28th November 2016
Present:
Sympkyn of the Moor, hammered dulcimer
Katherine of Glastonbury, harp
Katherina Weyssin, tenor and bass recorder
William de Cameron, tenor recorder
Christine Bess Duvaunt, flute
Mikhaila von Dhaun, harp (crash course round two)
Elena Harper, rebec
Tunes played:
- Belle Qui
- Earl of Essex Measures
for warm ups and revision. Similar to last week but with different people! Bass recorder adds a nice depth to the sound and the rebec is still only droning single notes.
Then:
Revised our set of bransles : Scots, Pinagay, Washerwomans.
Most people were reasonably familiar with all three so we blatted through them individually a bit and then strung them together. Transitions are a bit fun but with a bit of practice they will come together.
It was wisely pointed out by Katherina that dancing the Washerwomans bransle requires partners, whereas the other two don't - this is a valid consideration when choosing sets that hadn't occurred to me. We might switch around next week and do Washerwomans, Pinagay, Scots for this reason... this way when playing for actual dancers the circle can be set up with partners initially and if things get chaotic later, well at least we tried, bless.