The art of diminution in the 16th century

For the footnotes and other extra information see the following link:
www.earlymusicsources.com/you...
0:00:00 INTRODUCTION
0:03:15 DIMINUTION PROCESS DEMONSTRATION
0:07:50 GRAZIE / GRACES
0:10:53 IMPLICATIONS
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Created by Elam Rotem and Jacob Lawrence, July 2020.
Music examples sung by Jacob Lawrence and played by Elam Rotem.
Special thanks to Catherine Motuz, Josué Meléndez Peláez, and Anne Smith.
www.earlymusicsources.com
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[@truekingvictory]

Now THAT's how you introduce diminutions!!

[@joshuaharper372]

Very appropriate to add diminutions to the theme music.

[@Recordalig_]

@@joshuaharper372 I laughed for 10 minutes

[@mosesaguilar]

When Early Music Sources has a new video, I put my phone down, grab a cold drink, and play the video on the largest screen with the best speakers in my apartment. My neighbors don't even know my name after two years, but they could tell you that Elam Rotem is bringing some knowledge over at my place.

[@franciscoaragao5398]

How much for grapes muito bem.

[@aldencasen89]

you all probably dont give a shit but does any of you know a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb lost the password. I love any help you can give me!

[@bachagain1685]

@@aldencasen89 I can't tell. Are you a bot?

[@Sam-gx2ti]

Lucky them, they get to hear beautiful singing with diminutions!

[@keithbray9416]

I was about to say something about being early but I was shocked by the beginning tune

[@maniak1768]

This video has it all: A scientifically sound explanation of a complex subject, brilliant musical and visual presentation, a famous composer allegedly calling someone an ass and of course Chuck Norris. Who ever said that musicology wasn't friggin' AWESOME?

[@jonz.8073]

That intro piece felt like a shot of caffeine

[@ramiro_echeverria]

Jajaja

[@PcCAvioN]

As a tenor hell-bent on studying the singing of others, I am incredibly impressed by this guy. These skills I must learn

[@liquensrollant]

I can't sing for the life of me, so I'm impressed by anyone who can, but I agree that this guy is something else. I have listened to tons of vocal recordings of music from that period, and fine as they often are, rarely, if ever, do they reach his level of technical sureness.

[@artdanks4846]

I totally agree, about how good this guy is!! I wish that back in the day when I used to do some serious singing (40 + years ago), there had been such a thing as You Tube! I used to LOVE adding a lot of florid embellishments in baroque music, but really didn't understand there was such a science to it! The singer on this video does a phenomenal job!!

[@HanStanwell]

I’ve never clicked something so fast in my life

[@dbadagna]

Very well done, as always. In Chinese tradition, this is called jiāhuā (加花, "adding flowers," i.e. melodic elaboration/ornamentation), adding notes and grace notes between the main notes of a melody. The opposite process, where a melody is simplified by removing notes, just leaving the important/structural tones, is called rànglù (让路, "to make way [for others"), and both processes are used spontaneously and complementarily in the performance of traditional genres like Jiangnan sizhu (江南丝竹, silk and bamboo music of the Jiangnan region), one performer/instrument getting out of another's way if the other is perceived to be adding more elaboration, in order to keep the music flowing in a balanced way.

[@scathatch]

The Chinese are always so poetic in their description of such things.

[@dbadagna]

@@scathatch Here is a set of couplets describing Jiangnan sizhu ("silk-and-bamboo" ensemble music of the Shanghai region) performance practice: ====== 你进我出，我进你出; Ni jin wo chu, wo jin ni chu; 你繁我简，我繁你简; Ni fan wo jian, wo fan ni jian; 你高我低，我高你低; Ni gao wo di, wo gao ni di; 你正我反，我正你反; Ni zheng wo fan, wo zheng ni fan; 你长我短，我长你短; Ni chang wo duan, wo chang ni duan; 你停我拖，我停你拖; Ni ting wo tuo, wo ting ni tuo; 分久必合，合久必分; Fen jiu bi he, he jiu bi fen; 同中有异，异中有同。 Tong zhong you yi, yi zhong you tong. Translation: [When] you enter I exit, [and when] I enter you exit; [When] you [play] complex I [play] simple, [and when] I [play] complex you [play] simple; [When] you [play] high I [play] low, [and when] I [play] high you [play] low; [When] you [play] the main [melody] I [play] counterpoint, [and when] I [play] the main melody you [play] counterpoint; [When] you [play] long I [play] short, [and when] I [play] long you [play] short; [When] you cut off [notes] I sustain, [and when] I cut off [notes] you sustain; [That which has been] long divided must unify, [and that which has been] long unified must be divided. In similarity there is difference, [and] in difference there is similarity.

