Horse's Branle

  1. WillFly
    WillFly
    A "branle" or "bransle" - pronounced "brawl" - is a 16th century French dance which made it's way into Scotland and into northern parts of England. The tune is very old and I'm playing it here in G starting with: tenor guitar, then bringing in some harmony on a mandolin, then adding a fiddle drone, and then acoustic bass guitar, acoustic guitar and some percussion. Just to spice the piece up a little! And to get me off the screen for a bit, there are some brief shots of West Sussex on a lovely, mid-October weekend in the autumn sunshine...

  2. Martin Whitehead
    Martin Whitehead
    That was lovely Will! I could visualize courtiers in their gowns and ruffs and powdered wigs with their noses in the air, pointing their toes in a complex (yet reserved) dance! The transitions were flawless.
  3. WillFly
    WillFly
    Thanks Martin - you're very kind. Some sources say that the branle was actually danced by "commoners" - their phrase, not mine - which if true would make it a robust country dance. There's a scene in Thomas Hardy's "Under The Greenwood Tree" where a dance is held in the house of the tranter (the carter) - much dust being thrown up in the firelight and the villagers stamping and whirling to the music of a single violin. Perhaps a branle was one of the tunes he played...
  4. Marcelyn
    Marcelyn
    I really like your harmony between the tenor and mandolin, Will.
  5. WillFly
    WillFly
    Thankyou Marcelyn. The "B" part mandolin harmony is the same as the "A" - which means it's not perfectly equal harmonically with the tenor "B" part, though you'd have to listen hard to tell that. I wanted it to sound slightly "rough" (!) to add a bit of spice to what is a rough Tudor-period tune.
  6. Martin Whitehead
    Martin Whitehead
    Well, now I need to listen again and completely revamp my mental picture!
  7. Eddie Sheehy
    I've been to a few dances that turned into Branles... very nicely played Will.
  8. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    Nice tune, Will -- one of the few pre-Playford dances that are still current as session tunes. There is a transcription in standard notation and in mandolin tab at www.banjolin.co.uk (Direct link to PDF).

    The tune is orginally French, from the "Orchesography" of Thoinot Arbeau, published in 1589 -- the same collection that is also the source for "Tourdion", probably the most widely-played of all renaissance dance tunes. Lots of good tunes in that book, and plenty of online transcriptions (for example here).

    I've played this one once or twice, but not in a few years -- have to dig it out and record a version. I'm a big fan of old dance music (just about to post a new thread with several of them) and this is a nice one.

    Martin
  9. Mike O'Connell
    Mike O'Connell
    Will - Thanks for sharing this lovely tune. Love the harmony.
    Martin - Thanks for the PDF link.
  10. WillFly
    WillFly
    one of the few pre-Playford dances that are still current as session tunes

    Our ceilidh band played it at a funeral memorial service just last Friday. It's a great tune. The drummer plays a tom-tom throughout and I hit quite heavy chords on the electric guitar while the melody is taken by fiddle, mandolin and alto sax. Sounds both medieval and heavy at the same time!
  11. Bertram Henze
    Bertram Henze
    Medieval AND heavy - exactly my cup of tea. I missed out on something there, I guess.
    I heard the roughed-up harmonics in the B part alright, but that's my cup of tea as well.
    An altogether genial rendition.

    To bring Martin's mental image of ladies' gowns and powdered wigs etc. back into scope: rough dancing was never reserved for "commoners" alone.
  12. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I've just recorded a version of this nice tune -- this is the one from banjolin.co.uk I had linked earlier in this thread and is slightly different from the Thonoit Arbeau original.



    Martin
  13. WillFly
    WillFly
    Nicely done, Martin!
  14. Martin Jonas
    Martin Jonas
    I've just revisited this renaissance dance tune that Will (and I) recorded last year. Since then, I've come across a nice four-part harmony arrangement here:

    Link to PDF

    This is in G, the same key as Will's version. I've recorded it on mandolin and tenor guitar. On the first repeat, I play the tune unaccompanied on Embergher bowlback, then add the harmonies (and doubled lead in unison one octave down) for the second and third repeats on tenor guitar and second mandolin.

    Speed is always difficult to decide on for these old dances. Branles were walking dances, so were probably played quite slowly. However, this tune is now a popular fiddle tune at Irish/Scottish sessions, and played as fast as most such tunes are. My speed is somewhere in the middle, at 190bpm.



    Martin
  15. Simon DS
    Simon DS
    This dance tune’s a lot of fun, the C part is in minor.
    It’s as though the playful competition between the horses in the A and B parts gets out of hand, speeds up in the C part becomes a bit rough.
    Probably an energetic dance.
  16. Frithjof
    Frithjof
    Meanwhile we did this as Week #437 ~ Bransle de Chevaux/Horses' Brawl, 16th Century French.
    Would be good to add your video there, Simon.
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