Following the Bass: A methodology for the study of

contemporary bowed-bass continuo practices

Anthony Albrecht
Master of Music Candidate
Historical Performance - The Juilliard School
2014
Document submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for Scholastic Distinction

Forward:
Graduate studies in Historical Performance at The Juilliard School, while boosting my
enthusiasm and appreciation for all kinds of early music, have left me with more questions than
answers. To clarify, Historical Performance refers to the practice of contemporary performers
who use what they understand to be historical instruments and practices to come as close as
possible to the composers intended soundscape. As a cellist hoping to enter the profession as a
continuo specialist, I am very keen to decipher what exactly it is that bowed-continuo players do,
and dont do, in relation to historical evidence. There are many great performers, scholars and
teachers around the world that I have always wished to play for, and with, to absorb some of
their skill and wisdom. In order to formalize this process and use the time of these masters
efficiently, it occurred to me that an ethnographic study, such as I had previously conducted in
my undergraduate Geography thesis, would be highly appropriate. Juilliards Scholastic
Distinction program is providing me with the opportunity to formulate a working methodology
for later use in a related doctoral thesis, so that I might begin to refine my focus and research
techniques prior to a more extensive study. My overall aim is to develop a highly informed,
relevant and ultimately satisfying practice of music-making that will push the boundaries of
historical performance. The following is a document to be submitted in fulfilment of Juilliards
Scholastic Distinction program. It includes an initial literature review, an outline of the
methodology to be used and a recount and analysis of a series of pilot interviews with students
and faculty at The Juilliard School. My supervisor in this task is Dr. David Schulenberg, assisted
by Dr. Anthony Lioi as second reader. Im very grateful for their time, support and enthusiasm.

Contents:
Page 2. Forward
Page 3. Contents
Page 4. Chapter 1: Introduction
Page 8. Chapter 2: Theory
2.1: Ethnomusicology
2.2: Globalization
2.3: Hermeneutics and oral traditions
2.4: Authenticity
2.5: Technique
2.6: Positionality
Page 20. Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1: Document Analysis
3.2: Questionnaire Surveys
3.3: Interviews and demonstrations
Page 32. Chapter 4: Pilot Interviews
4.1: Context
4.2: Instruction
4.3: Historical Source Material
4.4: Performance Material
4.5: Interpretation
4.6: Future Developments
4.7: Analysis
Page 52: Chapter 5: Conclusion
Page 54: Bibliography

Chapter 1: Introduction

During specialized historical performance studies, the researcher has become acutely aware of a
trend amongst 21st century baroque cellists to use intuitive guess work informed by modern cello
practice when performing bowed-bass continuo parts from the 17th and 18th centuries. Bowedcontinuo refers to the practice of performing basslines from music before c.1850 with the role of
supporting the melodic voices, using a bowed-bass instrument such as a cello, viola da gamba or
double bass. This forms the hypothesis of the proposed study:
Are bowed-continuo instrumentalists, performing with one degree or another of assumed
historical authenticity, in fact demonstrating techniques and musical styles that come from a
period of experimentation over the last 40 years since the revival of early music?
Successful artists have since passed on their practice orally in performance and recordings to
generations of students. It remains to be seen whether many of these developments are justifiable
with historical evidence, or whether these artists have made choices simply based on what
sounds good. Numerous historical treatises, such as those of Leopold Mozart (violin), Quantz
(flute) and CPE Bach (keyboard) are nowadays part of mainstream early music education. While
these texts make occasional reference to bass lines (most famously Quantzs chapter on
accompaniment), there are no commonly cited manuals of instruction written specifically for
practitioners of bowed-bass continuo. By commonly cited, this statement refers to the regular
usage of treatises such as Quantz, CPE Bach, Leopold Mozart and Muffat to justify decisions or
explore possible practical solutions during rehearsals, however in the researchers experience a
useful but under-utilized resource for bowed-continuo players such as Baumgartner (1774) has
never been mentioned in a rehearsal!

The early music revival has already created a lineage of highly successful and revered stars in
both the melodic and continuo performance realms. Recent years have seen early music
education expand significantly. Up until the beginning of the 21st century, the only truly
international hubs for young performers interested in early music were The Hague and the
Scuola Cantorum in Basel, but there are now specialized courses at top music schools all over
the world teaching historical performance practice. The founding gurus of the field have in
many instances already passed on leadership roles to a subsequent generation, who are now
occupying teacher positions in conservatoria from Sydney to London to New York City. Many
specialized graduates are now stepping into a competitive and extremely diverse global market.
There is now a strong awareness and appreciation for the field shown by audiences as well as
within the musical community. An array of primary and secondary sources for developing
interpretations and conducting scholarly research is now available via any device with an internet
connection. However, Graham Sadler, despite making a point regarding the stylistic subtleties of
the French style, highlights a universally relevant contemporary problem of the field in that if
there is now a degree of consensus as to how this music (early music) should sound, it emerged
in the wake of decades of musicological detective work and benefited from a healthy dialogue
between scholars and performers. The danger, Sadler continues, is that without continued
dialogue of this kind, the performing style could easily lose touch with the historical evidence
that helped bring it into being (Sadler in Wainwright and Holman 2005, p.271). Students of this
now (re-)established performance tradition must interrogate their sources, both historical texts
and contemporary pedagogues, to refresh and innovate in this field.

There could not be a more apt time for a reflexive study of theory, performance and teaching
methods in a specific area of early music. In recent decades reflexivity, suggesting a reflection of
current practice, has become an increasingly important feature of the social sciences, including
ethnomusicology, with researchers from various fields asking questions of themselves as to how,
why and what is actually known and practiced, and how this could influence further research and
practice (Cloke 2004; Eyles and Smith 1988; Stone 2007). A particular focus of this scrutiny has
been positionality in qualitative research methods involving ethnography, subjectivity and
meanings, as the interrelationships between the researcher and their field, study focus
(phenomenon, person or social group) and data sources can shape the perception, interpretation
and presentation of research (Cloke 2004, Stone 2007).

This paper formulates a methodological framework for assessing how bowed-continuo practice
is understood, performed, taught and experienced by professionals around the world. The
framework will be constructed in order to accomplish the following research aims and objectives
in a large research project:
-

Collate and analyze existing historical evidence relevant to bowed-bass continuo playing.

Document current practice; its origins, social and cultural significance, justification in
historical evidence, technical and stylistic performance specifications, as well as its
limitations and frontiers. This is a performance tradition that should be preserved while
its pioneers are still with us.

Assess the hermeneutics used by performers and scholars when looking at treatises and
musical manuscripts.

Compare current practice evidence about historical practices.

Implement an ethnomusicological methodology in order to provide a neutral, deep and

useful study.

Provide an educational resource for current and future bowed-bass continuo players, as
well as an exciting case study for the fields of performance studies and ethnomusicology.

The methodology itself will revolve around the following practical steps:

Collate and analyze relevant primary literature and existing secondary studies of a similar
ethnographic nature.

Document and utilize primary data from observations of contemporary performance

practice in relevant repertory.

Create, justify and explain in detail a series of practical steps and the relevant ethical
concerns.

Implement these steps and cross-analyze the resulting data.

Chapter 2 addresses the major theoretical areas within which the methodology will operate,
including ethnomusicology, globalization, oral tradition, authenticity and cello technique as a
documented cultural phenomenon. Chapter 3 outlines the various practical methods proposed,
including document analysis, questionnaire surveys, interviews, performance recordings and
analysis. Chapter 4 will discuss the context and findings of the pilot interviews conducted at The
Juilliard School in March of 2014 with students and faculty of the Historical Performance
Program. It must be stressed that the purpose of this document is to create a proposal for
extended research.

Chapter 2: Theory

2.1 Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology will form the theoretical foundation from which the project will take shape and
through which other areas of theory (described below) will be explore. This field provides a
theoretical and methodological framework from which to investigate performance traditions.
Defining the field is important in order to establish how it can assist the methodology of a
proposed study, and has been a major point of discussion since the 1950s (Stobart 2008). Alan
Merriam, writing towards the beginnings of ethnomusicology as a field, suggested that the
major emphasis in the work of earlier students of ethnomusicology was oriented toward analysis
of the structure of the particular musics they studied, pointing to the fact that by the 1960s the
field had moved beyond form to consider cultural context via deep description, in concert with
the general discipline of ethnography (Merriam 1960, p.108; Geertz 1973). Geertzs deep
description called for ethnographic study that acknowledges cultural context and researcher
positionality, going beyond a superficial recount of whatever phenomenon is being observed to
offer broader sociological conclusions (Geertz 1973).

