Setting the tone

So you've decided to use several instruments together to play your monophonic song or dance. Perhaps one instrument will take the lead on the tune all the time, or perhaps this will switch around. So the next 'obvious' step for the experienced consort player is that you should 'set' the tune, i.e., write some 'harmony' lines for the other instruments to play. Right?

Again, this is not a bad instinct per se, but contains many potential pitfalls. I'll talk about those in a future post (précis: think counterpoint rather than harmony)  but first want to discuss some other options that should perhaps be considered first, both as being simpler, and also often more justifiable. So assuming one instrument at any time is going to be carrying the tune, what could the other instrumentalists do?

(As in previous posts, the following is an attempt to summarise what we have learnt over a long period of playing, and listening to others play, this music. For some it might seem very obvious, but thinking back, it was not so obvious to us when we started out, so I hope it may be useful to others!)

1. Drone on the tonic (if in doubt, this is almost certainly the last note of the tune). Nearly all medieval tunes stay in one mode and sound good with a drone; indeed as I have discussed before, instruments with an in-built drone (e.g. hurdy-gurdy and bagpipe) were popular, and many others were probably played, by default, with a sounding drone (e.g. fiddle and harp). It makes an instantly recognisable sound that differs from renaissance and later harmony. If you are not used to it, it is a good way to educate the ear into enjoying 'tension' and 'resolution' (e.g. from a second interval to unison or seventh to octave).
2. Make the drone rhythmic. This is a great way to add some life and variety. If you are feeling a need for a drum, try this first. It is also a useful way to gain practice in being able to vary emphasis and attack in phrasing (however your instrument allows) without having to worry about the notes. For plucked strings (and actual drums for that matter) don't forget damping as a way to emphasise or change the pulse.
3. Add a drone and a fifth. Generally a tune that works with a drone will also sound good with the fifth added sometimes: either together with the drone if the instrument allows; or changing to the fifth for some phrases; or using the tonic and fifth in a  rhythmic pattern.
4. Add a 'movable' drone. Okay, by definition a drone is the same note throughout the piece. So this is a step towards 'setting' the tune. Listening to the tune with a drone, there will often be sections of a bar or longer that stay in 'tension'. Changing the drone to a neighbouring note of the tonic for those sections will usually work. I sometimes call this the 'home and away' approach, as propounded by the fantastic harpist Bill Taylor, who links it with the intriguing 'binary measures' found in the Robert ap Huw harp manuscript. For a more scholarly discussion of how this might be justified by existing medieval polyphonic sources see this article by Margo Schulter. 
5. Simplify or elaborate the tune... see my next post!

Three final points about drones: all of the above are possible for recorder players if you have one in your ensemble; all are good places to start if accompanying a singer; and I'd also recommend them as an approach to 15th century dance music as well as medieval music.