Title of piece: Lincolnshire Posy
Performer(s):
Field recordings (video 1):various people whose music was collected by Grainger; Concert band transcription (video 2): United States Air Force Band
Culture of Origin: Australia
Instrumentation: Field recordings: various soloists;
Transcription: standard concert band
Transcription: standard concert band
Video 1: field recordings
Video 2: Grainger's transcriptions for band
With the emphasis this week on transcribing music and authenticity, I immediately thought of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy. Grainger traveled around collecting music and the recordings, originally recorded by Grainger on wax cylinders, have been preserved digitally now and can be heard in the first video. While the complete set is present in both videos, I am going to focus on Horkstow Grange (movement 2) which starts at 00:48 in video 1 and 01:31 in video 2.
Koops (2010) echoes Anthony Palmer's explanation of music authenticity stating it is a continuum: "on one end is absolute authenticity: the music the way it is performed in its home setting...[on the] opposite end... it is music taken out of context and changed to fit the purposes of the situation" (p. 2). One (of many) things which made Grainger unique as a composer was that his music didn't follow strict metric regulations. When listening to Horkstowe Grange being sung, you can feel the singer is omitting a beat here or there, whether intentional or not. While Grainger's transcription is quite slower than the singer's performance, Grainger maintains the uneven meter. This is present in other movements of the piece as well. Of the few scenarios of authenticity which Koops (2010) discusses, she references Keith Swanwick's definition of authentic reproduction as "trying to reproduce the music exactly as it was created" (p. 4). I believe this is an essential element to transcribing music and realizing that music from another culture may not perfectly fit into the western musical notation system should be noted. I think this definitely helps to retain the original character and authenticity of the music Grainger collected.
References:
Koops, L. H. (2010). Can't We Just Change the Words? Music Educators Journal,97(1), 23-28.
Hi Matt.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite pieces of wind band literature. Another example of folk songs being used as a model would be the Second Suite in F for Military Bands by Gustav Holst. Out of the entire piece, Holst used seven separate folk songs as his foundation. For the second movement, Holst based the melody from "I'll love my love." Like your examples, the many vocal performances that I have come across are faster in tempo than that of Holst's, and as you mentioned, I believe Holst was "trying to reproduce the music exactly as it was created" (Koops, 2010, p. 26). Thank you so much for sharing this example.
Resource
Koops, L.H. (2010) Can't we just change the words? Music Educators Journal, 97(1), 23-28. doi: 10.1177/0027432110376892
I really appreciate how you included both the recordings from Granger. I have always loved playing Grainger’s compositions since I was in high school. While many directors have said his music is complicated and complex, I loved his music because I felt transported to another culture when I played it. I have played Lincolnshire Posy before, including the second movement, I have never heard Grainger’s field recordings before. Maybe they were not available until recently, but I think listening to the recording added to my understandings of the piece. I can definitely hear the connection between the two fieldwork pieces. I can hear that Grainger changes the tempo from the original recording, but he holds true to the uneven meter. While Grainger slowed down the tempo, I think he did what any folklorist or even arranger does in slightly changing some aspect of the music to suit their desires or needs for the piece, but I think that even with a minor change, it is still authentic in the sense that it embodies the uneven meter and aesthetic aspect of the piece. Thank you for posting both videos, I really enjoyed listening to both and reading your thoughts of the two.
ReplyDeleteMatt,
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful piece! I have never heard this piece before, but I find it so interesting. I think that the quote that you used from the Koops reading perfectly describes what has been done with this music. It has been "taken out of context and changed to fit the purposes of the situation" (Koops, p. 24). Although Grainger does a phenomenal job of keeping the original rhythmic patterns in place even though they don't fit in with our Western idea of music, the music is still changed from the original. Harmonies are added, instrumentation is added, a sense of the music sounding the same each time it is played (which may not be the case in the original recordings) is present now. I believe that there are certainly times when this is acceptable and even necessary. If Grainger had not molded the original music to fit his wind ensemble needs, this music would have been not made available to large audiences of concert-goers.
Koops, L.H. (2010) Can't we just change the words? Music Educators Journal, 97(1), 23-28. doi: 10.1177/0027432110376892