Extending from this cultural concern, Merriam asked whether the ultimate study of man
involves searching out knowledge for its own sake, or is attempting to provide solutions to
applied practical problems (Merriam 1964). This applied ethnomusicology has been described
by Pettan (et al. 2007) as the approach guided by principles of social responsibility, which
extends the usual academic goal of broadening and deepening knowledge and understanding

toward solving concrete problems and toward working both inside and beyond typical academic
contexts (Pettan et al. 2007).

Stobart (2008, p.1) describes ethnomusicology as standing at an interesting and important

historical juncture its practices have acquired increasing relevance in recent years shifting it
away from the margins and from automatic identification with the exotic. Traditionally
conjuring images of observing exotic music-making in Asia or Africa, particularly focusing on its
structure rather than meaning, Stobart contends that ethnomusicology now represents a
conduit through which a more open, reflexive, representative, democratic and interdisciplinary
approach to the study of music might be achieved (Stobart 2008, p.1). Titon suggests that
today it is not transcription but fieldwork that constitutes ethnomusicology. Fieldwork is no
longer viewed principally as observing and collecting music. The new fieldwork leads us to ask
what it is like for a person (ourselves included) to make and to know music as lived experience
(in Barz 2008, p.27). Cementing this tradition of fieldwork, the Society for Ethnomusicology,
founded in the 1950s, declares that:
ethnomusicologists share a coherent foundation in the following approaches and methods:
1) Taking a global approach to music (regardless of area of origin, style, or genre).
2) Understanding music as social practice (viewing music as a human activity that is shaped by
its cultural context).
3) Engaging in ethnographic fieldwork (participating in and observing the music being studied,
frequently gaining facility in another music tradition as a performer or theorist), and historical
research (SE 2013).

Titon discusses the nature of the new fieldwork, moving beyond mere documentation and
explanation, suggesting that while it:
does not abandon musical sounds and structures, it just repositions them as texts
(subjects of interpretation) in a hermeneutic circle. Musical sound is still documented,
and if musical structure is an important aspect of the musical experience, as it so often is,
then it is analyzed and interpreted as part of the matrix of meaning. Nor does the
fieldworker abandon documentation; if anything, documentation increases. But
documentation, too, is re-positioned, and is now considered reflexively, as an intersubjective product, rather than as the report and analysis of a witness (Titon in Barz
2008, p.30).

This concept of fieldwork provides a highly relevant and exciting framework through which to
approach the proposed study, which seeks to understand not only the physical, intellectual and
emotional nuances of current bowed-continuo practice, but also the hermeneutics (issues of
interpretation) used by performers and scholars to reach their conclusions.

One additional layer of the proposed project is that the researcher intends to learn technique and
stylistic skills at the instrument, with the study participants, such that their practice might be
more completely understood and recorded than in a purely observational setting. In Stobart
(2008, p.121), John Baily describes literature authored by researchers actually attempting to
learn to perform via their primary research as curiously thin on the ground, providing only
three examples of such work. It is clear that the field of ethnomusicology could benefit from
further application and documentation of this approach.

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2.2 Globalization

A striking feature of the early music revival is that it has emerged from records of the essentially
local practices of city states, guilds, academies, courts and nations, to become a worldwide
phenomenon. Performers play on multiple instruments for specific national styles and time
periods, in multiple different tuning systems, or temperaments, occasionally within one concert.
Period specialists and specialist ensembles and festivals have emerged all over the world in
recent decades, such as The Orchestra of the 18th Century in Holland, The Orchestra of the
Antipodes in Australia, the Bach Collegium of Japan, the biannual Misiones de Chiquitos festival
in Bolivia and the Boston Early Music Festival. Educational institutions are offering specialized
undergraduate and graduate degrees to budding early music performers. Previously this occurred
in only few places such as the Royal Conservatorium of The Hague and the Scuola Cantorum in
Basel, Switzerland, but now similar courses are offered at music schools all over the world,
including The Juilliard School in New York City, Globalization is the increasing flow of trade,
finance, culture, ideas, and people brought about by the sophisticated technology of
communications and travel and by the worldwide spread of neoliberal capitalism, as defined by
Ted Lewellen (2002, p.7) He specifies the inclusion of culture in this definition, and stresses that
globalization must be thought of as an ongoing process (Lewellen 2002, p.8). Lewellen
describes the challenge that globalization presents to traditional notions of culture, in that
previously it was a certain culture by which social, tribal, artistic, linguistic or national groups
could be clearly delineated. The plasticities and duplicities of contemporary cultural
boundaries make them more abstract and amorphous than ever before (Lewellen 2002, p.50).
From Ian Condry (1999), Lewellen makes the interesting comparison between Japanese hip-hop

11

lyrics, inspired by music from the Bronx in New York City, and the Japanese love of karaoke
which has since spread throughout the world.

Figure 1: ECD lyrics, Intro on his album Big Youth (1997) (Lewellen 2002, p.50).

Condry identifies the necessary distinction between the transnational or global market, which is
profit driven and indiscriminate, and the local scene, which is historically and culturally
rooted.

The early music revival operates on essentially the same time scale as mass produced popular
music such as hip hop, emerging in the 1960s and 70s as a postmodern reaction to established
20th century performance traditions in classical music and benefitting from a boom in music
recording and distribution technology (Shelemay 2001). Shelemay (2001, p.5) points out that the
acknowledgement of the other in anthropological study was generally associated with nonwestern culture, but describes how this has now been extended to characterize unfamiliar
aspects of the past in a variety of historical disciplines. Gary Tomlinson presents a personal
illustration of this, describing how he began his study of renaissance musical magic, then, with
a keen sense of its distance, its unfamiliarity, its otherness (Tomlinson 1994, p.4). Despite the
attraction of otherness to ethnographers, Shelemay contends that this venture (of studying

12

Western music) has been less actively contested than trivialized or ignored (Shelemay 2001,
p.5). The proposed study will indeed venture into a globalized western cultural tradition.
Shelemay (2001) describes new techniques of investigation necessary in transnational studies,
such as globalized research investigating both micro- and macrostructures in a wider field of
research, rather than one confined community. Additionally, multi-sited fieldwork and network
analysis are becoming increasingly necessary to see how phenomena are understood, constructed
and contested, and how information flows from site to site, such as in the global exchange of
skills and ideas relating to the performance of early music. The practical considerations of long
term in-depth study across multiple global locations are also raised, chiefly in terms of time
and money. In a globalized culture, the top-tier artists which are the target of the proposed
investigation are also frequently moving targets, travelling many times a year for performances
around the world. It is likely that some will only be available for short-term connections
coinciding with a performance in a hub such as London, which would also conserve research
resources. Others, however, such as older artists and pedagogues based at institutions may well
be able to commit to extended periods of communication. Practicalities aside, the implications of
globalization are an important consideration for the proposed research topic as it will help to
explain the flow of this cultural phenomenon at the macro level. The hermeneutics involved in
the bowed-continuo tradition will engage this flow at the micro level.

2.3 Hermeneutics and oral traditions

Hermeneutics, suggests Graubert (2000), in philosophy but also in other contexts is the theory
of interpretation or understanding. He goes on to suggest that any hermeneutic enterprise

13

concerned with written-down music must begin with the notation - the alphabet of signs - used
in the score. Establishing an authoritative text from sources such as the autograph, manuscript
copies, printed scores, orchestral parts with or without alterations by the composer or his first
performers proof corrections, letters from the composer and verbal descriptions of early
performances is a matter of textual criticism and scholarship (Graubert 2000). Graubert makes
the point that to get to the current stage in which we can freely download and/or purchase
musical scores from multiple online hubs, notation has gone through significant changes, with
dramatic shifts in meaning, over hundreds of years. It is undoubtedly an important point to
consider the way revived texts and music have been interpreted and how this translates into
performance.

The researcher intends to combine an examination of hermeneutics and the continuation of oral
traditions. As discussed earlier, the early music movement emerged via the work of some
committed scholars and performers who dedicated considerable effort to rediscovering the
insights offered by early treatises and translating those ideas into sound. The music being revived
had in many instances not been heard for centuries, and was played from very early manuscripts,
thus the process of interpreting these notes afresh for the first time must also have had a
significant impact on subsequent performances. An examination of the hermeneutics of this
process, particularly during the proposed interviews with pioneers of the movement as compared
to subsequent generations, who have been influenced not only by the texts themselves but in
many cases more profoundly by the new oral traditions passed on them by the pioneers, would
provide an extremely interesting focus for research.

