Viola da Gamba Society of America

Yoga for viol players: Utilizing the spheres of yoga, ranging from the physical to the energetic and subtle, to enhance (and mitigate) our relationship with our partner, the viol. Prepare your body for the music-filled day ahead.

A whole-body approach to left- and right-hand technique. As in dance, flexibility, balance and freedom help us choreograph smooth, graceful and controlled left fingers and strong, expressive, and varied bow control. Daily warmups to help promote comfort, prevent injury, and improve accuracy and expression.

Get to know the viola da gamba in a relaxed and supportive group environment. Offered free to off-campus neighbors curious about playing the viol, and tuition-free for those staying on campus. Instruments will be provided upon request on a first-come, first-served basis; see details under Beginners Program. No prior experience necessary.

Dive into tenor viol technique to explore the highs and the lows, the scrunches and the stretches, some digging in and some lightening up, many scales and arpeggios, several clefs, and a smattering of ear-training and musicianship exercises. Only Tenors allowed!

Treble viols make up the firmament of our consorts. Their dainty size and ethereal sound require attentive playing. Focus on treble technique, with special emphasis on fingering and sound production.

Our bow gives the viol its voice and makes it dance. Focus on bowing technique for flexibility, agility and a joyful sound. All levels welcome: it never hurts to revisit, review, or try a new approach to making the most of your bow.

Explore the gorgeous harmonic progressions of the stately Pavane as conceived by Jacobean stars Jenkins and Lawes. Warm-ups with breath and bows, internalizing the tactus, and cultivating awareness of the consort sound to ease into your viol-playing day.

A focus on ensemble cohesion and rhythmic clarity in simple arrangements of Playford dance-tunes will progress to more challenging textures present in pavans, galliards, and corants of Holborne, Schein, and Purcell. Doubling.

Focus on bow technique, using Dowland pavanes, galliards and songs to expand our expressive range, then moving on to other English gems. Discover how it takes just two fingers controlling the hair to produce a great variety of bow strokes, from smooth and lush to light and airy.

Phrasing is what turns a collection of notes into music. Learn how to make the musical texture more interesting and dynamic by using a full palette of crescendo, diminuendo and articulations of various strengths, and how to recognize where to use them effectively.

How to ornament consort parts on the fly without creating complete chaos, while improving your listening and ensemble skills. Practice strategies and exercises will help you become more comfortable improvising, and dispel the notion that you should intuitively know what to play!

You can achieve your wildest fantasies when you learn to let your fingers do the walking. Know where you are on the fretboard, where you're going, and how you plan to get there!

Focusing on the shorter, calmer, dance movements from Marais' Book 5 (on the 300th anniversary of its publication), the class will approach these movements as analytical exercises focused on details. Participants may also bring prepared music to workshop in class.

Addressing technical issues through the lens of unaccompanied music. Choose repertoire ahead of time in consultation with the teacher, and come ready to workshop your pieces. Simple exercise sheets for left hand strength, bow control, and scales will be provided.

77 Baroque Bass Lines: Explore a volume of continuo bass lines as musical vignettes and as etudes. Work on how and why to shape bass lines, creating a toolbox to take with you out into the real world.

While some classes begin with a technical focus in order to better play viol music, these three classes will start with stars of the consort repertoire and explore the techniques required to convey their music with passion and expression. Up to three consorts of matched levels.

Rediscovering Abel & Marais: An in-depth exploration of two remarkable collections - the recently discovered Villeneuve Manuscript of Marais' works and the demanding Maltzan Collection of Abel, with a focus on refining technique to navigate the expressive depth, wit, and technical challenges that define this late repertoire.

A class on rounds and canons: exploring contributions to the genre from the eras where the viol flourished, as well as more recent canons and rounds. A chance to get to know a melody well with the whole class, then turn it into a satisfying piece of polyphony.

Praetorius named his 1612 dance collection Terpsichore, after the Greek muse of dance. The four- and five-part bransles are sprightly and simple, welcoming all to the joys of ensemble music. Doubling encouraged.

