The information on these pages pertains to MEMF 2008. Class information for MEMF 2009 will be posted in Spring 2009.

Class Information

The week-long class schedule appears first. Descriptions are listed below. Click by a class time to jump to that section of descriptions.

MEMF 2008 Class Schedule

MEMF 2008 Class Descriptions

EARLY MORNING CLASSES
8:30am – 9:30am

BAGPIPES: Wake-Up Bagpipes!   (Joan Kimball)
Intermediate level instruments
 The class will cover a review of basic techniques, spend time on how to grace gracefully, and explore new repertoire. 

CONTINUO: "Mastering Handel's Bass lines":  High Baroque Continuo (David Morris and Barbara Weiss)
Intermediate to advanced players
Bass-instrument players work with keyboard players in a skill-building class designed to give performers the tools to shape any baroque bass line.  Open to cellists, violists da gamba, bassoonists and double-bass players.

Double Reeds:  Beginning/Intermediate Technique for Renaissance Double Reeds (Bob Wiemken)
Beginning to intermediate players of open double reed instruments
Interested in starting shawm or dulcian, or returning to it after years of being away, or just wanting to review the basics of playing these predecessors of the oboe and bassoon and brush up on your skills? Then join us for this class that will take nothing for granted and answer most of your questions about double reed playing  and put you on the path toward attaining a solid technique on these wonderful, but challenging, Renaissance instruments.  (Must have own instrument and reeds. Instructor can supply some reeds, if need is known well enough in advance of the festival.)

HARPSICHORD: Techniques (Adam Pearl)
Intermediate to advanced players

SACKBUT: Sackbut Techniques (Greg Ingles)
Intermediate and advanced players
This technique class is suitable for sackbut players of all levels.  Topics of discussion will include articulation, tone production and quality, breathing techniques and exercises, phrasing and warm-up routines specifically for the sackbut.  Daily group reading sessions will be included as well as an option for some assigned work to be developed individually throughout the course.

LUTE: Continuo (Richard Stone)
Beginning, intermediate, and advanced lutes
Practical and theoretical instruction for improvising continuo on lute (renaissance and baroque tunings), archlute and theorboes, for all levels. Emphasis is on a contrapuntal approach to playing from figured bass, appropriate musical gesture. Students should bring their repertoire to play in class and, if possible, with the ensemble they are accompanying. Each in-class performance will form the basis for coaching, appropriate to level, from which we’ll derive more universal theoretical and practical ideas about continuo playing. Students should bring staff (and, if required, tablature) paper to class. We will discuss rudiments of 2- and 3-part baroque counterpoint, so comfort reading treble and bass clefs, along with a knowledge of harmonic and melodic intervals should be considered prerequisites. 

VOICE: Technique Class (Cheryl Bensman Rowe)
Intermediate to advanced singers
Warm up your voices for the day using the vocal exercises of Pier Francesco Tosi, (1646-1732) the singing master of 18th century England.  Handel duets and trios will be sung after the warm up to employ the techniques learned in the Tosi exercises.

CONDUCTING:  Issues in Baroque Music (Paul Flight)

DANCE: A Minuet "For the Improvement of Dancing." (Julie Andrijeski)
Dancers with some experience
Maximum:  12 participants
Violin or recorder accompaniment desired
Step into Mr. Pemberton's school of dance to learn a popular minuet, "The Most Innocent Divertive Part of the Entertainment of Publick Dancings."  This is an enjoyable way to learn and apply the rudiments of baroque dance notation.  Each dancer is responsible for his/her individual part.

VIOLIN and VIOLA: Baroque Violin and Viola Master Class (Emlyn Ngai)
Advanced players
Maximum:  8 participants
This class provides the opportunity to perform, receive instruction, and discuss string performance practice issues in a relaxed class setting.  Players may perform any repertoire, accompanied or unaccompanied, from 17th and 18th centuries.  For the benefit of other participants, please provide 3 copies of the basso continuo part/score of your repertoire.  Participants are encouraged to prepare more than one work and to play more than once in class during the Festival week.  If time permits, improvisation exercises based on La Follia, La Romanesca and others will be introduced.

REED MAKING: Class for Oboists (Debra Nagy)
Basic reedmaking and staple making.

MID-MORNING CLASSES 9:45am – 10:45am

VOICE: Vocal Technique Class for Men (Aaron Sheehan)
Intermediate and advanced singers

TRUMPET: Baroque Trumpet Techniques (Kris Kwapis)
Intermediate to advanced players

RECORDERS: 17th Century Dances, Intradas, and Fantasias (Joan Kimball) Intermediate to advanced players
Repertoire will include English and German works by Brade, Schein, Scheidt, and others. 