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2.4 Authenticity

Authenticity is a contentious issue in early music with multiple interpretations and

implications. Historical performers are required to negotiate the fine balance between historical
faithfulness, as best as it can be achieved, and maintaining their own principles and personalities.
It is likely that participants in this study will attempt to grapple with the concept, or related ideas
such as being true to the composer, during interviews, discussions and demonstrations. The
researcher will endeavor to clarify and document the participants understanding of the subject.
The authenticity debate has been one of the most heated and ongoing in the field of early music.
Perhaps the most potent voice is that of Richard Taruskin: I am convinced that "historical"
performance today is not really historical; that a thin veneer of historicism clothes a performance
style that is completely of our own time, and is in fact the most modern style around; and that the
historical hardware has won its wide acceptance and above all its commercial viability precisely
by virtue of its novelty, not its antiquity (Taruskin 1988, p.152). While not wishing to delve too
deeply into this already well documented problem, the researcher does wish to test this thin
veneer with the findings of this project.

2.5 Technique

The focus of the proposed study is the performance of continuo on bowed-bass instruments,
which implies a combination of physical technique and interpretation. Physical technique refers
to: the sitting position of the performer, the fashion in which the instrument is held, how one
holds the bow, the use of the bow for articulation and messa di voce (controlled change of tone

15

intensity and volume during a sustained pitch), left-hand technique, including the use of thumbposition, double-stops and vibrato, and numerous other technical details. The details will be the
subject of analysis in the practical elements of the methodology as described in Chapter 3.
Numerous contemporary scholars address questions related to the origins of the baroque cello, as
well as issues of performance practice. Bonta (1977, 1978, 1990) identified wound strings as the
turning point at which bowed-bass instruments could be significantly reduced in size while still
supporting lower-pitched strings at the correct tension, a cue for various early iterations of the
cello to replace the violone or bass violin as the principal bowed-bass instrument. Cellist
Bruno Cocset (2011) has recently experimented with these early iterations in recordings of the
first repertoire for solo cello from Bologna, Italy. Vanscheeuwijck (1996, 2009, 2010) also
addresses questions of the instrument itself, with a focus on discovering Bachs intended
instrument for truly historical performances of the six solo suites. Some scholars and performers
have begun exploring the extended technique of a bowed-continuo player.

David Watkin (1996, p.661) suggests that one of the cellist's most interesting roles, however,
must surely have been that of improvising accompaniments to provide harmonic support through
the addition of chords and embellishments. He discusses possibilities for chordal realization as
documented in numerous cello technical treatises, chiefly in relation to Corellis Op.5 violin
sonatas. Walden (2004) provides a useful overview of these treatises, most importantly those of
Corrette, Romberg, Baumgartner and Baillot. John Lutterman (2006) provides an extensive
thesis exploring Bachs suites as possible guides to improvisatory practice, with a significant
chapter on chordal realization. However, these primary (treatises written primarily for the benefit
of amateurs) and secondary sources (contemporary scholarly studies) engage in only very brief,

16

if any, discussion on the actual technique and stylistic complexities of bowed-continuo, instead
focusing on (or in the case of contemporary studies providing analysis of), the basics of cello
playing, such as fingerings and bowing patterns, or providing rudimentary instruction in
extended techniques such as chordal realization. Even if they are addressed in historical sources,
questions of sound production, articulation and the interpretation of bass lines in order to
harmonize and enhance melodic lines apparently remain largely unanswered in current
scholarship. Considering the increasing demand for bowed-bass players to specialize in continuo
playing in the 21st century and the emergence of numerous performance-based courses in early
music in conservatoriums across the world, this lack of well-identified scholarly resources is
surprising. Many of the early cello method treatises (aimed at amateurs) are also yet to be
translated from the French and German. The researcher has fluency in German, but will require
the use of dictionaries and translation software to decipher French or Italian documents.

One relevant attempt to document contemporary baroque cello practice does exist, authored by
Paul Laird (2004). Laird interviews 46 current baroque cellists, ranging from modern soloists
and continuo players to pioneers of the early music movement. These interviews are briefly
summarized, and focus predominantly on the way in which these instrumentalists discovered
early music and the evolution of their performance careers. Laird devotes little of the study to the
stylistic or technical performance practice of each player, and there is no significant crossanalysis of responses. A deeper ethnographic and more practically focused approach, involving
considerable amounts of time at the instrument with these performers would be required in
order to document their practice for adaption into a didactic text.

17

An extremely important and relevant study for this project is the recently completed PhD thesis
by Bangert (2012), entitled Doing without thinking? Processes of decision-making in period
instrument performance. This paper focused on the nature and role of intuitive and deliberate
processes of musical decision-making in period instrument performance of solo Baroque string
Music. The threefold methodology used by Bangert may be very adaptable for use in the
proposed study of bowed-continuo practices. It included: semi-structured interviews; sightreading (performing without practice) with follow up practice time and a second performance; a
longitudinal study focusing on the preparation for a recording project by a professional artist.

2.6 Positionality

An extremely important part of the methodology of this study is the acknowledgement of the
researchers positionality. A researcher engaged in ethnographic study is inevitably placed in the
position of a privileged observer (Albrecht 2012; Cloke 2004). This must be shifted to a
reflexive stance where, as an ontological and epistemological source from which the study can
flow, the findings presented are acknowledged as ones own interpretation of subjects
interpretations of their and others representations of what the world is like (Albrecht 2012;
Smith 2001, p.29).

The researcher is an insider in this situation, and must prioritize reflexively to avoid any bias
find its way into research methods and analysis (McDowell 1992; Adriansen and Madsen 2009;
Albrecht 2012). You may fail to notice pertinent questions or issues, according to Kitchen and
Tate, because of the inability to step back from a situation and fully assess the circumstances

18

(Kitchin & Tate 2000, p.29, Albrecht 2012). The research aim, however, is to construct
knowledge that extends past the preconceptions and assumptions of the researcher and research
participants, to explore the rich tissue of social life in all its myriad and intricate forms,
working towards broader contextualized understandings (Herbert in DeLyser 2010, p.7). An
acknowledgement of positionality is therefore fundamental to the success of the research
(Albrecht 2012).

Approaching this task as a researcher intimately inside the field, as a cellist for almost 20
years, a student of historical performance practice for around four years, including two years at
graduate level, and an emerging professional, makes the issue of positionality especially
pertinent. Having looked forward to meeting and working with many of the intended participants
for many years, a great deal of excitement and expectation will be wound up in the experience.
In order to gain the maximum benefit from the experience as a cellist and researcher however,
my positionality must be kept in check to ensure that information is recorded accurately,
completely and without bias towards any particular style, sound quality or philosophical
approach. This can be achieved only with comprehensive and accurate observational methods,
established via the literature of successfully implemented methodologies of the past, and through
constant self-reflection and focus towards the objectives of the project.

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Chapter 3: Methodology

The following proposed methodology is based on the researcher's past experience with
ethnographic research. Tests and subsequent analysis and revision of several of the methods will
be attempted for the submission of this document in May 2014 for the Juilliard Honors program.
Geographical literature (Adriansen and Madsen 2009; Allen and Christopher 2007; Clifford and
Valentine 2003; DeLyser 2010), drawn upon and adapted from the researchers ethnographic
studies in the field of geography, as opposed to ethnomusicological, has so far been useful in
determining exactly how fieldwork involving human subjects is to be carried out, as well as the
necessary considerations of design, context and positionality. These references are applicable
across multiple disciplines in helping to ensure that rigorous methods are devised and adhered to.

3.1 Document analysis

As Chapter 2 suggests, a substantial amount of textual material, both primary (historical) and
secondary (contemporary), including written historical treatises and accounts, concert reviews
and recordings will be gathered in order to supplement and allow comparison and triangulation
of data gathered during fieldwork. The focus will be to identify, to the greatest extent possible,
what we know, as well as what we don't know, so as to make the study, specifically its
literature review, as comprehensive as possible. Fieldwork entails the questionnaire surveys,
interviews and live performance recordings and analysis that will be explained below.

Substantial amounts of the required material, which includes treatises such as Quantz's On

20

Playing the Flute (1752) and Corrette's Mthode thorique et practique pour apprendre en peu
de tems le violoncelle dans sa perfection (1741), as well as Charles Burney's late 18th century
travel diaries, have already been the subjects of considerable study, and are thus readily
available. Numerous cello methods post-Corrette remain untranslated from the French or
German however, which will require some effort and detective work. John Lutterman's (2006)
extensive thesis on improvisatory conclusions that can be drawn from J.S. Bach's cello suites and
other music from the period has already been scanned and circulated. A significant dissertation
by Sibylle Johner (1999) on secco recitative accompaniment, completed at The Juilliard School
long before the inception of the Historical Performance program, has yet to be published, as has
another more recent thesis by Nathan Whittaker, The Proof and Practice of Figured Bass
Realization on the Violoncello from 1660-1850, (2012), from the University of Washington.