Take the Grand Tour, a city a day, dancing our way with local pavanes, galliards, and other lively forms. Focus will be on rhythmic precision, to put a spring in your step and pride in your promenade as you strut your stuff across Europe. Doubling.

Explore the charming dance music of Giorgio Mainerio and Francesco Bendusi, from their 16th c. publications of Balli. These pieces offer a refreshing contrast to Renaissance polyphony. Save your counting for other consort activities - get ready to feel the rhythm in your bodies and bows! Doubling possible.

Dance music by great composers from 16th and 17th c France, Germany, Italy, and England, with selections from Scheidt, Attaignant, Gesualdo, Byrd, Holborne, Dowland, Jenkins, Lawes - with a few Galliards mixed in for good measure. Some doubling.

The bread and butter of medieval instrumental music: estampies and salterellos. 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! This class is for people who already have some experience playing vielle.

What music did the Jacobeans turn to when they sat down to play consorts? One surviving set of part-books preserves a wide range of pieces, from sacred to secular, and from old-fashioned to cutting edge. Play and sing your own part or partner up with a singer.

Music from Florence under Lorenzo the Magnificent, where Marsilio Ficino's theories of the healing and soul-elevating qualities of music are manifested in the "planetarily effective music" of Lorenzo's favorite composer, Isaac, and his contemporaries. Doubling.

Learn to groove with dance hits from the 20th century, from swing to samba, rock-n-roll and disco. If you have a strong sense of rhythm, these arrangements can accommodate a range of playing levels through multiple part options.

In their earth-orbiting adventure, the consort will choose the most heavenly music from France, Italy, England, Flanders, and Germany, inspired by quotations from Samantha Harvey's novel "Orbital" - an exploration of space and philosophy.

Old favorites with a lot to teach us, this large collection of dances provides ample opportunities to explore subtleties of rhythm and articulation, balance and cohesion, with wit and charm in every part.

The 7th Heaven has long been considered the highest state of intense happiness and bliss. This utopia can also be found in the beauty and richness of the 7-part repertoire of the Renaissance. Immerse yourself in the glorious sound of seven viols playing together in perfect harmony.

Dance suites in 4, 5, and 6 parts by Valentin Haussman and Johann Schein, including suites from Schein's delightful collection, Banchetto Musicale.

Make your wish come true by choosing in advance a favorite 5-part piece for this group to work on together - one stellar piece a day for five days, all chosen by the participants.

Explore the dance music of Marin Marais: menuets, sarabandes, allemandes, courantes, gavottes, bourres, and gigues, for players with some prior experience with Marais' music.

Matthew Locke was a star: "Composer in Ordinary" to King Charles II. His four-part suites from c.1660 consist of a fantasia followed by three dance movements, perfect for this year's theme. Double your pleasure in this doubling class.

John Jenkins' 6-part consorts are some of the most exquisite repertoire for viol consort, and the included organ parts add another level of depth to his cerebral counterpoint and rich sonorities. Fertile ground for detailed consort work that helps us reach for the stars.

Schenk duets for basses, with the opportunity to play on two historical Tielke basses as well as on your own instruments.

Test your relationship with your gravitational center in the dance music of Attaignant, focusing on the basse danse, branle, pavane, and galliard. Doubling.

Turn-of-the-century top ten dances for your very special day. Overhand bows are encouraged to join the underhanded throng. Come dance the night away!

John Dowland and many of his compatriots spent portions of their careers in German lands. Their music is well-represented in continental sources, one of which preserves a fascinating collection of dance music in five parts, including the first consort version of the Lachrymae Pavan.

Villancicos by Juan del Encina, from the Cancionero de Palacio. These popular songs feature infectious melodies and rhythms that are a joy to play (and sing!). The class will focus on ensemble phrasing and articulations to make the most of these delightful gems.

Three-part selections from William Byrd's Songs of Sundrie Natures, a collection that goes beyond his more commonly performed consorts. Focus on shaping long notes and detailed articulation to effectively speak the text with the bow. Doubling.

Thomas Morley transformed the music of his time by embracing and assimilating Italian influences, especially the popular madrigal form, paving the way for a whole generation of English madrigalists. This survey class will sample his beautiful canzonettas and madrigals.

