuition-free for those staying on campus. Instruments will be provided upon request on a first-come, first-served, basis. No experience necessary to join. Please check the appropriate box when you register for the Beginning Viol Program to indicate that you are interested in borrowing an instrument.

Venture into the world of English Romantic part song, building skills in less common key signatures, finessed bow control, and songful musicality. This class will allow for development of key repertoire over the course of the week, while continuing to explore new music each session.

In this class, we will look at a variety of sources from around the viol playing world which demonstrate different ways of performing divisions. However, rather than simply observing these guides for their artistic merit, we will focus on how these passages and examples can improve viol playing technique and establish healthy playing habits. Emphasis will be placed on how divisions can be adapted for a wide variety of playing experience.

For those who are tired of going to pieces every time there are unexpected accidentals on the page: A gentle class which will be equal parts music and technique, using the 18th-century German keyboard composer J.K.F. Fischer's "Ariadne Musica" as our starting point. Add another set of skills to your musical tool-kit while playing from a lovely, viol-friendly edition of short, diverse preludes and fugues in all possible keys.

Exercises and fun duets to learn new techniques and refine old skills on the treble viol.

Easy tunes from Captain Hume's Musicall Humors in both Prick-note and tablature, original notation. Jigges, Polish ayres, and vilanelles, including Tickle me quickly. Practice deciphering rhythm without bars, learning common leaps and scale patterns.

Come spend the week playing 6-part Byrd fantasias and In Nomines working on articulation, dynamics, phrasing and better bow control!

Understanding your fingerboard from the perspective of the Gamut. Learning to recognize melodic shapes through hand-shapes and find the meaning in the mode.

Explore the left-hand techniques involved in playing chords and lyra viol music, and learn to read tablature.

In this class we will explore the chants of Hildegard, un-learning conventional modalities of meter in order to free us to phrase and shape the melodies based on the text and its captivating imagery. Latin proficiency not required. Reading the G-clef is a must. Dust off your vielle or rebec and join this new class offering. Viols also welcome. Reading the G-clef is a must. Pitch is A=415.

How was the viol taught in the 16th to 18th centuries? Class will explore the pedagogical contents and play the repertoire from early viol method books. Authors/works covered will include Gerle's Musica Teutsch, Ganassi's Regola Rubertina, Martin Agricola, Mersenne, Thomas Mace, Playford, The Compleat Musick-Master and Violist, and good old Chris Simpson. Some class sessions will be spent playing consort music (Gerle, Agricola, and Mersenne, for example), others will look at solo studies for the bass viol (playable on all sizes).

While some may be aware of composer John Dowland's fascination with alchemy (the study/art of transmutation or change), alchemy and music were closely related during the heyday of the viol (roughly 1500-1700). This class will explore some of the resonant connections between music and alchemy as they manifest in polyphony by a range of composers including Dowland, Lassus, Holborne, Robert Fludd, Michael Maier, and others. While our focus will be music making, there will be some thinking/discussing/reading built into the week's activities.

An exploration of the relationship between these two forms from the mid-16th century to about 1620.

More than 100 years before Dido's famous lament by Purcell there was Dulces exuviae. Lifted from Vergil's Aeneid, this text, spoken by Dido at the moment of her death, was a favorite with composers throughout the 16th century (at least sixteen of them, and counting). Gorgeous settings by Josquin, Ghiselin, Orto, Willaert, Lassus, and others.

Explore the fugue form Bach and more. Doubling 4-part music.

Take turns playing all the parts in consorts by Gibbons, Dering, and Ward. You should be at least somewhat familiar with playing all three sizes of viol and comfortable sharing your instrument with the others in the class. Fitness bonus: you'll clock some steps as you get up to move to the next chair from piece to piece.

Christopher Simpson's "bowed graces" anticipated the complex bow language of Marais's era. Bow speeds, enflé, and retakes can be applied to all kinds of consort music. Can be geared to any level. For less experienced players, I'll concentrate on enflés and retakes, and apply them to Coperario or Ward. For advanced players, we'll up the ante, and use Jenkins or Lawes for musical examples.

We spend so much time in the English consort world, but what about Italian music for viols? How is the sound world different from our standard consort repertory? Music by Malvezzi, Peri, Guami, and Corradini. We will read approximately 3 pieces each class.

Does sightreading make your heart race and give you sweaty palms? Want to feel more secure in sitting down to read consorts? Never fear! As someone who LOVES to sightread, and the adrenaline that comes with it, I invite you to come join me for a week of learning sightreading techniques and how to apply them in any reading situation. We will start off with simple consorts and build to more challenging ones as the week progresses.

Frets distinguish the viol from other bowed strings, giving it its special sound. Make the most of your instrument through good left-hand technique, creating rich resonance and a satisfying ensemble sound.

Become familiar with this dance form, a favorite in much of Europe (and maybe some spritely allemands and galliards too). There will be ensemble practice for homophonic textures, but also honing dotted rhythms.