The documents to be referred to in this research phase will be examined for evidence specifically
relating to the practice of bowed-continuo. This includes: technical aspects, such as fingering and
bowing styles and articulation that might in some way differ from soloistic, chamber music or
orchestral contexts; interpretation, or the hermeneutics used by performers and scholars to
approach written descriptions of how to realize bass lines with the bow, as well as the actual
momentary decisions made while reading music notation; stylistic concerns, which include the
different approaches to national styles, musical periods (for example the early vs. high baroque
and rococo); harmony, how an understanding of harmony affects performance, and the way a
player prepares and executes more complex and/or chromatic chordal indications; ensemble
skills, alluding to issues of balance, leadership, rhythm and togetherness, which can be
influenced by the continuo line.

21

Duplication of research issues such as the nomenclature of the cello and violone, chordal
realization, single-voiced or ensemble instrumentation and related topics will be avoided, as
these have already been covered in detail by Vanscheeuwijk, Walden, Watkin, Lutterman, Johner,
Dreyfus and Taruskin, among others. Rather, this existing secondary research will be
acknowledged and referred to in fieldwork in order to elicit responses from subjects as to its
usefulness, accuracy and applicability.

3.2 Questionnaire surveys

Surveys are designed to facilitate the collection of information on the demographics, behavior,
opinion, attitudes, beliefs and experiences of a sample of people within a social group using a
standardized, easy-to-interpret and easy to administer questionnaire instrument (McLafferty in
Clifford and Valentine 2003). Critical to the success and usefulness of this method is the survey
design, which must be tailored to the specific requirements of the study (Clifford and Valentine
2003, Albrecht 2012).

A questionnaire survey will be designed using an online provider such as Surveymonkey and
distributed to an amassed mailing list of relevant respondents. The researcher hopes to target a
minimum of approximately 100 respondents in the hope of achieving a return rate of at least
50%. The topical and communal nature of this project, as well as its perceived necessity and
usefulness by practitioners of early music, will hopefully guarantee a minimum rate of return in
order to make the data useful. Beyond the 100 direct respondents, more will be gathered via

22

social media and via promotion in collaboration with early music schools and departments
throughout the world. Online distribution is free and allows for considerable ease and speed of
collection, as well as manipulation and analysis via software such as Excel. These surveys will
be conducted anonymously, in that no obvious means of identification will be recorded as part of
the survey. This will reduce any potential reservations on the part of the respondent to answer
honestly and openly, reduce any potential bias on the part of the researcher to value certain
responses over others, and satisfies the ethical requirements of contemporary ethnographic
research.

The main target group for this survey will be students and young professionals performing
bowed-continuo in order to get an idea of the current scale, depth and diversity present in this
particular facet of historical practice. Players of other instruments will not be deliberately
excluded however, but will be directed towards a different and shorter segment of the survey that
addresses the specific needs of those being accompanied by a basso continuo line, addressed
below. The survey will also be used upon completion of interviews with key informants, pending
their willingness to extend their contribution, to clarify some spoken answers and record their
demographic information.

This survey will firstly seek to address basic questions of demographics, experience, first
exposure and length of exposure to early music theory and techniques, motivation for playing
bowed-continuo, particularly repertoire preferences or specializations, the most frequently
performed repertoire, the most common performance contexts, as well as other fundamentals.
These details, while important, could potentially use up large amounts of valuable interview time

23

and can be answered briefly and succinctly in survey format. The researcher hopes to answer the
questions who is playing bowed-continuo and in what context is it being played using
tabulated responses to these questions. Questions to be asked in this section, with answers
limited to a certain number of words or number values via the survey controls, include:

Would you use any of the following terms or expressions to describe how your approach
differs from the mainstream: Period style? Authenticity? Baroque playing? Historically
informed performance? All the above? Something else?

When did you adopt this approach?

When were you first exposed to this style?

What were the particularly influential experiences that led you to pursue historical
performance?

Was there a period of transition into professional performance in this style, and if so, how
long did it take?

Did you undertake specialized training, or were you able to pick up the style on the
job?

If specialized training was undertaken, which institution/s did you attend?

Which teachers of performers have influenced your approach to period style the most?

Do you have particular early music performance preferences?

In what context do you most frequently perform in period style?

What are your repertoire preferences or specializations, if any?

What is your most common role in period performance? If this role is to provide bowedcontinuo, please continue to section B, if not, please continuo to section C etc.

24

Following this, questions (in the section for bowed-continuo players as well as for other
instruments) will be asked relating to historical evidence in order to canvas how a large range of
participants are aware of, read, understand and utilize available material. This section will be
used to establish the extent to which historical evidence is prevalent in contemporary period
performance practice. Of particular interest are the frequency and perceived usefulness and
applicability of texts, which will be recorded using a Likert scale (McLafferty in Clifford and
Valentine 2003; Allen and Christopher 2007).

A series of questions will then be asked relating to bowed-continuo, specifically for bowed-bass
players. These include questions such as:
-

What are the main factors, if any, which influence your interpretation of a bass line?

What performance markings in musical notation, if any, do you look for to help this
interpretation?

How much does harmony influence your interpretation?

How much does sung text contribute to your interpretation?

How often do you add markings to music, such as translations, figures, rhythmic aids
etc., in order to more accurately or deeply interpret the bass line?

Answers to these questions will also be given via a Likert scale to put limits on the complexity,
length and variability of responses. An option for other, potentially more lengthy responses
will be given in addition to the Likert options (numbering between 4-5), which will allow
respondents to clarify certain points.

25

Questions will be asked of other instrumentalist respondents, also to be answered via a Likert
scale, such as:
-

How much does the bowed-bass continuo line influence your practice?

How aware are you of the bowed-bass continuo line while performing?

How much do you seek to influence the shape of the bass via your playing or via
comments?

What are the most important elements of a bowed-continuo line that provide support for
your practice?

Please list a set of positive and negative adjectives that you regular use to describe a
bowed-bass line in rehearsals or in review of performances.

While not the most important part of the field work, these survey responses will hopefully
provide a strong insight into the contemporary performance context of bowed-continuo, from
which a more nuanced understanding of interview responses can be garnered.

3.3 Interviews and demonstrations

Perhaps the most important dimension of the fieldwork of this project will consist of the
interviews, held with key informants around the world. More than just a conversation, this will
take the form of in-depth, semi-structured ethnographic discussions, musical lessons involving
demonstrations and experiments at the instrument, as well as a considerable number of more
informal conversations that will undoubtedly arise in the context of meeting and working closely

26

with so many great performers and pedagogues over an extended time-frame. Krueger and Casey
describe these research methods as being essentially about listening, about paying attention.
It is about being open to what people have to say. It is about being nonjudgmental. It is about
creating a comfortable environment for people to share. It is about being careful and systematic
with the things people tell you (Krueger and Casey 2000, p.xi).

Care must be taken to avoid leading questions. Following Dunn (2000, p.52) and Albrecht
(2012), a pre-determined order to the interviews will be established with a set of standardized,
open questions that still allow for flexibility and free-ranging discussion towards the end of the
allotted time. Participants will choose a neutral setting in which to hold the discussions so as to
allow them to feel comfortable. In order not to interrupt the flow of conversation, and with the
permission of the participant, discussions will be recorded for future review and only brief notes
will be taken on a laptop, with full transcripts produced subsequently (Albrecht 2012). As
recommended by Longhurst in Valentine (2001), the interviews will increase in complexity and
depth as they progress and once a rapport has been established.

This element of the fieldwork will target between 20 and 30 of the top level bowed-continuo
performers, including cellists, bassists, gambists and specialty instrumentalists such lira and
lirone players. It is anticipated that the interview process will take up to 12 months and involve a
significant amount of travel in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Japan and the United
States. Ideally, an extended period of time of up to two weeks will be available to work with each
participant. A formal interview duration of 1-2 hours over this time would be ideal, which when
combined with more informal notes would produce an estimated 3000-5000 words of transcribed

27

material per interview. Participants will ideally agree to be identified as part of the publication of
the study, but anonymity can be guaranteed as necessary.

