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