[@dbadagna]

@@scathatch Here is a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) description of qin (7-stringed ancient zither) music, from the famous essay "Xi Shan Qin Kuang"《谿山琴況》(Qin Matters from Hills and Streams) by Xu Hong (徐谼), also known as Xu Qingshan (徐青山, 1580-1650), and born Xu Shangying (徐上瀛), a qin master from Taicang, Suzhou, southern Jiangsu province, east-central China, who was one of the founders of the Yushan school (虞山派): ====== 「紆回曲折，疏而實密，抑揚起伏，斷而復聯，此皆以音之精義而應乎意之深微也。」 "The twists and turns, the sparseness and denseness, the ups and downs, the broken and the reconnected, all these are based on the essence of the sound and the depth of the meaning."

[@dbadagna]

@@scathatch And here is an excellent description of silk-and-bamboo ensemble heterophony in a 9th-century (Tang Dynasty) poem by Bai Juyi: ====== 碎丝细竹徒纷纷，宫调一声雄出群。 Snippets of silk and slender bamboos follow one another in ragged succession, With each note of the Gongdiao (keys and modes) sounding powerfully and standing out from the rest. 众声覼缕不落道，有如部伍随将军。 The various sounds [of the ensemble's instruments] twist and turn in Byzantine fashion, though with none getting off track, As though it were an army unit following its general.

[@roberthillier4662]

This is the best presentation on diminutions that I have ever come across - many thanks! And bravo to the singer!!

[@renderizer01]

I would so love to spend the rest of the night upvoting this over and over again but all I can do is toggle my one, single, meagre upvote on and off and on and off and on again. Dang... Great job!!

[@el7284]

Anything for the algorithm

[@tom_szcz_org]

Already the intro got me interested 😂

[@chrissmith7837]

Fantastic and absorbing introduction to this concept. Impossible to improve on in a meaningful way. Perfect!

[@jg5861]

You, EMS team, are a blessing to all of us. It's great to have you back. Thank you so much! (P.S.: by the way, your subtle humour in these videos is every bit as wonderful and irresistible as your all-round seriousness.) Pedro Almeida, composer, arranger, pianist, composition and music history teacher

[@Albatrosspro1]

I think the place you can hear something like this today is in jazz scatting.

[@NotJonJost]

I just wanted to say that I appreciate, with how dry the scripts of these videos tend to be, I deeply appreciate how downright goofy and shitpost-y the illustration images chosen to go along with the text are, and seem increasingly so. It's wonderful.

[@krystianspassov4080]

Elam Rotem, thank you so much for the superb presentation on diminutions! Jacob Lawrence, you are a great renaissance singer! Your singing is a delight for the soul!

[@ibechane]

It's interesting to ponder how the unwritten but common practice of diminution contextualize the development of the contrapuntal rules of composition that are still taught today. Most students learn these rules without proper historical context and so they come across as dogmatic rather than practical, and thus students lack the understanding to meaningfully disregard or relax those rules. Thank you for these videos and especially the composed examples along with the wonderful performance.

[@alessandropalazzani]

I'm thinking the same, especially for hidden octaves and fifths. Avoid them permit to play diminutions more freely without create parallel movements

[@SpaghettiToaster]

@@alessandropalazzani That's circular reasoning. Don't write parallels so that diminutions can be performed without creating parallels? The real reason to avoid parallels is that (in a counterpuntal texture) they sound bad, because they make one line sound like harmonics of the other line, destroying their independence.

[@alessandropalazzani]

@@SpaghettiToaster I'm speaking of hidden parallels, not the direct ones. There's a difference

[@NigelSequeira-py3kq]

What a pleasure to start the day with a coffee and a new Early Music Sources video!