The researcher hopes to structure these interviews around five key subject areas; historical
source material, instruction, performance material, interpretation and future developments. It is
hoped that participants will have considerable input concerning all five of these areas. It is
assumed that many of these discussions will make a crossover between the different discussion
areas, but it is the researchers intention to filter responses into these sub-headings in order to
create a suitable structure in which to present the results (see Figure 2). As much as possible,
these discussions will be steered away from the more foundational material covered in the
surveys, which all key informants will hopefully also be prepared to submit. Figure 2 on the next
page will be used as a guide for the researcher. The discussion will be ordered under the five
topic headings, however the listed questions will not be asked consecutively, rather will be used
if a particular gap in a response is identified to stimulate further discussion. Questions will also
be improvised as discussions move into unexpected and exciting areas.

These interviews will be complemented by at the instrument demonstrations, taking the form
of a traditional cello lesson, in which the researcher will play and also ask the participant to play
examples of basso-continuo, which will then be discussed and analyzed. Bar-by-bar discussion
as to the choices being made in a particular example will be attempted, so as to get a detailed
sense of the hermeneutics at work. With permission, these lessons will be recorded, ideally with
video, so as to be able to refer back to them.

28

The list of potential participants, along with their country of residence includes:
-

Phoebe Carrai (USA)

Tanya Tomkins (USA)
Joseph Crouch (UK)
Jonathon Manson (UK)
Piroska Baranyay (UK)
Richard Tunnicliffe (UK)
Allison MacGillivray (UK)
David Watkin (UK)
Guido Larisch (Germany)
Wieland Kuijken (Holland)
Gaetano Nasillo (Italy)
Bruno Cocset (France)
Hidemi Suzuki (Japan)
Jaap ter Linden (Holland)
Viola da Hoog (Holland)
Daniel Yeadon (Australia)
Jamie Hey (Australia)
Richard Myron (France)
Jordi Savall (Spain)
Rob Nairn (USA)
Sarah Cunningham (USA)
Reiko Ichise (UK)
Chi-Chi Nwanoku (UK)
Valerie Botwright (UK)
Olaf Reimers (Germany)
Peter McCarthy (UK)
Robin Michael (UK)
Jennifer Morsches (UK)
Guido Balestracci (Italy)

Pilot interviews were conducted under this model, as described in Chapter 4.

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Semi-Structured Interview Guide: Key Informants

For Researcher Use Only
(Introduction; thanks for agreeing to participate; ask permission to tape record and explain right
to stop recording at any time, erase part or all on request; go over consent statement; any
questions?)
1.

Instruction

In what ways and from whom have you received instruction regarding the technique and
interpretation of bowed-bass continuo? If any, what methods do you employ to teach this art?
2.
Historical source material
What source material has shaped your technique and interpretations of early bass lines? Please
list sources and be as specific as you can about any evidence which you draw upon.
3.
Performance material
What are your opinions on the use of authentic performance materials
(instruments/bows/manuscripts) when performing early bass lines? What materials do you use?
How has this set of materials changed over time? Do national styles influence your choice of
performance materials, and if so how?
4.

Interpretation

What are the main factors that shape your interpretation of early bass lines? How, if at all, does
your interpretation differ depending on national styles and historical periods, and how do you
justify these differences?
5.

Future developments

In what ways, if at all, do you see the technique and interpretation of bowed bass line
performance continuing to develop? What do students of the 21st century need to learn in order
to push the boundaries of performance and scholarship?
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Do you have any questions for the research team?

Figure 2: Draft Interview Guide

30

3.4 Live recordings and analysis.

Interview participants will be asked to record between 1 and 3 basso continuo lines that
demonstrate a particular characteristic of the instrument, a national style, a particular composer
or genre. These same 1 to 3 pieces, to be determined at a later date after careful consideration,
will be recorded by as many of the participants as possible in order to compare and contrast the
musical and technical choices made by each. Analysis will examine fingerings, bowings, sound
production, ornaments (including vibrato), choice of instrument and bow, speed, articulation and
note length. Ideally these recordings can all be made with the same melodic line on each
occasion, possibly performed by the researcher.

These recordings would be completed in a neutral manner, with hopefully as little discussion,
preparation or criticism as possible before or after they take place in order to make a clean,
unbiased assessment.

31

Chapter 4: Pilot Interviews

4.1 Context

In late March of 2014 several pilot interviews were conducted with students and faculty of the
Historical Performance program at The Juilliard School. The intention in conducting these pilot
interviews was to test this critical element of the methodology and come to conclusions as to
necessary refinements of the questions, the usefulness of the results of this mode of questioning,
as well as to identify other viable or useful methods of investigation. Specific students were
approached for their familiarity with bowed-bass continuo lines and their considerable
experience both in learning environments and professional contexts. Instrument specializations
included cello, viola da gamba and double bass. One faculty member, Sarah Cunningham, one of
the worlds great viola da gamba exponents, was also interviewed. Interviews were between 30
minutes and 1 hour in duration and were conducted at The Juilliard School. Respondents were
interviewed using the model described in Chapter 3, with the researcher following the topic areas
suggested in Figure 2 to structure the conversation. The following sections of the chapter will
describe responses under these topic headings, providing a revealing narrative as to the sorts of
issues that will be of focus in this project.

4.2 Instruction

With the intention of getting an understanding of how the participants were inducted into bowedcontinuo playing, they were encouraged to briefly recount their early experiences. All

32

respondents were given the opportunity to study historical instruments as part of their
undergraduate degrees. This led to very influential performance opportunities which eventually
brought about their decision to pursue full-time study in Historical Performance.

Michael Unterman, a second-year Master of Music cellist, acknowledged that I dont think I
knew I was doing it until I had done it for a while, recounting experiences of performing
continuo on modern cello accompanying Purcell songs. He immediately enjoyed this role but
was won-over by early music in his experience as a stand partner to Phoebe Carrai, baroque cello
Faculty member at Juilliard, in performances with Harvard Baroque. A stand-out recollection
involved a performance of Handels Messiah, especially witnessing all the recitative sections
unfold. Michael described having learnt a great deal since coming to Juilliard, particularly in
working with the other bowed-bass students and in the research topics investigated as part of Dr.
Schulenbergs Performance Practice Seminar. He believes the atmosphere of the Historical
Performance program is particularly encouraging for students to wow each other by applying
all of the things they learn and hear about in class. The influence of visiting artists such as
Richard Egarr has also played a significant role in Michaels development, and he now wonders
whether a radical approach is maybe one of the more historical approaches!

Shinri (Arnie) Tanimoto, now a viola da gamba major in his 1st year of graduate studies, was
introduced to continuo during his time at the Oberlin School of Music by Catharina Meints, one
of the founders of the schools Baroque Performance Institute and a pioneer from yesteryear as
he put it. Arnie recalled being taught by Cathy how to transition from modern to baroque cello
playing through a holistic approach which blended continuo and technique. Cathy would refer to

33

the Corrette treatise, topics such as varying articulation, matching the soloist, affect and rhetoric,
and was particularly concerned with strong versus weak notes. Arnie also studied for two years at
the Eastman School of Music and was profoundly influenced there by Paul ODette and Christel
Thielmann. There Arnie was encouraged to shape the bass, use lots of messa di voce, and
accentuate the rhetoric through articulation. He believes this emphasis on expression is an
identifiable characteristic of Eastman early music students. Arnie does not recall ever being able
to attend a class specifically for continuo however.

Pippa Macmillan, double bassist, was introduced to early music at the Royal Academy of Music
in London, taking part in numerous performances including over 30 Bach Cantata performances
with leaders such as Rachel Podger and Margaret Faultless and conductors including John Eliot
Gardiner. Pippa recalls being asked by Ms. Podger many times, over and over, during her first
week on baroque bass to play with lighter bow strokes! Similar guidance would often come from
lead violinists, but apart from a sectional at Dartington summer school with Joe Crouch back in
the day Pippa never had a baroque rehearsal taken by a cello or bass player.

Sarah Cunningham was immersed in renaissance and consort music for viol from a young age,
and was a student when the early music revival began in the 1970s. People had been playing
gambas all the time and it was just coming back as a thing, she remembers, but suddenly we
were all very excited about the baroque violin which nobody had really heard. Baroque music
was late for me! At the Longy School of Music many harpsichordists were trickling back from
studies with Gustav Leonhardt, so the bowed-bass players were thinking a lot about articulation
and blending with the keyboard. Gian Lyman Silbiger was Sarahs first gamba teacher, who

34

instilled in her the importance of a strong harmonic understanding of music. Sarah then studied
in The Hague with Wieland Kuijken and had exposure to Gustav Leonhardt and Anner Bylsma,
suggesting that in the first instance Im a product of the Dutch school. After a period back in
Boston doing lots of nuts and bolts work with Gian Lyman, Sarah then moved to London in
1981, a scene of early music-making she describes as less pure than the Dutch, but also less
stuck in the rules. The English have a better way of letting the music tell them what to do!
There she worked a lot with Monica Huggett and all the major period ensembles.

