Medieval Math Music feat. Adam Neely | Team Recorder

Adam Neely and I get into rhythmic math FUN with polyrhythms, polypulses, and medieval/renaissance music! Can we play it though..?
The music we talk about:
'Le Ray au Soleyl' by Johannes Ciconia
Get the score: team-recorder.myshopify.com/c...
'Miserere' by Nathaniel Giles
Score: www.academia.edu/39658803/Nat...
'Salvator Mundi' by Nathaniel Giles
The excerpts of this score in the video have been blurred out due to a copyright claim.
View an alternative example of this bar here: www.dropbox.com/s/hh0m03ah7t1...
/// TIMESTAMPS
00:26 bass vs. recorder
01:18 what's the deal with medieval music?
03:54 piece nr. 1: le ray au soleyl
05:52 polyrhythm vs. polypulse
10:03 piece nr. 2: miserere
16:46 piece nr. 3: salvator mundi
17:28 nested tuplets
22:56 composer call out
/// LINKS
Adam's channel: / adamneely
Adam's socials: @its_adamneely
Thanks to Jordan Alexander Key, he has done so much scholarship on this topic that was super helpful with this video: www.jordanalexanderkey.com
//////
Website: www.sarahjeffery.com
Tiktok / instagram / twitter: @team_recorder
//// ONLINE COURSE!
Check out my online courses for recorder players: sarahjeffery.com/Online-Course
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[@bernardosantos8020]

Now you just need a viola player and then you can form a trio with the three most bullied instrument ever

[@sarahjefferysecondchannel1340]

Yesssss calling ThatViolaKid

[@bernardosantos8020]

@@sarahjefferysecondchannel1340 that would be magical

[@digitig]

What, no accordion? No banjo?

[@tristanbass-krueger7195]

The trio makes it a triangle ie. the number one most bullied instrument.

[@TheGotoGeek]

@@digitig Viola jokes make banjo jokes look kind.

[@Richard_Jones]

I have never seen Adam so out of his depth. Its brilliant.

[@arendstunes1891]

23:47 "If you WRITE a polyrhythm, you better be able to play it just as well as you expect your players to play it! Because otherwise, you're just writing equations and expecting people to make them music" Yeah, you tell 'em Adam!

[@mishab4065]

Nice Giles callout

[@AidanMmusic96]

Freaking yes. #ferneyhough

That's exactly why I started this series (kzbin.info/aero/PLqe8ITprxxnzT_sxknpZETMgB_srqa_QD by now in spanish but I'm working on the english CC) to be able to play the polyrhythms cause I want to write music with polyrhythms and also to teach other people how to do it so they can play my music :)

[@dionysusomurchadha3795]

Don't agree. Writing and playing music are not the same.

[@paulwomack5866]

Isn't that last bit the very basis of some minimalist music?

[@NN-zg5bz]

Listening at this as a non musician is like standing on the ocean shore, thinking it looks kinda neat, and then Adam and Sarah ambles up to you enthusiasticly waving pictures of strange plancton and crazy deep sea monsters and you get all fuzzy headed with excitement

[@flutechannel]

Love the sliding piano cameo! Great video Sarah and Adam! Bravo!

[@AndruJorj]

This is a crossover I hadn't expected, but welcome with open ears!

[@TAP7a]

They both nailed the feeling of looking at the music and shifting from “oh this is fine” to “this is no longer fine teacher please help”

[@Team_Recorder]

Hi Team, unfortunately I had to blur out one of the musical examples due to a copyright claim. You can view a non-copyright version of this musical example at the link below. Sorry for the extra trouble everyone, I hope you can still enjoy the video 😘 www.dropbox.com/s/hh0m03ah7t1bo8u/Giles%20Salvator%20Mundi%20-%20bar%2057%20example.png?dl=0

[@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug]

We really need to replace copyright with something else. Someone that doesn't stifle creativity

[@RolandHutchinson]

@@SteinGauslaaStrindhaug In the meantime I'd say that we need find a way to impose penalties on rights owners who repeatedly issue frivolous claims against clear cases of fair use such as this one.

[@jtbsax]

Copyright claim on a 400 year old piece of music. Seems reasonable.

[@Scoots1994]

@@jtbsax That was my first thought too.

