Renaissance festival music

[jazzjune18]

Howdy, my wife and I recently began playing as mando/guitar duo. We focus mainly on modern folk, some old time, and bluegrass music. Also some specific artists like Gillian welch and the civil wars. We were recently asked to play at a small Renaissance festival here in montana. We don't play a lot of music that I think would fit this mold. Closest would be some Simon and Garfunkel and a couple Irish tunes. Any suggestions from cafe members on what types of "non Renaissance" music would be acceptable? Specific songs or genres would be appreciated. Like I said, it is a small festival so I think it is partially a case of not many options for bands available.

Thanks for your help,

Mark

[Martin Jonas]

We were recently asked to play at a small Renaissance festival here in montana. We don't play a lot of music that I think would fit this mold. Closest would be some Simon and Garfunkel and a couple Irish tunes. Any suggestions from cafe members on what types of "non Renaissance" music would be acceptable?

Depends largely on the festival -- some Renaissance festivals are basically fun days for the family with a slight historic bend, others are fairly serious about authentic reconstructions. You should have a chat with the organisers as to what they expect from you. I get the impression that the festival you've been invited to comes into the "fun" category, and if so I would think you could look to play some Irish or Scottish airs (Carolan is always popular, as he fits both "Celtic" and "Renaissance") and some Child ballads, even in their Appalachian/Old Time versions. If you can work up a few Playford dances, that would work well, too. If you know any Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span songs, I would expect you can get away with them.

If you're looking to learn some authentically old tunes in accessible versions, a very good source of repertoire is Steve Hendricks' SCA music page at:

http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Hendricks/

As you're a duo, have a look partway down the page at the "Duettrio Directory". "It Was A Lover And His Lass", for example, is a familiar tune that should suit a mandolin/guitar duo.

Martin

[Beanzy]

Try a forum search for Alan Alexander that way you'll find a good bit of info about his great collections of arrangements of medieval and renaissance tunes for various instrument combinations including mandolin and guitar. Many bookshave accompanying CDs too.
His website is www.adgproductions.com

[Bob Clark]

Try a forum search for Alan Alexander that way you'll find a good bit of info about his great collections of arrangements of medieval and renaissance tunes for various instrument combinations including mandolin and guitar. Many bookshave accompanying CDs too.
His website is www.adgproductions.com

+1 on this suggestion. I have a bunch of Allan's books and really enjoy them. Try this website for his music, as well http://www.mandolinandguitar.com/

Have fun. Sounds like it could be a really enjoyable gig.

[jazzjune18]

Thanks for the suggestions YAll. I emailed the organizer for specifics. But I will say that it is definitely one of the less serious festivals. It is held at the local zoo so open to anyone attending the zoo . But thanks again to alll for the suggestions. I have some learning to do!

[Mike-D]

There is a lot of great Renaissance music out there. Much of its freely available online. Look for composers/publishers like Thoinot Arbeau, John Playford, Thomas Ravenscroft, and Michael Praetorius for starters. Great material!

Mike

[hokelore]

At Ren faires, I tend to play a lot of English Country Dance tunes, some French Country Dance tunes, and a mish-mash of other things. I've heard plenty of groups that get by at these playing Irish music. Unless you're doing comic songs or lively sing-along stuff, expect to be mostly background music.

[Bertram Henze]

You might want to enquire if medieval attire is required and get used to wearing pantyhose while playing...

[Cody Benjamin]

At Ren faires, I tend to play a lot of English Country Dance tunes, some French Country Dance tunes, and a mish-mash of other things. I've heard plenty of groups that get by at these playing Irish music. Unless you're doing comic songs or lively sing-along stuff, expect to be mostly background music.

Any examples of a few favorite English and French country dance tunes?

[Rob Meyer]

As hokelore said many bands play a mainly Irish repertoire, and my band plays a good bit of that, too. We also play songs and tunes from Scotland, England and Isle of Man. Most are 1800s, some older and some newer that sound old. We even perform a few Dougie MacLean covers. Very few bands play truly Renaissance music that I have run into. Madrigal groups also often perform Renaissance music, but that is a different kettle of fish. Folk music on interesting acoustic instruments is the modus operandi for most.
As Bertram mentioned, costuming is important and must be approved by the artistic director in our case. Looking like a performer and not a patron goes a long way in getting you noticed by patrons.

[Rob Meyer]

Forgot to give some specific examples. I'll mention a few to give you some ideas of what works at our festival: Greensleeves (of course!), Harvest Home Horpipe, Over the Waterfall, Scotch Mist, Banks of Spey, Rattlin' Bog, Morrison's Jig, Caledonia, Parting Glass, Chanter's Tune, Planxty Fanny Poer, Belfast Hornpipe, New Harp, Three Boats Went to Sea, etc... We usually arrange tunes in sets as one would at a session. As Martin said, check with the artistic director as to what is acceptable.

[JeffD]

This is what you want.

http://www.amazon.com/Mandolin-Music.../dp/B006GTUSEW

[DavidKOS]

There's a lot of medieval music that will work, too.....all the Estampies, Saltarellos, various dances, etc.

[hokelore]

Any examples of a few favorite English and French country dance tunes?

Some that I play:

French -- Bransle de Chevaux (Horse's Bransle), Bouree de Mouton, Bransle l'Officiale (the melody of Ding Dong Merrily On High)
English -- Black Nag, Hole In The Wall, Parson's Farewell, Childgrove, Nonesuch, Rufty Tufty
Italian -- La Rotta

For the sake of volume (outdoor events, after all), I usually play these on fiddle, but they sound just fine on mandolin.

[Cody Benjamin]

Thank you Rob, Jeff, David, and Hokelore for the examples!

Jeff- I have 2 of Allan Alexanders medieval mandolin book. They are absolutely phenomenal. I really, really cannot say enough good things about them. I would like to get the rest of his mandolin books and all of his guitar and lute books too.

[Martin Jonas]

Cody,

There are many good online sources for renaissance dance tunes, including English, French and Italian country dances. The most accessible is probably the Steve Hendricks' SCA music arrangements I've linked earlier in this thread:

http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/Hendricks/

There are hundreds of pieces here, including most of the well-known Arbeau, Playford, Susato and Praetorius dances. Many of these pieces work just fine as solo mandolin pieces if you simply play the top line (just about all Playford ones, for example) but if you have others to play with the additional voices make it much richer. A number of the Hendricks arrangements have chord symbols as well, so you can add a strummed or arpeggio guitar rhythm.

For a large number of simple solo pieces, mostly dances and almost all of them suitable for mandolin, see also this PDF (a conversion of an ABC file that has made the rounds for many years, originally from Richard Robinson's tunebook site):

http://www.andyhornby.net/Music/early%20music.pdf

Many of these also appear in much the same form in Allan Alexander's books, so if you like his material and want to expand your repertoire, this is a good place to look.

Martin

[Cody Benjamin]

Thanks Martin. That's quite the collection of tunes. That pdf is awesome, thanks for sharing that. I guess it's time to brush up on my sheet music reading!!!