[@deusexmusica803]

4:18 unornamented 5:10 little diminutions 6:20 shorter note values, variations in rhythm (lombard rhythm) 7:20 scale runs, greater ambitus 9:01 only graces 9:39 mix: fast diminutions and graces

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

It reminds me of Indian/Carnatic music... "prescribed/implied ornamentation/improvisation within a rigid (yet flexible) system"... Various schools and styles, and attention to the smallest of details... Very similar, imo.

[@daniellevergara6552]

The way he sings those diminutions, well done, Jacob! Elam, amazing explanations! :)

[@notsogoodbassplayer]

I love how the intro piece was dimunuted as well

[@susanvaughan4210]

I'm realizing that my college music education (40+ years ago) omitted context almost entirely. Now I finally understand what diminution really is and why parallel octaves and fifths don't work. Thank you so much!

[@SpaghettiToaster]

How does this explain why parallel octaves and fifths don't work?

[@ChopinIsMyBestFriend]

that guy singing has mad skills

[@davidcallahan2832]

Jacob Lawrence is a "star singer" with a handsome voice and killer technique.

[@ros8737]

Have new earphones and almost peed my pants hearing Jacobs last example. So, at the end of the video I started it all over again and almost peed my pants again. The best 28 min I ever spent on KZbin and I hope you are rewarded.

[@scathatch]

Divine singing from Jacob Lawrence. Learning so much about early music and music generally from this site. Thank you so much.

[@jonlilley2832]

Thank you very much for the information. Good to know! Thank you, David Lawrence, for your voice!

[@kiren3168]

Amazing video as always. The tenor sounds so beautiful

[@andreamundt]

Haha ! That embellished intro jingle ! Cute ! - ( My favorite sound of every video is the typewriter ! ) :D

[@EmilyGloeggler7984]

Thank you and the tenor did an admirable job.

[@AnHebrewChild]

Blown away by the tenor!

[@rorshack23]

Note to self: 4:10 (4:18) Unornamented phrase 4:49 (5:10) Same phrase with diminutions 5:31 (6:20) Further diminutions on the same phrase 6:40 (7:20) Going further to add 16th-note diminutions to the same phrase 7:48 List of 'Graces' (9:01) Same phrase with graces added 9:26 (9:39) Mixing faster diminutions with graces

[@HumbleNewMusic]

When education can be this beautiful... get me back to school now!! Thanks Elam 👊 🎶

[@evangelischneudorf-west809]

Thank you so very much for this video! We need that, and my pupils and me will be happy with this...

[@danyelnicholas]

Thanks for keeping us sane by providing such stimulating and erudite content!

[@lauramingo2027]

Congratulations for the diminutions in the Bovicelli contest! And for this great informative video. Josué will love it!

[@guidemeChrist]

Show this to people who say jazz and classical music are not related

[@chicolofi]

Fantastic as always. And Jacob Lawrence is an amazing singer. I also appreciate that beautiful pineapple.

[@ecologicaladam7262]

Beautifully explained and beautifully sung... and I do love your music room: chaotic heaps of books and a healthy selection of drinks 😉👍

[@samuelcastillo2791]

I discovered this video today and it really made my day. From now on, every time I want to listen to 1500’s Italian music, I will listen to that masterpiece. Gets me the chills every time.

[@sarahbleile3584]

I love diminutions and this is my favourite EMS video so far.

[@philtanics1082]

Bruh, your singer is ridiculous good. Another very informative and interesting video once again.... your work is very under appreciated imo. I think any musician would greatly benefit from your videos.

[@KeerfOrgel]

Still the best KZbin Channel. Guys I appreciate your work a lot. Thanks for all the interesting informations in this and all your other videos. I‘m not sure if your videos thought me more than my theory lessons at my university in Freiburg :)

[@tinikadavis6931]

diminuition creates that melismatic effect

[@JonathanGasper]

I always enjoy your videos, but this one was especially good. My hat's off to the singer...wow!

[@johnrothfield6126]

fascinating! especially the singing

[@justinakaminskaite1909]

this is great and clear, thank you!

[@markspencer8800]

Wonderful series!