[@Team_Recorder]

@@RolandHutchinson I think it complies with fair use too... but there are a lot of copyright strikes and even full channel take-downs happening on KZbin at the moment, and I couldn't risk losing my channel and livelihood over one bar! Thanks all for understanding!

[@BigBadWolframio]

Hey! About the white delays: In some languages, including French, we don’t call notes by fraction names. A “white note” is what you call a half note… Perhaps that’s what they meant? A delay that lasts a half note.

[@BrightBlueJim]

ah, I see, then a quarter note is a black note, as in, the note body is filled in in black, rather than unfilled white.

[@BigBadWolframio]

@@BrightBlueJim Yes, exactly :D I get confused with anglosaxon names (English, German, Dutch, etc.), although it's very mathematical and makes sense. I wonder if it helps in the firsts years of music study 🤔 In most romance languages the names of the figures are related to their shape instead of their duration: round (the I've that lasts the double of a half note, white (half note), black (quarter note), croche (eighth note. It resembles a hook, croche in FR). Smaller duration figures' names vary even more among Romance languages.

[@BrightBlueJim]

@@BigBadWolframio LOL! I asked myself, if a quarter note is a black note, and a half note is a white note, then what is a whole note? A round? (But I would never have guessed what an eighth note would be called!)

[@BigBadWolframio]

@@BrightBlueJim Haha, good intuition! 🎶

[@quidestveritas]

This is what I thought too. The black and white note thing goes back to the Renaissance and probably earlier so it seems possible

[@thetruemorg]

18:54 that moment when you break Adam Neely. Growing up I played concert base in a baroque orchestra by using much More modern instruments. I remember our instructor brought in a piece from the medieval time period. Sight reading it broke our brains. Four or five days of practice and our instructor figured that they had actually been teaching it wrong, which was a first for any of us to see, and we actually just put it aside. The next year for my music theory class I spent the entire time obsessed with that one little piece of sheet music getting it down to a three four time and we performed it. It was in the back of my head for almost 2 full years is a late teen and probably total we played less than 2 minutes but nothing made me understand how little I understood or will ever understand about music then that piece. Also for those two years my brain was broken exactly the way that Adam Neely was. Several head injuries later I don't remember the exact piece but it was done by Paolo de fire or fireza... Head injuries have also taken away most of my playing ability so I get to watch these videos and love on them for part of my mind that doesn't work anymore.

[@Luan.Augusto]

Paolo da Firenze, most probably ;)

[@spittalmusic]

Adam the bass guy in awe of a recorder player. The hierarchy of cool is once more set to rights. Well done both, just for being musical mathematical mystical geniuses.

[@cbrohawn96]

Funny Adam mentioned being reminded of Steve Reich’s pieces that incorporated phasing. It’s worth mentioning that Reich actually composed a vocal work called Tehillim, a setting of selections from Hebrew Psalms, that is directly influenced by medieval and Renaissance music with rhythmic concepts like this.

[@BrightBlueJim]

Phasing is what I see when I'm sitting in a left turn lane, and my turn signal runs slightly faster than that of the car in front of me.

[@flyingmolamola]

Love Steve Reich, I saw one of first performances for “Electric Counterpoint” and I immediately fell in love with it!!

[@jcortese3300]

OMFG you and Adam Neely! This is off the charts fantastic!!!!! And you know, even in science what we think of people of the past is wrong. Yes, science has progressed, but a lot of people think that in the medieval period, they got a lot of stuff wrong because they were basically stupid. They weren't -- they were as brilliant as any modern scientist. There's just only so much you can get right when you have no access to basic things like microscopes and telescopes. So if you read for example, Hildegard of Bingen's medical/botanical encyclopedia, a lot of it is wrong by today's scientific standards, but it's still brilliant for her time. She reached the broadest, most intelligent and well-reasoned conclusions anyone ever could have in that time period with what access to evidence they had. In music, and in science, people were not dumber, they were just limited by their technology and as just as capable and driven to push their tools as far as they could, exactly as we do now.

[@xyzyzx1253]

We stand on the shoulders of giants :)

[@ankavoskuilen1725]

Well said, J Cortese!!!!! I totally agree.

[@anhthiensaigon]

people knew the earth was round and could even calculate its diameter pretty close (error is just as large as your eyeball compared to your height) centuries before jesus was born.