This course will be a reading of several of J.S. Bach's famous 4-part chorales, which, while brief, can be very deceptive. Players will work on the basics of healthy ensemble sound, how intonation works within an ensemble, how to play *truly* together, and how to convey sung lyrics with the bow.

Perhaps best-known as a master of large-scale Venetian polychoral works, Giovanni Gabrieli also produced some lovely music for smaller forces, both instrumental and vocal. We will look at a selection of 4- and 5-part canzoni and madrigals.

Viol solos and ensemble music from St. John's Passion. We will woodshed "Es ist volbracht" in a class setting (parts in alternate clefs available). As an ensemble, the class will also explore other movements from the Passion, with options to sing or play the vocal lines.

How can players in a consort each ornament their own parts on the fly without the result being complete chaos? This class aims to answer that question while also improving the listening and ensemble skills of participants. Prior experience improvising is not required, as this class will also cover practice strategies and exercises you can use to become more comfortable improvising and help dispel the notion that you have to just sit down and intuitively know what to play.

An in-depth exploration of the four modes of improvisation covered in Ortiz's treatise of 1530. We explore free imitative improv, improv over a cantus firmus, over a line of a madrigal or chanson, and over a repeating (ostinato) bass. 20% discussion, 80% playing.

The Odhecaton (Petrucci's groundbreaking 1501 publication containing a treasure trove of the "greatest hits" from the late 15th century by composers such as Josquin, Agricola, Isaac, and Ockeghem) will be our vehicle to become comfortable (OR gain more experience) reading 16th-century notation. Topics covered include movable C and F clefs, barless notation, early note and rest shapes, intervallic reading, musica ficta, alteration/imperfection, and ligatures.

Bass technique based on Thomas Baete's The Natural Violist and Bettina Hoffmann's L'arte di suonare la viola da gamba. We will explore technique exercises from both of these methods and apply them to relevant repertoire.

Learn some of the greatest hits from the medieval period, the ones that turn into delightful earworms! We will work on music by our favorite composer Anonymous, as well as Machaut, Landini, and da Firenze, getting stuck in the catchy rhythms, double-leading-tone cadences, and more. The songs are both monophonic and polyphonic, giving us the chance to exercise our chamber music skills. Reading the G-clef is a must.

This repertoire reading class will compare the best consort music from basse danse to Brooke Green. Performance of a pair of compatible early and new works as a goal.

This will be an opportunity to learn to read in a variety of clefs from beautifully printed, 17th-century movable type editions. At the same time we will become familiar with the some of the dances and madrigals of two of the Low Countries' unjustly neglected Renaissance composers who happen to have the same first name: Cornelis Schuyt and Cornelis Verdonck. No prior experience with unusual clefs or barless editions required. Doubling will ensure that this is a safe zone for adventurous exploration.

David Funck was a Bohemian composer active in the 1670's. It seems that he led a life careening from one crisis to another, being accused of any number of sexual improprieties. His surviving works include a collection of dance suites, the Stricturae Viola di Gambicae of 1677. They were well-received in his day, but are rarely performed in the 21st Century. We will take a closer look. As a young man, Johann Rosenmüller was recognized as an outstanding talent; it was assumed that he would become the Kapellmeister of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Instead, having been arrested as a gay man, he was forced to escape the city, and take up residence as an instrumentalist and teacher of young orphans in Venice. There, he composed fine music for choirs and string ensembles. We'll work on some of his wonderful ensemble sonatas.

This repertory class will explore the challenging and highly-expressive five-part Italian madrigals of Heinrich Schütz, first published in 1611.

A towering figure in the years of the "mature" viol consort, Jenkins wrote music that rewards multiple playings and listenings. His unique approach to composing fantasias creates particular opportunities for consort players to develop their sense of gesture, line, and sonority. Over the course of the week this ensemble will dive deep into several key works in Jenkins's oeuvre of fantasias.

Michael East's exquisite cycle of 5-part fantasies is a chance to put Thomas Morley's rules of fancy-writing to the test. This class will work on the entire set of pieces and bring the titles of each to life.

Does all that consort music get muddled in your mind? Which composers were Elizabethan, Jacobean, Caroline, Commonwealth, and Restoration? We'll make a methodical journey, highlighting the histories and associations of our favorite consort composers and taking note of the subtle stylistic shifts as we move from one era to another. An opportunity to play a lot of great music in a historically-minded way.

We will spend a week immersed in the beautiful music of John Coprario, beginning with doubling for the 2- and 3-part consorts up to the end of the week, when we will have a go at the beautiful 6-part consorts! We will play two or three fantasias each day. Music can be sent ahead of time, if desired.

Gorgeous music for viol consort from the Low Countries, France, and England feed the soul for this consort class. Techniques for effective consort playing will be explored to help maintain the tactus and let the music breathe. This class is for those who want to expand their ensemble skills and prepare to move to the next level of consort playing.

