Trios For One: an experiment, a classroom and a recording

Trios for One was a classroom, an experiment, and a proof of concept all built out of the disappointment that flowed from the onset of the pandemic. To expand on this it’s good to start with the initial idea as it came to me in 2019: I’d like to record with two viol players I’d met and whose musical company I’d enjoyed. When I was living in Los Angeles I invited Arnie Tanimoto and Malachai Bandy over for an afternoon of reading music for bass viols, and to fill out the music we’d assembled for the session I printed out Thomas Morley’s Canzonets for Three Voices. The afternoon zipped by with the three of us making quick work of all the music set before us. After everyone left I felt a lot of wind in my sails, and put a pin in the idea of developing a recording project with Malachai and Arnie in 2020 when I wrapped up touring with Radical Face. Needless to say, none of that happened.

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Consort Music: Best Practices, Parameters, and Perspectives

Consort music is a conversation between musical minds, but when you’re in the midst of playing it’s hard enough to execute your part with certainty, much less to listen or speak musically to others at the same time. But it’s no wonder: we are managing the technical realities of playing the viol, often while sight reading an unfamiliar work, all while trying to expressively and intelligibly perform an often-dense polyphonic composition. Though this can feel overwhelming, below you’ll find some of my insights that have helped me organize the consort experience in a way that allows me to quickly make sense of it while enjoying myself and the music.

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