Welcome to UAB Early Music

This blog is beginning of the new UAB Early Music Group. This group is open to both UAB students as well as members of the Birmingham community who are interested in performing and learning about early music. Each year we will plan between one and two concerts of a variety of repertoire for variety of instrument combinations.
So what exactly does the term early music mean? To some people this may mean music of the Middle Ages or possibly the Renaissance; however, from another perspective most of the music we tend to generically categorize as 'classical music' is early music. I don't know about you but Wagner has been dead for nearly 130 years—that seems like pretty early music to me. For this group I tend to think that music that spans from the Middle Ages to the Classical Period (roughly from 450 to 1800) would best qualify as early music. For me this is a judgement call and as a performer I generally tend to classify anything as early music whenever the original performance practices may have been significantly altered or abandoned over time.
The Early Music Group is open to any and all performers. In an idea world every performer would have a historical instrument at disposal, but for our purposes using a modern instrument will be considered perfectly acceptable. For example, brass players do not necessary need to have a crumhorn or a sackbut; guitarists do not need to have a lute or theorbo; and a pianist doesn't need to go out and buy a harpsichord. Fortunately, UAB has recently acquired a set of Baroque recorders that would be well suited for almost all periods of music we will perform.
What is required to take part in this group? You need to attend rehearsals, come with ideas, and be ready to have fun playing music that may be unfamiliar to you. In the process we will discuss various types of ornamentation, performing a figured bass, improvisation, and basic historical background of the music we are performing.
What specifically would I play and will I have enough time to do this? As most of the performers are swamped with being in multiple ensembles, work, and classes, the group is set up to let you perform as much or as little as you are able. The beauty of early music is that unlike a modern orchestra that has set parts and instrumentation, a great deal of early music didn't have specified parts. Simply put, most early ensembles were made up of whatever instruments were readily available and were open to changing parts—granted some combinations are preferred to others. You may perform in a larger consort bordering on a chamber orchestra or it might be as small duet.
If you are a wind or brass player who would want to learn how to play the recorder, we will begin meeting to have recorder lessons. Fortunately, if you play already play a wind instrument, you will find learning a recorder a relatively simple transition. As the semester proceeds and performers progress, I will be bringing in some guest clinicians to discuss more advanced recorder performance and techniques.
As of right now, first informal meeting will be after the second UAB Music Department Convocation—1:00PM August 25. I hope to see you there!