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One of the pieces we will be playing at The Company of Fifers and Drummers on February 28 for the By A Route Obscure concert will be an arrangement of a 14th century Italian dance called Saltarello. It is fairly famous in the early music scene. A really great version of this was recorded by the band Dead Can Dance. Here’s a clip:
After a few rehearsals, some of us have already put this catchy tune into our heads, whistling and humming it away.
Saltarello will actually start our concert revealing our mixed ensemble including fifes with winds and percussion. Back in my UConn days, I had the fortune of playing with the Storrs Collegium Musicum. Recorders, crumhorns, the rauschpfeife, and racketts were among some of the instruments that captured my intrigue along with the mystique of playing the wonderful music from middle ages and the renaissance. I always felt that these instruments would combine well with the fife.
Sadly, I am no longer associated with a group of this caliber (and even more sadly, the use of amazing and expensive instruments), but I have always imagined that an early music band could be simulated with a mix of modern day instruments and….the fife. I look forward to performing this in February.