Sarah reflected on particularly important ideas that she developed early in her career, such as the
relative weights of different harmonies, as well as harmonic tension and release, as discussed by
Quantz and CPE Bach. She was taught by Gian Lyman to analyze everything! and to know
where you are going harmonically. Harmony is now the first thing she looks for, suggesting that
I did go through a phase of analyzing on multiple levels with my little pencil. It was beaten into
me so now its second nature. Additionally, Sarah put great importance on understanding the
tempo, character, dance rhythm and rhetoric, describing awareness of the phonemes, morphemes,
words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs in music as a key for people to be able to work it out
themselves.

All four participants enjoyed considerable exposure to eminent members of the early music
community via their undergraduate educations, benefiting from frequent discussion, rehearsals
and performances under their guidance. The participants described varying degrees of
specialized instruction in bowed-continuo playing however, some being left to their own devices

35

more than others.

4.3 Historical Source Material

Participants were asked to describe their familiarity with historical source material, such as
treatises, in order to gain an understanding of how much focus is being placed on this material as
part of an education in early music. Michael declared that he has a lot more exploring to do.
He has spent time considering the keyboard realizations of Tonelli, as they advocate a
considerable boldness. Michael speaks French and has become quite familiar with the Corrette
treatise, which praises the cello for its loudness and sonority versus the viola da gamba, while
suggesting the using of doubling open and stopped strings to maximize volume. Corrette is
writing around the time of Rameau, Michael suggests, a composer which benefits from a superbeefy bassline. Valerie Waldens chapter on accompaniment from 100 Years of Violoncello: A
History of Technique and Performance 1740-1840 has been an invaluable resource, but Michael
believes there is so much reading that he looks forward to finding the time for some day,
suggesting that he has an awareness of some of the continuo options that are out there but not the
details.

Arnie, as mentioned, was exposed to Corrette via Catharina Meints in Oberlin, but many more
treatises during his time at Eastman in Paul ODettes performance practice class, in which
students received a giant packet of snippets from works by writers such as Quantz, Muffat and
Montclair. Arnie suggests that he will still look at his treatise packet from Eastman when
confronted with a problem, will occasionally refer to Muffat for bowings, and also has gained a

36

great deal from the Simpson Division Viol text. Despite reeling off these names, Arnie feels that
he doesnt look up sources as much as he should.

Pippa describes having an awareness of many treatises but has yet to engage with them. Her
preference so far has been to rely on ensemble directors, trusting in what they ask for
stylistically, learning from lots of older and more experienced players, who she acknowledges
may or may not be familiar with treatises, as well as learning by watching others.
Sarah Cunningham describes it as being interesting and fun to read treatises. For her it was a
starting point, but she says it can also be king of baffling if you are look for direct answers. My
experience is that its really good to leave them for a while, then come back to the treatises after
a period of work and go ohhhh thats what it meant! Sarah mentioned that prefaces,
introductions, markings on manuscripts and tempo indications reveal more and more information
about the music gradually the more time you spend with them. Another important element to her
progress was the sense of collaboration, in that every early musician she has worked with or
listened to has contributed to her understanding of the source material. Sarah suggests that with
treatises keep in mind that its one persons view at one place in time. We cant apply these
remarks categorically to everything.

4.4 Performance material

The next stage of the interview asked participants to relate their opinions and preferences
regarding performance material, specifically the choice of instruments, bows and manuscripts
with which to perform music of a particular historical period of style. Michael suggested that he

37

began the Juilliard program at a time when he didnt care so much about these details, and was
more excited about the sound than historical correctness. He indicated that the program perhaps
has a reputation of being too performance based, but that he didnt think that was the case.
Michael was adamant that the people who have taught here have proved that you can make
things sound more awesome by being more scholarly. He feels he still has a lot of catching up
to do, realizing that no matter how hard we try no performance here at Juilliard is maybe more
than 50% historical. Ive never played a bass de violon, and I play a lot of pre-1690 music on a
cello with a modern neck and fingerboard! Michael now believes that the performance material
can make a big difference, including the choice of bow. He feels he is in a good position
regarding the use of historical manuscripts, claiming that he is much better at reading them while
his modern chamber orchestra, A Far Cry based in Boston, freak out when they see an old
Corelli edition! I now react negatively to modern editions.

Michael also reflected on the differences, whether creative, aesthetic or practical, which occur
with the use of historical performance material. While acknowledging that we often print our
manuscript editions on a laser printer, he used the following anecdote:

I went to MOMA the other day and looked at Starry Night. I really looked at it. It was
awesome. I feel a little bit the same way with manuscripts; youre in contact with the real
thing. We are playing Bach Passions now and reading off Baerenreiter. Would there be
another layer of depth reading off original parts? Modern editions are another layer of
convenience that prevents you from being in a more historical mindset.

38

Michael also spoke of performances being influenced by the physicality and personality of a
performer to such an extent that national styles are perhaps impossible to recreate accurately. He
suggested people play almost how they look or are built; there is only so much you can change
about that! I play ice hockey, maybe thats why I play scratchy and punchy. From our dance
classes Ive realized that the French were trained to use their bodies in very elegant ways. Maybe
its one and the same thing; a persons physicality and national style.

Arnie suggested that viol players, like harpsichordists, are perhaps the pickiest about
performance material: The viol repertory is so huge and goes across so many borders; therefore
I try to by picky with what instrument I use. The reality is though that Im stuck with an English
model converted to have the seventh French string on the bottom. In the end I dont really care.
The person I idolize most is Paolo Pandolfo who uses a late 17th century instrument and plays
anything on it! Arnie values the musical content and meaning more than anything, but tries to
incorporate the right things such as bowings, the instrument and manuscripts. He always uses
historical manuscripts, usually from IMSLP, the free online music library, but he doesnt always
trust it. His goal is to transcend style like Steven Isserlis, who he believes is one artist that is
convincing to matter which musical genre he chooses to perform.

Similar to Michael, Pippa didnt use to value the question of instruments and bows as much as
she does now. While still acknowledging the overall importance of attitude she says while the
instrument and bow is just the medium, it is a crucial part of getting further along the path of
recreating something the composer would have been familiar with. Pippa suggests there is
definitely much more scope for using different types of double basses, violones, tunings, as it

39

creates a very different resonance, especially in smaller groups like Vivaldi. He would have used
a three string bass, which makes the instrument freer, less constrained. Pippa also suggested the
possibility of using 8 instead of 16 pitch (16 being another octave lower than 8), as opinions
differ as to whether strings were capable of going that low and sounding good. She believes that
as a bass player it is hard to justify using just one instrument, but that there is of course the
practical element of touring internationally or having more than one instrument on stage at a
time. Pippa looks forward to doing more research to be able to use the right instrument at the
right time, and to use plain gut strings, hoping that one day as a section principal she might be
able to encourage others to do the same.

Sarah Cunningham is very committed to playing from facsimiles, suggesting that the visual
information speaks a lot, whereas a transcription means that all sorts of decisions have already
been made for you. Sarah acknowledges the limits of mastering too many instruments or
specializing too much, but says there are also merits in breadth of ability. She doesnt agree with
banning people from certain repertoire if they dont have the right equipment, and would
encourage a saxophone ensemble to play Purcell if they wanted! Sarah prioritizes a convincing
performance of any music over the material concerns, declaring to be not a tremendous devotee
of original antique instruments. They didnt play old instruments back then, they were new!
Maybe particularly with gambas, as the inherent structure doesnt survive the centuries as well, a
lot of the old instruments have been through so much! Sarah enjoys having worked with living
makers to engage in a dialogue of give and take to get what she needs from an instrument. She
also suggests its hard to keep a lot of instruments in good playing order. With bows, Sarah
advocates being selective and intuitive as to what works, commenting that if Im trying a bow

40

that seems to be right for the period and its not working, maybe its not a good bow or not right
for me. One doesnt want to give up too quickly though, as persistence can be met with rewards.
In relation to strings choice in particular, Sarah commented that we are not immune to fads, and
should take them with a grain of salt.
Also of importance were pitch levels, with Sarah suggesting that the flexibility we expect from
ourselves is kind of insane. Her standard pitch is 415, but enjoys going to the French pitch of
392Hz, claiming it is easier to be a tone apart than a half tone if a performer occasionally has to
swap back to modern music. Sarah is keen to investigate the recent claim that 432Hz resonates
particularly well with humans, but concluded that any instrument will be more stable when kept
at a given pitch, and that this reliability is most important.

