Hello everyone,
Not too long ago I put together an arrangement for a song written in 1535. Yes, I know it’s a very old song, but I find myself gravitating to music of the past to appreciate its foreignness and peculiar style. I wanted to share a few words about the piece, providing some historical context and some insight on what I did to make my arrangement original.
To start, I think it’s important to know that ‘pavane’ is actually a type of music that is associated with a certain dance. With their origins being in Italy in the 1500-1600s these pieces were very characteristic of the time and place. They use slow tempos, simple dance rhythms (duple or triple meters), and would most often be played at a ceremonial or processional type event.
The terms pavane, saraband, gigue, prelude, allemand, and others are all used by different composers to write music of a certain variety. For instance, you can find Pavane’s by Gabriel Faure, Gaspar Sanz, and others, just as you can find preludes by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and countless others.
When I first came across the song it was in classical guitar instruction book, and I really enjoyed the style. It seemed to transport me back in time, and I thought that was very neat; it was also something so different from what I typically hear, which was captivating. This initial appreciation is what prompted me to write my own arrangement.
One element I very much appreciate about Pavane’s is that they make a large use of the counterpoint style: the blending of polyphonic ‘voices’ into a complex melodic interaction. Take for example this measure of the guitar, where there are two simultaneous.
So, when I considered writing an arrangement for guitar, piano, and cello, I drew upon some contrapuntal methods of composition. In the excerpt below, the piano (top two lines of music) waits until the third beat of the second measure to enter and then simultaneously uses two distinct rhythms, half notes in the left hand and quarter notes in the right hand, which adds melodic and harmonic depth to the section. The cello contrasts both the piano and guitar part by sustaining notes with vibrato to really cut through the mix. Notice how each instrument contrast the other with different motions (ascending and descending) and different note values (rhythms); this is a key aspect of counterpoint.
Just within these 8 seconds of music, there are 66 notes being played, which seems like a lot, but it doesn’t seem that we have lost any clarity in the overall sound even with it being this dense. By utilizing each instrument’s characteristics (its timbres, ranges, and so on), we can blend each component part in a way that each complement each other without sacrificing the clarity.
If you haven’t heard the full piece please be sure to check it out here. Hopefully, you found this article enjoyable to read. I very much appreciate everyone who takes the time to read what I have to write. You can expect more releases soon!
About the Author
Isaiah Grip is a 22 year old multi-instrumentalist composer and teacher (guitar, piano, violin, cello, and voice) out of Colorado who records and studies music independently under the name Tetra Veda, as well as collaborating with Ghostwrite Inc, and playing guitar in the progressive metal band Cloud Temple. His personal repertoire can be found on Bandcamp and YouTube under the name Tetra Veda.
This is a piece of music that you can listen to ever and over (loop). It is so beautiful! Thank you for sharing.