[@jcortese3300]

@@anhthiensaigon Yes -- where they had the evidence available to them, they could get the right answer. Where they didn't have reliable evidence, they didn't suddenly get stupid. They just made the best stab at the answer they could.

[@gumbilicious1]

I find some older contributions to be even more impressive because of the rudimentary tools and more limited models/maths they had to work with. Kepler deriving his laws of planetary motion by hand from years of observations by teams of astronomers. That is dedication. Sure his hypothesis on how these laws derived from nested Platonic solids seems silly now (though his laws were used as the basis for Newton’s work that is often considered the foundation of modern science), the observations and mathematical derivations themselves are astonishing considering what he had to work with. There are many other similar examples as well

[@mykhedelic6471]

I am so pleased. When I got a job where I was making a little more money than my usual retail wages, I started buying up a bunch of instruments to mess with and record with. I was interested in the recorder and found this channel in my research and was highly intrigued and entertained. I didn't really fall down the KZbin rabbit hole until I found Adam Neely. 4 years of so later worlds collide and I am smashed. Best. Day. Ever.

[@TenorCantusFirmus]

Sarah Jeffery and Adam Neely together in just one video. That's the kind of content the Internet needs.

[@pedrohbrinck]

My two favorite youtubers together. This is a dream come true. Sarah and Adam... please do more!

[@raifaustino]

general enthusiastic babbling is an universal language. Great video!

[@davidlove236]

I loved this “suitably nerdy” video! I learned so much, not only about Medieval and Renaissance music but musical terminology in general.

[@matiasmarquez4861]

This is one of the best musical crossovers i've ever seen. Team Bass/Recorder ftw

[@FifiLeCat]

THIS. I didn’t know how truly nerdy I am until minute 24 and I was sad to realize the vid was almost over. @Its_AdamNeely nailed so much when he challenged composers to solve the equation (Sarah’s words). What a great way to go into a thoughtful + feeling music weekend. Thank you @Team_Recorder!

[@mdunkman]

For more music like this, the channels “Early Music Sources” and “I Fagiolini” are excellent.

[@millenniumtree]

My recorder crush and my bass crush in the same roooooom! *swoon* Great video! Mind has melted, but, it must be great because I hurt from smiling!

[@scathatch]

Sounds very jazzy when you sing it along with Adam's finger clicks.

[@sudogiri]

Listening to you both chatting so freely is so coo... I don't know, I just felt like throwing that out here. Thanx for this incredibly nerdy yet lighthearted video 💕 It made me want to play my recorder sooo bad

[@sarahjefferysecondchannel1340]

Play ittttttt

[@Marcus-ym2kg]

You should sing Sarah! Sounds like you've got a great singing voice! Oh and.... Adam "repetition legitimizes" Neely crossover 😲

[@christophertsiliacos8958]

She not only sings, but she plays other musical instruments. 👍 😉

[@gustenisfeldt6976]

Based on the organist I know, I wouldn't be surprised if Giles played all voices by himself as a past time...

[@henningmogensen9144]

two of my three favorite music youtubers together, wow. I didn't understand much, but you two really clicked. Hopefully there will be more?

[@FirefliesFlute]

Awesome awesome video! More please!! The combination of Sarah and Adam is amazing. Two amazing musicians with completely diverse and complementary backgrounds. So much to learn from you two, so inspiring!

[@mixbaal0]

I just realized this is amazing, young people chilling and doing old music!!! These magic times we're living. Wow!!!

[@felipeitoanuatti]

Wow, that syncopated clave (eighth note, quarter note, eighth note) is the bread and butter of many Brazilian genres

[@hetmanjz]

14:23 "I'm going to be following you, bass-ically." ...

[@boblob2003]

Jazzers would be interested to investigate 16th century basso continuo accompaniment. "Jazz comping" was invented a long time ago!

[@christopherstube9473]

Very very interesting. It reminds me of an evening when my father a composer showed me a recording of a gamelan orchestra and pointed out that the pulses in it lined up only once in the composition they were playing. Gamelan is inherently percussive in nature, so polyrhythms are a natural place of exploration. I tend to be partial to the village gamelan orchestras on Bali, but there is one resident in Washington DC through the Indonesian embassy.

