Monthly archives: April 2021

Working on music by Luys Milán

Have started arranging the works of Luys Milán (Luis Milán, Luis de Milán) starting with seven Fantasia, all six of the Pavana and a Tento (Tiento).
I am arranging the pieces so that you do not have to re-tune as the original pieces written for vihuela require a tuning down of the third string by half a tone on ukulele from C to B (on guitar from G to F#). As the vihuela has 6 string courses, there is harmonic analysis required as the ukulele only has 4 strings.
El Maestro was printed in December 1536. It is the first collection of vihuela music in history, and was in part intended for students of the instrument, with scores presented in grades from simple to complex so that vihuelists could proceed from elementary to harder pieces.

Here’s what my workspace looks like while I’m arranging music (in this photo, a villancico by Luys Milan from 1536). I try to work from the original folio as shown (El Maestro is 200 pages long). I also try the fingering on my ukulele (not in the photo as it’s hung around my neck) and adjust the arrangement or put in some fingering tips. Yes, I have an old fashioned mechanical metronome which I’ve used for decades. It takes from 1 to 4 hours per page of music, depending on the complexity. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about this process … the software you see is MuseScore.

PS. The small rocket ship is a figurine based on the Tintin books “Destination Moon” and “Explorers on the Moon”. The silver coffee spoon with my initial R on it is a Dutch tradition and this spoon was given to me when I was just one year old and is expected to last my lifetime.

Update as of May 8, 2021 — Four books of arrangements of Milan’s music are now complete and available (click on an image to see an expanded view) …