In 1518, a mass hysteria caused people of Strasbourg to dance for weeks. Using dances from Jacques Moderne's Musique de Joye, the class will encourage the melding of thought and practice that can create the graceful movements of our own "choreomania."

J.S. Bach, one of the brightest stars in the musical firmament, provided a wealth of chorales which can be a starting point to discuss musical issues, using text to inform performance, and how to lead an ensemble. Two or more Bach chorales a day, music available in various clefs, with doubling.

Rich and expressive 5-part dance music from the French Baroque operas of Lully, Marais, Rameau, and their contemporaries. Explore theatrical style and orchestral sound.

'The very new musics" provides the chance to explore the latest writing for viols, in a supportive and enthusiastic setting. Open to composers, new music enthusiasts, and the generally curious among our viol-playing community.

Learn some of the greatest hits and earworms of the Middle Ages. Music of the ever-popular Anonymous, as well as Machaut, Landini, and Senleches. In a class aimed at viol players curious about earlier repertoires, come get caught up in the catch rhythms and seduced by the double-leading-tone cadences.

Bask in the harmonious Renaissance settings of the Marion Hymn "Hail, Star of the Sea," including beautiful versions by Josquin des Prez and Tomás Luis de Victoria. Tenor viols especially will find many stellar lines. Singers welcome.

Following a "different day, different composer" approach, this class will focus on 6-part consorts by star composers Jenkins, Coprario, Ward, Gibbons, and Lawes.

This 4-part suite contains indications of tutti/solo sections. A wonderful chance to consider French style in ensemble music. The class will also look at other 17th-c dance suites.

A class to equip you with practice strategies and exercises to become more comfortable in improvising melodic material over a ground. Learn to find "guide tones," fill in intervals, transpose a motive, and discover new tricks to improvise increasingly sophisticated ideas.

Dowland's "Seven Teares" form the basis of a musical and meditative journey through the different characters and spiritual qualities of these pavanes, based on the work of Diana Poulton and Jakob Lindberg linking them to the seven planets and contemporary metaphysical theories.

Many great dances for solo viol exist in tablature. Focusing on dances from Tobias Hume, the Manchester Book, and the Sieur de Machy (and more), this class offers opportunities to develop your tablature reading in the standard "violl-way" tuning.

Byrd's 6-part fantasies are chock-full of delightful�and complicated�dance passages. We'll focus on getting these motifs rhythmically precise, consistent, and unanimous while simultaneously rockin' the catchy tunes. Expect a bit of bow technique talk and lots of intense ensemble work.�

For centuries balls have been an outlet for dancing, socializing, intrigue, and romance. We will create our own ball through music, oscillating between different dance patterns and themes of love, both requited and otherwise. Note: tenor players will need to be comfortable with both treble down the octave and alto clef.

The chants of Hildegard will serve as an introduction to the vielle for viol-players, un-learning conventional modalities of meter to free us to phrase and shape melodies based on text and imagery. Loaner instruments available.

Explore violone repertoire and technique through excerpts from viola bastarda and challenging continuo literature, including Rognoni, Bonizzi, Buxtehude and more. Please make note if you will need to borrow an instrument for this class.

Dig deeply into the finest 6-part fantasies of our repertoire. Find out what made these composers stars of their time.

Sign up with Cathy Meints for a chance to play on her remarkable consort of 17th-century instruments. Come every day to listen or play, or drop in when you can. NB: this class is not part of regular registration.

16th century Music Theory for all: How did Europeans think about music before the advent of Tonal Harmony? Take hold of Guido's Hand and open your horizons to the visions of the Gamut, Mutation, and Modes. What strange new world is this?

Discover the beauties of the dance of court and country from the height of the Renaissance to the Baroque and beyond. Learn characteristic step sequences, rhythms, and forms, as we explore pavans, galliards, bourrées, minuets, country dances, and cotillons, while also considering their social meaning and context. Learn to move with energy and elegance with dance leader Graham Christian, or join dance musician Jack Ashworth to accompany the movement. As dancer or player, you will expand your understanding of the dance forms that grounded so much of the music we play. No prior dance experience necessary.