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

Looks you had a lot of fun :D It was very cool to see how you approached this very complex and old music as professional musicians of today.

[@OscarRuiz-gj3mp]

Two of my ab-fab KZbin Musical personalities in one Vid! Oh my!!! What a way to start the day.....Thanx!

[@tom_4615]

This video makes me feel like I’ve never attended a music lesson in my life

[@arendstunes1891]

love the comparison with "phasing"

[@biggumsclips1560]

They banged in a complicated math rhythm shortly after... 🤩

[@filharmonix]

Wow! There's a lot more to medieval music than I realized. At times you both lost me, but it's cool to see that there were some crazy music nerds back then too.

[@anthonysandle5055]

I can't believe this! Two of my favourite youtubers, and I had no idea that they even knew each other.

[@DavidWickes]

OMFG dream team. Bass (recorder).

[@BarbaraMarieLouise]

What I learned is that before the invention of our harmonic system (around Bach), people didn’t listen to harmonies but to melodies. So this practice makes totally sense if you know this.

[@elliem.8537]

Ultimate collab right here

[@rasm0225]

6:32 oh sure, Adam can meme out with the 7/11 time, but give him a poly pulse and he falls apart. I’m kidding. Big fan of both channels! So glad you got together. I’m really hoping you play the licc together by the end.

[@Team_Recorder]

The licc but as a prolation canon

[@jordanbradford7729]

@@Team_Recorder Here you go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y6Hai5SHn9Rrb7s

[@The73rdSecret]

@@jordanbradford7729 your video needs more views

[@Mustakrakish1123]

I tried liking this twice and it didn't work out, so I liked it 3 times. To be fair that's where I should have started.

[@Yo_ca_va]

thank you for talking about medieval musics, we don't speak enough about medieval musics, medieval musics are really cool and interesting. I enjoy medieval musics very much. I study musicology in a college where medieval musics are a really important point, and I'm glad to because before this I had no idea how cool it could be

[@user-uz7gb7gb4v]

Oh wow! What an exciting collab! And on the same day that Early Music Sources posted a video, too. This is shaping up to be a great Friday 😊

[@francissadleir9805]

This is incredible. Thank you Sarah and Adam.

[@brandonhenderson9118]

I love that you blew "The Nerd's" mind. It was fun to see Adam's excitement. Great video!!!

[@MadMusician1412]

The collab I never thought I would see: My two favourite music youtubers together. Amazing

[@TheIskender101]

I’m absolutely needing out right now!! Loved this collab, and such interesting material! 💖

[@idraote]

Oh, dear, this is wild! Adam Neely and Sarah... Not to mention that the e-bass and the recorder sound surprisingly good together. Not heavenly good, perhaps, but way better than I would have thought. And the nerdiness of this video really went through the roof. I think I understood about one third of the concepts but I'm still ecstatic. This is a collaboration that needs to happen again... pretty please?

[@ninjaaron]

E-bass sounds good with everything, just about. Every melody is better with a strong foundation!

[@astridposey]

all instruments can sound good together. i think what you're referring to is blending: do the instruments have similar tonal qualities? yes. they will blend well. but you can have a musical saw and a kalimba sounds good together, if the players are proficient enough

[@fluffernutter9420]

THIS DUO?? ICONIC.

[@ErnieJ89]

I’ve been a fan of both of you for years! Awesome seeing this collab!

[@sam_bamalam]

This was absolutely perfect for y’all.

[@miki890098]

OMG I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS COLLAB FOR SO LONG YES

[@BirthQuakeRecords]

Omgggggg I am so stoked for this crossover. I didn’t know I needed this.

[@HenryPh_am]

OMG Team Recorder and Adam ???? XDXDXD I’m so excited!!!

[@LHQM6875]

I had to do a double take when I saw this on my feed!

[@reymondavellana7367]

Next stop: TwoSet Violin!

[@mrs.brunke443]

A great topic! Very enjoyable to listen to the explanations and the discussions and then the instrumental realization of what we're seeing.

[@ChrisWaigl]

This is great - two of the best music KZbinrs. I'm a big fan of both of you.

[@Felipekimst]

This guy is here!

[@chorabari]

I enjoy singing late medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary music so I really enjoyed this conversation.