[@jordanfriedman2739]

Impressive and informative, as always. The diminished intro is very sweet, and Mr. Lawrence might seriously be one of the best early music tenors alive right now. When this pandemic is over, I hope he enjoys a serious international career. Someone really needs to entice him to be Telemaco in a production of Ulisse...

[@florianwessel9954]

Amazing as always

[@ivyssauro123]

What an interesting topic and so masterfully explained with beautiful graphics Also clearly shows the origins of what classical music would eventually become, for better or for worse, a dictatorship of the composer, in the sentiments of the likes of Deprez and Zarlino.

[@ugrasdurmus8704]

Great video, great performance, thank you a lot.. I love this channel

[@7177YT]

Brilliant! Thank you!

[@mafuaqua]

great as always! Thanks!

[@symmachus898]

Thanks for this.

[@ErebosGR]

9:38 It's fascinating how similar this example of diminution sounds to the Greek improvisational style of _amanes_ (Αμανές/Αμανέδες) popularized during the Ottoman rule. el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Αμανές

[@juanpablovelez7656]

Best explanation, as always.

[@marcoadmiralis_1497]

Very nice episode and singing!

[@jean-xavierbardant1082]

Great as usual. KZbin hosts much garbage but channels like yours bring it a kind of redemption. Keep up the good work, and thank you.

[@jiaqimusicchannel7826]

Lol, the intro actually made me laugh hard

[@ertrupik670]

Ahhh this golden channel ❤❤

[@namets]

Thank you very much for this video, it is very useful for my work👋

[@peterpanda5069]

Nice one Jacob!

[@pianomarianopiano]

This is great Elam! Thank You !! I remembered some Monteverdi marks (in orfeo I think) : "come sta".

[@leanandmeanproductions687]

A pianist friend of mine (a fantastic player who incorporated his own Jimi Hendrix arrangements into his Nordstrom's department store gig) once referred to the problem of too much diminution as "oversouling". I really like that term and I've used it ever since.

[@ido9988]

In lute intabulations and pieces, there is a lot of variance, as mentioned in the video, between different styles, 'dialects' and composers. Some add a lot, making the piece feel fast and flowing. Others are more reserved with it, and mostly add graces and leave the diminutions to places where they feel they are more appropriate. Finally, some tabs are very plain, and have little to no diminutions or embellishments; I suspect that in many of these cases the composer/intabulator simply decided to leave them to the player, rather than prefer to have the piece played plainly, but of course, we cannot know since I'm not aware of any tab where the author left clear instructions about ornamentation. There is also a notable genre where a theme, frequently an arrangement of some popular tune, is presented, then followed divisions on it, a kind of a precursor of the theme and variations genre. I noticed that most times the first variations start with mild diminutions, which get more virtuosic as the piece goes on.

[@kraftwerk974]

Super interesting thank you.

[@FranLegon]

Great video, thanks

[@belpa2564]

I love you guys !

[@rfv618]

Bravo Jacob!

[@hervedavidh4117]

Josquin Desprez is savage !

[@gaertnerstiftung5570]

amazing Video!

[@uhoh007]

Fantastic. Someday, please do some in depth consideration of the "perfect" instruments and how they evolved. Clavichord especially.

[@jenelosedire7159]

Holy Jesus, that diminutioned harpsichord tune just nailed that But Jakob did even better

[@lucaslageguida3571]

Your videos are amazing !!! I play viola da gamba and its a great help

[@AlessioPardo]

This. Is. Gold.

[@darinaablogina]

Guys,you’re the best! ☀️

[@marcosPRATA918]

O melhor sobre o assunto.

[@kenmoore137]

Nice diminutions on the theme music!

[@musicalintentions]

I love your videos.

[@mariosolanoquiros2195]

The intro sounds really good

[@VaughanMcAlley]

If I were a renaissance composer, I'd really want a way of saying “Just sing the long note here please. It won't kill you”.

[@simonalbrecht9435]

I'm sure they were perfectly capable of just adding verbal instructions like that directly with the notes or in a foreword. But most of them probably valued artistic freedom and responsibility of the performer highly enough to refrain from that. As a composer, if you want to prevent people from playing your piece badly, or even just different from your intentions, you pay a price.

