Periodic Reporting for period 1 - POM (A Performance History of Morris Dancing: Music and Musicians, 1550-1700)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-03-01 do 2023-02-28
The project addressed the following objectives:
1. To identify a body of tunes used for Morris dancing in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
2. To understand the role that musicians played in developing the musical style and level of participation in the Morris dance during the seventeenth century.
3. To examine literary sources which describe the music of Morris dancing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to identify a performance style.
4. To examine connections between the current practice of Morris dancing and the earliest musical sources by collaborating with contemporary Morris dancing groups in the dissemination of the research and exploring a lineage to the current repertoire.
At the conclusion of this project, some important findings have been made which change our understanding of how morris dancing music developed over time for public performances:
- in the earliest days of morris dancing processions, they were part of a large variety of performances that travelled in processions through the streets of London. These processions preferred loud outdoor instruments whose sounds could carry over large distances and attract big crowds to come and participate in the event. This means morris dances didn't necessarily have their own instrumentation or music, but were performed to the music already being played in these processions.
- As we approach the seventeenth century, morris dancers begin to form part of seasonal festival performances around the British Isles. During this time some instruments become associated with the dance more clearly, such as the tabor pipe and drum, and fiddles. Some of these dances could have been danced in a round and there are a wide body of tunes from the period which are designed for this type of dance movement. There are similarities between this style and the French morris style written about by Thoinot Arbeau. Theatre companies also begin to represent morris dancing on the London stages, showing that it is a participatory form of dancing, whimsical, and designed for community enjoyment of music and spectacle.
- In the seventeenth century some prominent performers shape the public understanding of morris dancing, such as William Kemp, the famous actor from Shakespeare's playing company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men. From this time onward the tabor pipe and drum become iconically associated with morris dancing. The morris makes its way into song culture and becomes part of the broader story of European vernacular music culture.
- By the end of the seventeenth century, a great number of likely morris tunes are compiles in John Playford's printed tune books with accompanying dance steps, 'The English Dancing Master' (multiple editions form 1652-1698). This demonstrates how integrated morris dancing is within vernacular music culture by this time. It is a vital part of community building and music-making.
The 'Ubiquitous Music' sympsosium was a great success and has formed a new network of leading scholars working on aspects of early modern music research which provide an alternative view to educated music philosophies and music composition and arrangement processes attached to the upper echelons of society.
Many of the findings of this project have wider societal implications for the folk and historical music and dance industries in the UK and Europe. The demonstration of broad public engagement with morris dancing during the early modern period challenges the assumptions of the dance form that have dominated the twentieth century. The research shows that morris dancing was inclusive, participatory and enjoyed by many. It was an incredibly important community activity throughout the regions of the British Isles.