4.5 Interpretation

Perhaps the most important aspect of the interviews, this section aimed to focus on the way
participants interpret continuo off the page. Michael suggested that so much is instinct, for
better or worse. I play to have fun! Maybe thats ok, but playing basslines is really fun. He
referred to continuo playing as like developing a superpower, using the wonderful variety
possible with a baroque bow and gut strings to make every bar a little bit different. Michael
mentioned stepwise versus skip-wise notes progressions as being a clue to the character of the
music; the more skipping, the jauntier it can be, the more step-wise the more legato despite the
numerous exceptions! One issue that Michael has grappled with recently has been section
playing in a continuo group when trying to convey variety and exceptions to the rule to a whole
group of players. Giving up your musical ego to play with someone is tough, he says, but

41

playing with Phoebe [in Harvard Baroque] was easy. I wanted to copy her as exactly as
possible I love the jazz aspect, where all the different personalities combine into a gumbo pot
and it comes out sounding awesome. I struggle as a section leader with how strongly to impose
my own interpretation. Its all just our own opinion; therefore its really hard to decide.
Michael has recently been experimenting with the realization of chords on the cello. He has
received lots of positive feedback, including from visiting luminaries such as Fabio Biondi. He
wonders what Masaaki Suzuki, conductor of the upcoming St John Passion performance with
Juilliard415, will say in response to his experiments, suggesting that he will probably start with
more and see how Suzuki reacts to the first few. Michael has begun trying to achieve more
fluency in reading figures, expressing long-held amazement at what harpsichordists are able to
do: If there is a 5b chord, I can say to myself oh ok Ill just play a tritone! Its actually really
easy to do on a cello, so its cool to feel that transferring into my playing. He has been
experimenting with double-stops (multiple notes played simultaneously across different strings)
in order to add richness to the sound, even in soft spots. Michael commented on the richness of
Bachs harmony, which makes it easy to know when using chords might be appropriate for a
special effect. Generally speaking, he feels that chordal realization makes for very exciting
possibilities beyond the basic strong versus weak mantra. He is aware of a sense of risk-taking
when exploring this technique, and worries that people might think of it as juts showing off or
being cute or bold , and says its telling that he hasnt yet head a recording with chordal bowedcontinuo playing.

Polite continuo is a concept that Michael rejects, suggesting that he has never heard a cello
section that played too loudly. Of course he advocates being aware of balance issues however,

42

particularly with less powerful singers or melodic instruments. The researcher enquired into his
recent continuo experiences, and Michael reflected on the many levels of understanding that are
going on; Its not just the harmonies, but how the text goes with it. As well as beginning to
explore chordal techniques such as double-stops, Michael is attempting arpeggiation, suggesting
that it can do a huge amount to increase the energy and momentum of a piece. He is interested
in an apparent knowledge gap between the bastarda diminution tradition of the late 17th century
and the secco accompaniment tradition which is well documented in the early to mid-19th
century.

Arnie immediately referred to the figures as the source of interpretive guidance, helping him to
find the good, the bad and the crunchiest notes. He also tries to respect beat hierarchy and
insists one must always react to what other people are doing. Arnie was not sure how much
national styles change his approach at the conceptual level all that much. Of course ingal in
French music, but otherwise Maybe little details. Embellishments maybe. On a musical level,
like phrasing, Im not sure if it changes for Bach vs. Couperin. Im more inclined to embellish in
French music, which is where I think I feel most comfortable.

Arnie referred to the common notion that you dont need to do anything with Bach because its
all there. He felt that this was true during his recent role as principal cello of Orchestra II in the
St Matthew Passion, but has appreciated hearings his colleagues use chords in the recit
accompaniment. He did embellish the melodic gamba part however, suggesting it would
otherwise have been very repetitive. In Italian music, especially Vivaldi, Arnie believes that
embellishment is necessary, suggesting that there is no way you can get away without it for a

43

melody, and basslines can be a bit like that too. He reflected on the technique of his previous
gamba teacher Christel Thielmann, who used the gamba like a lirone in slow movements with
thick chords. Arnie suggests that he is more comfortable on the gamba with these ideas. He feels
that historical periods, more than national styles, give rise to stark differences in basslines, such
as the contrast between Castello to Vivaldi to Boccherini. Arnies taste is to be very articulate,
use lots of shaping, especially with long notes, to toss off unimportant notes and attempt to create
a sense of expectation with the shaping of more important notes. He does however value the
notion of being true to the composers intentions, rather than trying to put my own stamp on it.
Pippa insists that you have got to be aware of the function of that particular bassline or phrase in
the group as a whole, how you can support the upper lines, the harmony, shaping through the
harmony and shaping rhythmically. She also spoke about the technique of bassline
simplification;
Some people do a lot of simplification on the double bass and leave more to the cellist.
This means leaving out less important notes. Sometimes I'll play all the notes but make
quick ones almost inaudible. I'm definitely still playing around; it will take a lifetime to
learn this! Quantz and others talk about simplification. You have to look at the music and
look at the instrument you have got, as well as the skill of the musicians. A lot of
composers must have not had the best musicians available to play their music. Bach for
example didn't have a full time violone player. A less skilled player therefore maybe
wouldn't have played all the notes. This is speculation but food for thought. The music is
often quite difficult. You can also consider if it's really necessary to play all the notes, like
when you have a cello and a bassoon. Maybe you don't want bassline to be too heavy or

44

active. It might also depend on the size of the space and ensemble.

Pippa described the differing opinions of the role of the double bass in an ensemble, suggesting
that some people think that the double bass is in control, while some think they are supportive in
their role and shouldn't get in the way. She likes a balance between being present and not
overpowering. Pippa reflected on the origins of these ideas, commenting that;

There are so many things to consider in HP, who the performers were, what they were
playing My knowledge has come from seeing others play, conversations, and seeing
how effective it can be.

Her understanding of bassline notation comes from experience. If Pippa hasnt seen music of a
certain style before, such as Couperin, she realizes that her ability to interpret it is very limited.
While she says this is generally true of French music, which she doesnt have as much
experience performing, with other composers such as Bach or Handel she has played with such a
variety of people that she feels confident about the bassline just by looking at the page.
Sarah Cunningham spoke passionately about this topic. She suggested that:

you want to find the particular character of each piece and movement. Thats the whole
fun of it. I totally believe in the whole primal quality and importance of the bassline, that
it can really drive and shape the whole thing. Its a mystery or puzzle. Im very
preoccupied with direction, finding where the bassline is going. Thats really where the
whole piece is going. There are moments where the first note of a piece isnt really going

45

anywhere, its just an announcement, but there are times where you should know exactly
where you are going.

Sarah described phrasing as it relates to breath, suggesting that it is much more comfortable for
the listening if the music breaths. Her understanding of this breathing quality has come from long
exposure to early music as well as her experience performing and experimentation over many
years. Sarah insists on the importance of developing feelings of harmony, knowing the
tendencies of the various degrees of whatever mode one finds themselves in. Sarah intimately
described the color palette options that she has available to her;

The gamba bow can pluck and release. It can have almost no beginning, a dish shape, or
a floating sound. I think about what I can do to the middle of a note, how you shape it
once you have begun it. Some pieces or some movements need richness, groundedness of
the bass, whereas sometimes the rhythm is more important. Playing Couperin basslines is
a total thing unto itself, as with Bach!

4.6 Future developments

Participants were asked to describe the way which they see the practice of bowed-continuo
developing into the future, both from a performance, research and educational perspective.
Michael hopes that more and more professional opportunities will arise for performers, with
more and more companies embracing the possibilities offered by research into historical practice.
He reflected on the often minimal risk-taking in the profession, and hopes that further research
and experimentation can lead to new ways of playing that will grab peoples attention. Michael

46

wishes that people knew all the skill and ability that goes into continuo describing practitioners
as an unsung hero. He pointed out that often the orchestra and conductor appreciate the
difficulty of the role, and that even in historical payrolls he continuo players are paid more
because they have to attend more rehearsals. He suggests that this means continuo players are the
ones who really know the music and that while a bad continuo team can bring down a
performance, a good one might never be noticed for their work in complementing the drama of
the melodic instruments or singers.

