[Fwd: minstrel: Verceppe]

[muselaw at tidalwave.net]

Greetings Milady and the list,

I will look through my files to see if I can identify this ballo for
you, and to see if I can give you a reliable set of progressions (though
I am not sure that music this early can be quantified with chord changes
in a reliable way).  I can help with the notation for those who may not
be familiar with this:

>  The music changes time signatures ever 4 to 6 measures.

It is probably because there are hemiolas (emblematic of Italian dance
music of the 16thC into the 17thC) such as a switch from a binary
primary meter with a ternary secondary meter (eg 6/8 time), to a ternary
primary meter with a binary secondary meter ( eg 3/4 time).
 
 I noticed
> that there is always
>         a big circle above the 3/4 time signature

This is Renaissance notation for "ternary primary, duple secondary"
meter (=3/4) time signature.  There is a circle but it is empty, unlike
the meter below. 

>         a big C with a dot in the center above 6/8 signature

This is the notation for binary primary, ternary secondary (=6/8). There
is only a half circle (binary), but there is a dot (ternary).

>         a big C with no dot above 2/4.

This is binary primary (half circle), binary secondary (no dot).

It is customary to teach musicology students that because of an analogy
to the perfection of the Trinity, ternary meters were referred to as
perfect, binary as imperfect--you'll sometimes see that terminology.

Hope this helps.

In Service,

Yehudit bat Natan, called Giuditta
Storvik

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