RECORDER: Recorder Techniques and Master Class (Marion Verbruggen)
Advanced players

GAMBA: Consorts and Technique Class (David Morris)
Intermediate to advanced players

CELLO: Master Class (Rebecca Humphrey)
Intermediate to advanced players
An opportunity for cellists to strengthen their solo skills.  Participants bring a solo piece of their own choosing (e.g. Vivaldi sonatas and concerti, Leo concerti, DeFesch, Telemann, and solos from Handel's operas and oratorios) and receive coaching and feedback.  

STRINGS: 16th- and 17th-Century Violin Technique and Repertory (David Douglass)
Beginning, intermediate, & advanced violins, violas, and cellos (we call them Bass Violins)
We will discuss the origins and uses of the violin family from its beginning to changes in the 17th century that initiated the advent of Baroque technique.  We will work on early technique, with regard to the connections between technique and style, focusing on the performance of dance music.  Modern instruments are welcome, but gut strings (available at the workshop) are strongly recommended.

VIOLIN: The Art of the Violin (Robert Mealy)
Intermediate to advanced violinists
A detailed examination of baroque violin technique, using the first major treatise about violin playing.  Handel's friend and London colleague Francesco Geminiani published a remarkably detailed guide about how to play the violin.  We'll work our way through Geminani's inventive, imaginative exercises for improving your technique, and enjoy his colorful and entertaining writing on aesthetics and performance practice.  

VOICE: Master Class for Advanced Singers (Ellen Hargis with John Chappell Stowe)
For advanced singers
Relaxed, supportive master class for advanced singers.  Solo English vocal music 1600 - Handel and contemporaries welcome.  Please bring 3 copies of each piece you'd like to sing, as well as a translation of anything not in English. 

BAROQUE FLUTE: Technique and Master Class (Gwyn Roberts)
All levels except total beginners
A balanced blend of technique and sound work, group playing, problem-solving and relaxed master class for baroque flute players at all levels except total beginner. Bring your questions and challenges as well as your current solo repertoire. A=415.

BAROQUE OBOE:  Technique and Master Class (Debra Nagy)
All levels
 There would be the possibility of having one or two (of my personal instruments) available for loan. Any repertoire is acceptable, but works by Handel, or other oboists/composers in Handel's London circle (such as Babell, Sammartini, Vincent, Tessarini, Castrucci) are especially encouraged. Improvised ornamentation and elements of rhetoric will also be discussed. Arrangements of Handel arias from opera and oratorio may be introduced as well.

LATE MORNING CLASSES 11:00 am – 12:00pm

Select one of the beginning classes or the lecture series.

Beginning Recorder Class (Priscilla Smith)
Alto recorders preferable, but other sizes are welcome. Simple technique work on articulation and breathing, and nice, simple repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque.  Plastic alto recorders will be for sale through Honeysuckle Music, which is on site at MEMF.

Beginning Voice Class (Rachel Edie Warrick)
Learn basic vocal techniques to improve your singing. Good posture and breathing correctly will help create an easier tone production.

Beginning Viola Da Gamba Class (To be announced)
Learn how to play the viol, including the basics of left-hand technique, graceful bowing style,  and sensitive listening while playing in consort. This course is intended for those who have not studied viol previously. If possible, please bring a treble or bass viol. A limited number of viols will be available for rental during the festival. Call 608-263-6670 for information about instrument rental.

Lecture Series:

Sunday July 13: “The Visual Arts in Handel's Time”  (Gail Geiger)
Monday, July 14: “’..it must be the famous young Saxon, or the Devil...’: A Glimpse of Mr. Handel at the Keyboard”)    (John Chappell Stowe)
Tuesday, July 15: “Stage Beauty:  Style and Substance in Baroque Opera” (Ellen Hargis)
Wednesday, July 16: “Telemann and Handel: A Lifelong Friendship”   (Jeanne Swack)
Thursday, July 17: "Dance in European Courts and Theatres ca.1700”    (Julie Andrijeski)

Notes on lecture series: 

The lectures on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday will be repeated as shortened pre-concert lecture those same evenings at 6:30 pm.  Additional lectures are scheduled at other times during the festival week.

