Quartet Group

Greetings!!

Today the Josquin-Quartet group met for our first rehearsal and we began with Mille Regretz. In preparation for our rehearsal, we worked on our parts separately and listened to the recording Dr. Ott sent to us as well. Upon meeting, we retrieved the IPA for our music from Dr. Ott, wrote it on the board, and then I read the translation aloud before listening to the recording one last time as a group. Then we read through the piece on a neutral syllable and secured a few notes and rhythms.

The element of this piece that presented itself to be most difficult was keeping the rhythmic integrity across the ensemble. To help us overcome that, we set a metronome at 47bpm, which helped us focus on listening more to one another. Afterward, we spoke the text in rhythm and made sure to correct some diction issues, with the help of Dr. Ott. These methods are things that helped really lay a solid foundation for Mille Regretz and have an extremely successful first rehearsal.

Next week the quartet group will meet and add some musical elements to this piece to really make it stylistically beautiful, and work on other pieces led by other members of the quartet. I am really glad and excited to be able to take part in such a great experience. Josquin's music is truly captivating and it is so rewarding to be able to share it with this blog, friends, professors, and peers!

Tune in for more Josquin!