[@jermotter]

Adam Neely singlehandedly keeping the deep V in style

[@prarobinson]

I love this so much! Never expected to see you both in the same video.. It's like a really good dream :) And such excellent material!!

[@ryanaiden]

This was absolutely amazing. Each day I get closer and closer to convincing myself I can afford and need a lute. Just so I can play some of this medieval goodness 👌🏼

[@edelcorrallira]

Man I love both channels... But I couldnt foresee just how incredibly awesome a collab between you could be ! Long live music nerdiness :)

[@Ivan_1791]

I remember getting so fascinated with Ars Subtilior music that I decided to compose a piece in that style. No doubt it was one of the most refreshing experiences I have had when it comes to creating music.

[@IronDugi]

It's just mindblowing to feel rhythm in such manner.. I Never thought of that!

[@ramimadanat7512]

Love this collaboration

[@domsusefulstuff]

Well this is a dream come true in at least three different ways! Thank you for a fun video I can watch a dozen times and keep finding new stuff to think about 🙂

[@anthonybaird1]

I wish I could like this more than once! The crossover I never knew I needed!

[@JantzBlackMusic]

Two of my favorite quarantine worlds collided in a most unexpected and delightful way. ❤️

[@lunadinkelberg6381]

I really liked your editing style the notes and explanations help understanding and the collages / memes (like the inception one) help maintaining the fun and light atmosphere

[@limao.jericao]

feels like i was born for this crossover

[@katam6471]

Now THIS is my kind of nerdery. And such a good collab - please give us some more!

[@lucasvo4819]

I adore this collab

[@shaggymattrocks]

Of all the youtube collabs i have seen, this is one i expected the least. Amazing.

[@angelapianomusicstudio3816]

Definitely hoping the two of you collaborate again. Awesome video!

[@ornleifs]

Loved this - I'm so fascinated by Polyrhythms so this was such a Treat.

[@AngelM158]

Its such a joy to watch your videos. Such a master musician.🎶❤🎶

[@Jinkaza1882]

I guess I lucked up having a medievalist as a music history teacher and that sparking my love for it. Great vid.

[@ChazzsLoFiMusic]

What a cool and eclectic collab. of two masters! Amazing!

[@willemkossen]

That was just awesome! Thanks, made my day!

[@wonderfalls2]

What an interesting video! Very cool to see you collaborate with Adam as well.

[@daniellopesvdematos8412]

Wonderful to see both together. Vice nice and instructive video.

[@tad449]

Amazing stuff thank you!

[@ajillianmiles]

Love seeing these guys nerding out on music

[@Depressed_Dinosaur]

This was great! I could have sworn I heard "slow jazz" during much of the polyphony. Thank you Sarah! (and Adam).

[@amj.composer]

This was AMAZING. I'm so awestruck

[@zkat_masquerave]

Loved this!

[@RonaldSVM]

This is so cool... I'm addicted to both your channels :)

[@carringtonpilon1310]

19:58 “I get to 1750 and I’m like Bach’s dead. Bye!” I have replayed this moment so many times, I can’t stop laughing by how much I relate (as a clarinet player who adores Bach). **Edited for the time stamp**

[@LHQM6875]

Lol! I laughed too. For me it's something like 'I get to 1764, Rameau's dead. Bye!' Of course it's not quite completely true, but yeah...

[@mirabilos]

@@LHQM6875 Händel too, around that time. Baroque is peak music. Beethoven and Mozart were the beginning of the downfall of music.

[@fernandodanielmele7772]

Great video, Sarah. Many thanks.

[@allanmuller3486]

I remember being in the chorus for that Ives symphony where one movement (blessedly not tot choral one) was in 4 different time signatures. We had the conductor beating two of them and the head percussionist beating the other two -- wild.

[@carlos.arenas]

I'm so happy to see this! :D

[@mossbanksy]

Wow! You've out-nerded Adam Neely! Respect.

[@grieske]

This was awesome!

[@Fretfeeler]

I love Polyrhythms, I use a lot of African, Cuban, Baroque, Classical, Jazz, Blues, and Rock and other influences on Percussion, Recorder, Bass, Guitar, Keys, whatever. This is good stuff

[@nevarmaor]

This was great. It belies the common modern chauvinism that humans in the past were not as smart as us.