EARLY AFTERNOON CLASSES    1:30 – 3:00 pm
SMALL ENSEMBLES

Cantatas and Chamber Music of Handel (Debra Nagy, Marion Verbruggen, Emlyn Ngai, David Morris, Rebecca Humphrey, John Chappell Stowe)
Advanced instruments and voices
Coached one-on-a-part chamber ensembles focusing on works of Handel. Pieces selected are dependent on enrollment. Pre-existing ensembles welcome, or ensembles will be determined based on participants.
Instrumental: Concerti Grossi; Trio Sonatas; Theater Music; excerpts from Water Music or Fireworks Music
Cantatas: Mi Palpita il Cor or Tra le fiamme

17th Century Geistliche Konzerten (Greg Ingles)
Intermediate and advanced instruments and voices
The focus of this course will be the colorful sacred German chamber works that evolved over a century into the cantata.  We will explore some of the masterworks of Schütz, Scheidt, Schein, Ahle and Hammerschmidt and discuss phrasing and ensemble issues for the various combinations needed for each piece.  This course is appropriate for vocalists of all ranges as well as violins, recorders, sackbuts, dulcian and continuo instruments. 

Renaissance Loud Band (Bob Wiemken and Joan Kimball)
Intermediate/advanced players of shawms, dulcians, and sackbuts. 
Depending on the numbers and abilities of the class participants, we will divide the class into appropriately graded ensembles, but also do some larger works for all involved.  Pitch will be A-440.  The Renaissance loud band or wind ensemble combining reeds and brass survived will into the early and middle Baroque in various parts of Europe.  Players of shawms, dulcians, and sackbuts were not entirely put out of a job by the arrival of the new oboes and bassoons.  This class will look at music for these town bands in Handel’s Germany and England in the late 16th and 17th centuries. 

Handel's Nine German Arias (Gwyn Roberts and Richard Stone with Cheryl Bensman Rowe)    
Advanced singers, treble instruments and continuo
A class for singers, treble instruments (violin, flute, oboe, etc.) and continuo (harpsichord, gamba, cello, bassoon, continuo lutes) at an advanced level. 
The German arias, meditations on the beauty in nature as expressions of the divine, stand apart from the rest of Handel's vocal music and are as close as he came to creating a song cycle. Handel set Brockes' lovely and evocative poetry with great specificity,  weaving the vocal and instrumental lines together into a balanced texture that most resembles a trio sonata with words. Participants in this class will prepare arias and perform for each other, delving into questions of text, meaning, word painting, interaction between instrument and voice, continuo and instrumentation.  SINGERS:  Please prepare one or two of the arias prior to the workshop.   
Recommended edition: Breitkopf, Neun Deutschen Arien

The Trumpet Shall Sound: Handel’s Arias with Trumpet (Kris Kwapis and Paul Rowe)
Voices and instruments.  All levels accepted
This class will be an excellent opportunity for participants to explore the arias that Handel wrote with obbligato trumpet parts.  Repertoire can include favorite “hits” such as “The Trumpet Shall Sound” from Messiah and “Let the Bright Seraphim!” from Samson, although there are many other lesser known options that are equally thrilling.  This class is appropriate for all trumpet players and singers in addition to continuo instruments.

Improvisations on English Country Dances (David Douglass)
Beginning, intermediate, and advanced violins, violas, and cellos (bass violins);
also harpsichord (1) and plucked string instruments: lutes, guitars, harps, citterns, etc.
We will learn country dances, both their tunes and underlying harmonies, in order to perform them improvisationally as an ensemble.  No previous experience in improvisation is required, only an attitude of fearlessness.  The ability to learn from one’s mistakes in a supportive atmosphere is encouraged, toward the goal of engaging fun.

Text First:  Declamation and Continuo Technique in Handel (Adam Pearl & Aaron Sheehan)
Intermediate and advanced continuo and voices
This class will focus on the declamation of text for singers, and how Continuo players can highlight the phrasing, accents, and meaning of the text, resulting in a cohesive presentation of the music.  All continuo instruments welcome – harpsichord, lutes, bowed basses.  Singers please bring arias/songs and/or recitative of Handel or Purcell.

Baroque Gesture and Recitative in Opera Scenes (Ellen Hargis and Barbara Weiss)
Advanced voices and harpsichords
Learn the basics of baroque gesture, an essential tool for interpreting recitative in Handel's operas and oratorios.  We'll work on short scenes as well as recitatives that precede arias.  Certain works will be assigned and sent out in advance; you may also bring repertoire to work on in class.

MID-AFTERNOON CLASSES    3:15 – 5:00 pm (Paul Flight and Robert Mealy)
ALL FESTIVAL REHEARSAL
Rehearsals for the final All Festival Concert on Saturday, July 19.

LATE AFTERNOON CLASSES    5:15 – 6:00 pm (Julie Andrijeski)
Historical Dance
Baroque Dance for All  
This dance class for all levels provides a perfect end to a long day of (sedentary?) concentration. Class begins each day with a few stretches to work out the kinks and then proceeds with typical Baroque dances.   All levels welcome!  Instrumentalists are welcome to play for the class!