[@jmvqjmvq1]

Gracias amigos!!!! por la información, entretenida y hermosa propuesta, ojalá incorporen el texto en español

[@grocheo1]

I love you guys

[@jenelosedire]

Josquin des Préz, one of the most important composers of the Renaissance, hit the nail on the head :-) ( I have the same feeling when seeing some "arrangement" of an already perfect composition...) But the presentation and the singing are great!

[@swiatlowiekuiste]

I would be thrilled if you ever made a video about the genius of Girolamo Frescobaldi 😔

[@fnersch3367]

Frescobaldi is my favorite composer and is very much neglected. Too bad.

[@EarlyMusicSources]

The episode about keyboard partituras is only with Frescobaldi's music: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJTCZal4nceGbJo

[@swiatlowiekuiste]

@@EarlyMusicSources More about Frescobaldi please!

[@ziggybongwater7915]

lots of cambiatas!

[@lawrencetaylor4101]

Were there shredders? I'm beginning to gain another insight to my psychological barriers to singing. I was the kid that all choir teachers in our obligatory classes would instruct to move my lips and not make a sound. In university at the suggestion of an opera singer friend that had used me in several plays, encouraged me to train for a "stage voice". I signed up for Beginning Singing during summer school. I walked into the small room with the soprano professor who put a piece of 16th century music in front of me and asked me to sing along. I said I didn't sing. She then put a Renaissance song and asked me to sing. I said I didn't sing. She then asked me what I sang. I said excuse me? She asked bass, baritone, tenor, alto. I said I didn't sing. She then played several notes on the piano and told me to sing them back. She did high, middle low. She then replayed low, middle, high. She then stopped and asked if it was too late to get my money back. I was devastated. And I found out it was too late, so I returned for the second lesson. She profusedly apologized since she saw that the course was offered to Beginning singers, I had told her I didn't sing, and so I had a right to learn how to sing. She had done her research and taught me some of the fundamentals. But the damage had been done. When I started playing the piano last year I heard several people tell me that I should sing. My patient and friend the piano professor at our local conservatory also said I should sing. Nothing worked until I learned of the Rule of the Octave. Practicing Part-by-Part on the tonic, the third and the fifth and using the movement, I can at least imitate badly the changes in pitch. BTW I really appreciate your channel.

[@francescoborghini7669]

Video molto interessante e divertente, as usual... Curioso che già Desprez, molto prima di Gluck (e Calzabigi) lamentasse l' irrispettosa vanità dei Virtuosi!!...

[@seanmundy9829]

Noticed that there have been more than several videos where diminutions are the main topic or are mentioned in accordance to practices at the time. I guess we can't get enough diminutions.

[@neilwalsh3977]

In Bach, eg B sections of Bwv 66, you find diminutions essentially written out.

[@ariadnaratti9299]

Jacob Lawrence my gaaaaaaaad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Narriz]

subbed.

[@terrymckenna3502]

Great video on all accounts! Thank you. I'm interested in the genesis of ornamentation. Does it come from a spontaneous impulse to enhance textual and musical meaning in the mind of the performer? Or, an exhibition of simple joy or passion in the moment? When we are playing from a piece with ornaments notated, might we exercise some freedom to add or change or ignore these in the moment? In my experience, a sympathetic study of, or reflection, upon the poetry will underlie my engagement and sense of timing and note placement of composed or improvised ornamention. Elam's discussion helps free up our imagination to respond to music in new ways. ... Or, something like that!

[@andrebeller]

Hahaha, I see what you did with the theme! I actually didn't know the term "diminutions" until watching this video, so I was just like "woah what the heck are they doing?" I guess I'm Zarlino 😎

[@KanjiWakiyama]

Thank you very much for the valuable information. What I have wanted to know about putting embellishment is for a line doubled B.C. such as Frescobaldi’s canzona per due bassi e B.C. particularly in their adagio sections. I was wondering if you’ve got any plan to make a video about this kind of thing.

[@TheGentleUncle]

If that anecdotal reference of Despres is true then it is very interesting as a view on smug performers from a "high-end" composer!

[@ganaelschneider]

Wow

[@daviydviljoen9318]

Around 6:53 with the semiquavers it sounds something like a Rossini opera...