A dizzying array of love songs from past and present! We will be doubling 4- and 5-part music.

Let's play some tunes! While the focus of this class will be playing lots of tunes (mainly from the British Isles and America, c.1600-1800), we'll also work on sound production, rhythm and groove, and how to vary and arrange dance tunes for viols. We will learn tunes both by ear and from notation and divide class time between working on some favorites and exploring a few corners of the vast repertory of Anglo-American dance and fiddle tunes. Any number of students, any mix of instruments welcome.

We will use technical and mental exercises to improve string crossings, shifts, and trills, and then unwind at the end of each class with a pavan.

The bread and butter of medieval instrumental music: Estampies and salterellos from France and Italy, respectively. The rhythmic vitality of these dances, quirky as they are, informs our understanding of the sounds of the era. In these monophonic dances, everyone gets to take a turn!

Ho, ho, ho??? It may be summer, but we can enjoy the luscious music of Senfl, Praetorius, Resinarius, and Stoltzer any time of the year!

A class for your consort from home to be coached in a repertoire chosen by you or by the teacher.

An exploration of 5-part Italian madrigals of Cipriano de Rore, Giaches de Wert, and Claudio Monteverdi; we will look to make connections and find contrast in the works of this lineage of composition, while developing our technique to meet the expressive demands of these 16th-century masterpieces.

Polyphonic settings of the expressive, poetic text by the prophet Jeremiah on the destruction of Jerusalem was a particular passion of many Renaissance composers. Compare and contrast works from this rich repertoire by composers such as Tallis, Agricola, Tinctoris, DiOrto, and Arcadelt. Playing in a vocal style (text stresses, consonants/vowels, punctuation) will be emphasized.

New to the alto clef and want to test it out on some easy dances from Marin Marais's Piéces de viole? Learn how to execute the ornaments and bow expression with grace in a no-pressure group setting.

Exploring John Ward's consort repertoire. Settle into the lush lines in Ward's best fantasies. As a class, we will work on musicality, singing through our own lines, shaping phrases, and passing around melodies to our consort-compatriots.

This class serves as an introduction to the skills needed to become a one-person continuo band on the viol. We'll focus on 17th-century Italian monody such as the madrigals found in Caccini's Le nuove musiche (which are a good starting point due to their sparser bass lines and simpler figures).

Giovanni Batttista Vital and Giovanni Legrenzi each wrote first-rate sonatas intended to be played as Sonatas da Chiesa, for masses or other religious ceremonies. George Houle edited three fine church sonatas by Vitali, taken from Vitali's collection of pieces written for S. Petronio di Bologna, published in 1669. Legrenzi's La Cetra (1673) included a wonderful church sonata written specifically for viols. The revival of viol consort in the Twentieth Century has been for the most part, centered on playing the works of English composers, from Bryd to Jenkins. It's always interesting to see how viols were used by 17th Century continental writers!

A look at two late Renaissance composers on the cusp of the 17th century. The organ-like polyphony of Dering's majestic 6-part pieces is contrasted with the expressive text-based chromaticism of Weelkes.

Let's explore the complex 6-part fantasias and "Go from My Window"! We will start each day working on the rhythmic complexities and imitation throughout the Gibbons consorts and building better bow technique.

Exploring the 16th-century experiments with chromatic music from Lasso to Gesualdo. How to play chromatic music in tune on a fretted instrument (possibility of performing)

It's all about style! Some of the questions we'll explore: How do we know what's in style and what's not? How are Baroque and Renaissance style different? What do we want to borrow from Baroque violin technique? Should we approach the treble and pardessus differently? We'll play Baroque solos, duets and trios originally for treble, pardessus, flute, violin and oboe.

Angel vs. Devil? Apollo vs. Dionysus? Godzilla vs. Kong? Two apex titans of English music, John Jenkins and William Lawes, perhaps the viol world's two most inventive, sublime, and at times astonishing voices, find their perfect expression in consort music for six viols. Play them side-by-side, compare, contrast, luxuriate, choose your favorite!

L'Amorosa Ero, which is a collection of 18 4-part madrigals (1580s, mostly SATB) on the same Italian sonnet (this one rich dude put out the word to all the composers in the area). Live streamed for online participants!

Tunes we all should get to know and some of the many versions composed. English ballads, French chansons, German lieder (Daphne, Douce Memoire, Elselein, and more).

This class is dedicated to the reading of works for viol consort by present-day composers. Some may be composers known well to some viol players, some may be Conclave participants, and perhaps some may be playing in this very class! We will aim to emphasize the dynamic opportunity of communicating with the very people who conceived the works being played. Open both to the active player and the pashenat observer.

Explore the five-part fantasies of Michael East in this group ensemble. We will discover techniques for effective group rehearsal and ensemble playing.