saltarello ... saltarelli (plural)

  1. billkilpatrick
    there seems to be a few "saltarelli" - unfortunately, all of them are called "saltarello." i was wondering if we "mandolinisti" might do the early music contingent a great service by establishing some way of distinguishing one from the other. failing that, i hope we might be able to distinguish one from the other amongst ourselves.

    here's one, played on a mid-missouri m-4, flatback mandolin:
  2. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Nicely played! As to the naming of the saltorelli, I have an ABC file that I got from somewhere I don't remember anymore with 60 or 70 early/medieval tunes. In that one, there is a "Saltorello 1", a "Saltorello 3", and one just called "Saltorello". I don't know where that numbering comes from, or whether it's in any way "official". Yours isn't one of those three, by the way.

    Martin
  3. billkilpatrick
    a guy on youtube - don't know if he's still there - used to group these saltarellos under names like "the rain saltarello." it was a good idea - with samples of how different people played them - but subjective in that the music might not seem like "rain" to anyone but him. saltare in italian means jump so i would assume saltarello is a little jump or a hop or a skip.

    the one i played, above, was written by galileo's father:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Galilei
  4. Simen Kjaersdalen
    Simen Kjaersdalen
    Exceptional playing of this saltarello. I've played some saltarelli (?) on classical guitar, but not on mandolin. Was the original for lute?

    Could you, Bill, say a bit more about the intension of this social group? Was it to find pieces to play? Did you have in mind to make arrangements of tunes like this one?
  5. billkilpatrick
    thanks for the compliment. don't think i had any intension in mind. i play these pieces in the way that most people play folk music - hear a song i like (youtube, mostly) and have a go with it on mandolin. a while ago a eureka moment happened when i realized even if i had a bona fide replica instrument (lute, gittern, cittern, etc.) i'd probably still prefer to play mandolin. plus - modern tuners aside - i think the mid-missouri/muddy M-O looks the part.

    taking violin lessons at the moment and - hopefully - improving what little notation skill i have. who knows ... might be arrangements in the future. why don't you have a go?
  6. Simen Kjaersdalen
    Simen Kjaersdalen
    I've played many instruments in my life - from classical guitar to lute to violin to the mandolin-family. I bought a mandolin to play for my first daughter, and soon it was to become "my" instrument. The sound was just so calming, and it was the perfect intrument for me to express my poetry through sound.

    I learnt to read music by myself, and then to write. Actually I have not had a single lesson of music in my life. I've written much for instruments and voice, and could probably make arrangements for groups. But, you know... I'm the only one playing like this around here, so the solo-pices have become what I do. And I'm quite happy with that. But life's long...
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