Arnie hopes the future can be represented by people such as his colleagues at school. He sees the
role of a bowed-bass player is to make the bass line sing, whereas the plucked instruments focus
on rhythm and the keyboard complements harmony. Arnie likes to treat bass like a melody,
especially through ornamentation. He leaves artists such as Jordi Savall and Paolo Pandolfo who
make him think Wow, am I allowed to do that?! In the end, Arnie believes we will never really
know how to produce a truly historical performance, and instead wishes to prioritize the quality
of the musical performance. He suggests that studying treatises is the most important thing
students can do, claiming that all the courses these days assign other peoples articles about
treatises! HP should be about coming from behind and working forward. We should read them
ourselves! We need to learn, not just be taught like modern players, or else the field might get a
little crusty. Arnie feels there is a strong future for bowed-bass players;

there might just be a spectrum, but I think there will always be specialists. You can't be
good at everything! That's why what we do is important... Hopefully more people will
embrace HP, all the study people in the past have done, that they appreciate it and also the

47

context. Missing the context makes it less accessible. HP makes the function of music
more accessible again!

Pippa believes she still has a lot to learn, particularly with regard to choosing the correct
instruments and the technique for simplifying basslines. She loves to work with different cellists,
usually finding herself playing in a professional setting with much more experienced players,
enjoying the opportunity to copy them and learn stuff. She thinks one day she might question
some approaches more, but for now is content to learn and copy. Pippa feels these ideas should
be part of education, suggesting that a big part of why she enrolled at Juilliard was because of the
instruction offered in violone and Viennese Bass, which are things practiced by very few people
in the UK. Pippa hopes to change this. While she acknowledges that many of these ideas have
been tried before, she would like to one day see a whole section of an orchestra using Viennese
tuning, believing this would have a huge influence on the overall sound. Pippa would like to see
innovation propelled at the concert level, rather than just in research; I think people havent
challenged the concepts or changed their attitudes and expectations enough. Some period
orchestras still dont specify which gut strings to use!

Sarah Cunningham sees no limits to the expressive possibilities and would love to see more
development in that direction: It's a fascinating and delicate balance of how much a continuo
player can do without dominating. I sometimes compare it to good parenting. You are kind of in
control but kind of making the child feel they are in control. It's fascinating. I think its a
metaphor for relationships in general. Be present and do what you need to do without being to
dominating.

48

4.7 Analysis

These interviews provide a brief and exciting glimpse into the hearts and minds of bowedcontinuo players at different stages of their careers; the student, emerging professional and
seasoned artist. All share a similar passion for integrity and a progressive approach to bowedcontinuo practice, revealing many recurring themes that will warrant further investigation.

It is clear to the researcher however that there are considerable limits to this line of questioning.
While the many vivid and interesting ideas and anecdotes offered by the participants will no
doubt be useful in the creation of a scholarly language suitable for a large scale research project
into this practice, the recorded material generated by these interviews is not specific or detailed
enough to provide useful or compelling conclusions into the technical and stylistic nuances of
bowed-continuo practice. Many of the responses use musical jargon, the meaning of which may
well be clear to readers from the field, but which may need to be translated, perhaps in a
glossary, for non-musicians. Significant paraphrasing was used in this paper to reduce the length
of some responses, however ideally responses will be specific enough to be able to be included
in full in order to illustrate and clarify a stylistic or technical point of bowed-continuo practice.

All participants were associated with The Juilliard School, and all four are close colleagues of
the researcher, which undoubtedly had an influence over their willingness and openness to
respond. A deferential and polite style of questioning was used, which may be most appropriate
in the context of interviews with participants with no prior connection to the researcher, however

49

the potential does exist much a more probing and aggressive style, perhaps once familiarity has
been established, in order to more thoroughly interrogate some of the issues. As only four
participants were interviewed, the current data set cant begin to make definitive conclusions,
however certain trends have begun to emerge that may be of use in the complete data set. All
student participants referred to their apparent lack of knowledge, lack of experience and
unfamiliarity with historical sources. Whether this is due to want of modesty or a genuine lack of
scholarly work, it will be interesting to see how these responses are reflected by profession
participants. Certainly in the case of Sarah Cunningham, it is clear that an examination of
treatises and a continuing reassessment of her performance materials has been an ongoing and
fundamental part of her career. Her discussion of the importance of harmony in her interpretation
was also revealing as to the level of proficiency required in musical theory for success at the
highest level. While all three student respondents did mention harmony, especially figured bass,
as helpful, it was clear that their ability to utilize figures is still in its early stages.

While the narrative approach to documenting these interviews provides an interesting survey of
attitudes and values in the community of participants, in this case bowed-continuo players
associated with The Juilliard School, it is clear that detailed and truly insightful conclusions will
be reached only through discussing and working with practitioners within a specific context of
the field, and preferably at the instrument. While an interview such as those summarized above
may be very useful to understand the background and philosophy behind each participants
practice, it will be ungainly to recount these in as much detail once the number of participants
increases, creating the necessity for careful editing, selection of important illustrative quotes and
a focus on drawing conclusions and creating hypotheses from the results.

50

None of the interviews, likely due to the questioning style, were able to offer specific
conclusions as to how bowed-continuo is practiced, either from a technical or stylistic
perspective. Key technical areas that were identified include articulation, ornamentation, figured
bass, the role of the continuo player and the challenges created by historical instruments and
manuscripts, however the interviews were not able to extend to examining he problems in detail
or offering solutions to these issues. Stylistically, it was clear amongst the students that
familiarity with a particular national style meant that they were more comfortable performing
that style with some degree of historical accuracy than others. Michaels observation that
national style can often be overridden by personal taste and the performers own physicality is
important and will warrant further discussion. An incorporation of globalization theory into these
discussions will be useful in order to examine how the current understanding of bowed-continuo
technique and style flows around the globe, as well as to identify possible contemporary
schools of performance, comparable to the French, Italian, German and English schools of the
18th century.

51

Chapter 5: Conclusion

This methodology presents an ambitious combination of theory and practical steps with the aim
of gaining deep insight into current bowed-based continuo practice. These methods will be
further nuanced and the theoretical framework refined as required during the course of a doctoral
program. It is has become clear that the scope of the project must be narrowed in order to
produce useful results that might be of didactic value to the bowed-continuo community. The
most important element of this will be the creation of a ethnographic fieldwork method at the
instrument, with the guidance of a specialist in the field, that can document individual
participants interpretation of some highly illustrative bowed-continuo examples at a bar-by-bar
level, allowing for detailed comparison and discussion of the key issues such as articulation,
ornamentation, harmony and the role of performer. Clarification of methods is vital to the
success of the project overall. This initial exploration of the possibilities and limitations of the
interview method has therefore been successful in making the researcher aware of the
complexity and high demands of study at the doctoral scale.

From a theoretical perspective, it has become clear that a combination of the various theoretical
areas described in Chapter 2 is unusual in the field of ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology will be
the focus of this project to ensure its overall coherency, however it is clear that a nested
method involving a combination of perspectives across different scales makes the project
unique, namely the use of globalization at the macro level and hermeneutics at the micro level.
During the course of this project the researcher has encountered difficulties finding relevant
ethnomusicological examples of similar studies, particularly involving Western musical

52

traditions, that may help shape these methods, however it is presumed that specialists at the
various prospective institutions for graduate study will be of assistance in this regard.

At the time of writing this proposal had been submitted along with an application to six different
doctoral programs in the United Kingdom, resulting in five interview offers, several informal
acceptances and one formal offer of an academic place. While the response has been uniformly
positive, the major issue identified was the fact that up to three PhDs may be required to
satisfactorily examine the various aspects of this proposal; a review of historical evidence,
ethnomusicological fieldwork and a practical element in order to demonstrate findings. Firstly, it
is the researchers opinion that a survey of historical materials that provide conclusive evidence
for bowed-continuo players is possible as a chapter of this project, due to the fact that only a
limited number of sources refer to the role and practice of bowed bass instruments in the 18th
century. Secondly, if the ethnomusicological fieldwork can be narrowed down to focus on
specific and highly illustrative examples of bowed-continuo parts from the 18th century, it is
likely that the results can be channeled into a detailed and useful set of conclusions. One
possibility is to confine discussion and demonstration by participants to just one or several
composers, such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi, obviously some of the most commonly
encountered and demanding for bowed-continuo players. Thirdly, the researcher, an aspiring
professional cellist, intends to combine the results of this work into his own practice on an
ongoing basis with the intention of becoming a specialist in this area. Consistent practical
experimentation and demonstration of the findings is therefore inevitable and will be a valuable
addition to this research project.

53

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Additional treatises listed at:

http://www.greatbassviol.com/treatises.html
http://earlymusicsources.com//home

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