Since
Fronimo does not do colored notes, I have tried to create a vocal part
from the
colored notes and the underlaid
text. Unfortunately,
because of the limitations of
lute tab, the duration of the vocal notes is not completely specified. Further, the text given is
fairly arbitrarily
placed under the tab and gives little guidance as to what word or
syllable goes
with which note.
Here are
some of the principles I have come up with in doing this job:
·
The general rule
in tab, stated by Dowland, amongst others, is to hold a note as long as
possible – unless it sounds bad. I
have
followed this principle. When
holding a
note results on a discord or clashes with a change in harmony, I have
put in a
rest.
·
Secondly, where
there is an obvious break in the text, the beginning of a new sentence
or
phrase or (sometimes) a repeat of a phrase, I have tended to insert a
break.
·
Thirdly, when a
rhythmic pattern is being echoed or repeated, and it contains a rest, I
put a
corresponding rest in the repeated section.
This
is a whole lot trickier. Here
are the
guidelines I have set up for myself:
·
I have tried to
assign longer note values or more notes to accented syllables.
·
Again, in a
repeated or echoed pattern, I try to do the logical thing and match the
underlay.
·
Fuenllana has a
repeat mark ( ij.
) when
phrases or words are repeated, but he doesn’t specified exactly what
words are
being repeated. Sometimes
it’s pretty
obvious; other times it’s not so obvious.
You just have to do what seems to make sense.
·
The ends of
phrases (e.g., ending in a cadence) are usually the easiest part to
underlay,
so I enter these first and work backwards to underlay the rest of the
phrases.
·
Where the music
appears to echo the meaning of one or more words (e.g., ascendit,
resurrexit, coelorum), I
try to underlay appropriately.
·
Where the same
note is repeated in the red ciphers, I usually put a different syllable
on the
second note, on the theory that if a single syllable were meant to be
sung on
the two notes, there would be a tie between them and in the tab they
would be
rendered as one note. I
figure that if
the vocal part wasn’t meant to repeat a note when the lute restrikes,
the second note could be un-colored.
I
have seen this in a few cases. However,
I realize this is a bit risky, because sometimes notes are re-struck on
the
lute to provide a kind of sustain, and sometimes when counting the
repeated
notes as separate syllables, there are simply too many notes for the
number of
syllables, so then you have to insert ties.
It’s a judgment call.
Mainly,
it’s a seat-of-the-pants thing – I do what sounds good and makes sense
to me.
I
imagine the 16th C readers of the tab would
probably know the
various masses, motets, etc. that were entabulated and so would hardly
need the
text except as a reminder. Since
I don’t
have copies of these vocal pieces, I just have to make do with the
above
principles.
If
anyone thinks there is a better way to do the text underlay, I am very
open to
suggestions or corrections.
--Sarge