Name for new early music duo

Subject: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 04:05 PM

A musical friend and I have just started rehearsing with a view to playing folk clubs, festivals, workshops in schools, etc. We are playing medieval, renaissance, and baroque tunes and songs on authentic (and some modern) instruments, plucked, bowed and blown, as well as singing in two parts in Middle and modernised English. We are particularly interested in dance music and in the considerable overlap in style and content between music that is labelled 'early' and that which is labelled 'traditional'. Period instruments will include shawms, lutes, rebec, gittern, recorders, gem's horn, etc. We may well experiment with modern instruments playing early music: mandola, banjo, steel strung guitar in odd tunings. We are both folkies, neither classically trained (this music tends to be played by those who are), play this music because we love it, and our primary intention will be to play in the spirit of the music with both energy and finesse while being thoroughly entertaining.

But what to call ourselves? Ideally it will be a name that makes what we do obvious (even if only to those with a little knowledge of early music), that is memorable, and that doesn't have unhelpful connotations. For example, I like the name Nutmeg and Ginger: it's a renaissance tune, is mentioned in the Ravenscroft song, Of All The Birds, and is a staple of renaissance cooking. However, I'm told that nutmeg is also a footballing term and ginger has other connotations. Orpheus was a key symbolic figure in renaissance music, so a name that conjures him up? But then I can imagine school pupils easily turning Orpheus into orofice.

So ... any suggestions are most welcome: perhaps assocations with tunes or people of the period(s) in question, though not necessarily.

Mudcat has come up trumps so often for me in the past. I have my fingers crossed ...

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 04:19 PM

How about'Musicafficta'?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 04:22 PM

Oops - only the one 'f' it's musica ficta isn't it ?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 04:39 PM

GUEST,guest, could you explain that name, please?

(Moderators do ask us to use a consistent name, and not just 'guest'.)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Bainbo
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 04:59 PM

Something Medieval This Way Comes

Baroque of Ages

The Greatest Shawm on Earth.




I'm not being a great deal of help, am I?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:02 PM

Bainbo, those are great, funny names and made me laugh. But, ahem, not quite what we're looking for.

Stower

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:06 PM

Early Daze
B4 Rock
Psaltery of the Earth
Beaten & Bowed

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:08 PM

Mediaevally Yours

Heavy Medievalists

Medieval Reincarnate

Plethora (I love that word!) of (you name it: medievalists, etc.)

RenASongs & more

Pluck & Crow

Okay, I'll stop!**bg**

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Alan Day
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:10 PM

Early to bed
Al

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:15 PM

Oooo, thanks so far. I particularly like RenASongs and Baroque of Ages, though they are specific to a particular period, which I feel we shouldn't do, as we're covering medieval, renaissance and baroque. But thank you, thank you. Keep them coming. Please!

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:20 PM

BarRen Meds

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:35 PM

Names of tunes from the period could be a possibility. How about Mrs Winter's Jump? Any other (better) suggestions?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:40 PM

The Byrd and the Boethius? Mmm, maybe that's too obscure. And probably not very good. You can see why I need help.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:41 PM

I thought "The Bygones" - but Google shows there's already a band with that name playing a very different kind of music out in Pennsylvania.

Your problem is your music straddles a bunch of very different historical periods. I though Methuselah, since he lived a long time, but once again there's already a band with the name.

"Chaucer and After"?

"The Three Century Band"?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: MartinRyan
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:53 PM

Before Our Time

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 05:53 PM

You're right, McGrath, that picking a name not already taken is tricky. Plenty of folks are using the Orpheus name, for example, that I thought may be useful. Chaucer and After - there's a group called The Flying Chaucers, and do we have some material from even a little before Chaucer.

Perhaps a play on the name of an existing band, as Hayseed Dixie and Deaf Shepard have done?

Thanks all so far, it really is much appreciated. Any more suggestions, no matter how off the wall, may well lead us in the right direction.

Thanks again :-)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 06:10 PM

Something with "Musick" in it maybe?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 06:30 PM

I thought something with Musick in, too.

How about Heart's Ease as a name? Here's why:

The tune is made reference to in Act 4, Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, (1597).

"Peter: Musicians, O, musicians, Heart's ease, Heart's ease; O, an you will have me live, play Hearts ease.
Fiddler: Why Hearts ease?
Peter: O, musicians, because my hart itself plays My heart is full of woe; O, play me some merry dump, to comfort me."

It the name of a tune by renaissance composer/lutenist/cittern player Anthony Holborne and also the name of a tune in Playford, baroque period (though the two tunes are unrelated - at least, my ears can't hear a connection), so the name spans two of the three periods we cover.

Wikipedia tells me, "As its name implies, Heartsease has a long history of use in herbalism. It has been recommended, among other uses, as a treatment for epilepsy, asthma, skin diseases and eczema. It has expectorant properties, and so has been used in the treatment of chest complaints such as bronchitis and whooping cough. It is also a diuretic, leading to its use in treating rheumatism and cystitis." So that would cover work in schools that would include general social history around the music - food, medicine, crime, etc.

But is it a good name for a duo?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Micca
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 07:20 PM

Airly Musick?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 07:46 PM

Now what kinda ax-cent is that, Micca? Aussie or ???**bg** I like that, though!

B'Roque RenASongs? (Naw, guess you don't want to sound like broke beggars:-)

Span of Tyme?

Tuppence of Tyme?

Oh, I've got it!! How about TYME SHARES???!!!

This is so much fun! One more:

Behind the Times?

From time to time? (That would be lend itself well to some patter, i.e. one of the duo looking at the other and introducing him as "Time" with that one then intro-ing the other the same way, then "We are from time to time etc..")

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,Girl Fridayomething cryptico
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 08:44 PM

Something cryptic perhaps? Like Aaron A Bowed String?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,erbert
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 08:47 PM

maybe something hinting at the more morbid aspects of the social history
of the early music centuries..



Dark Age Minstrel Dance Musick


Dance and Songs of Brutality & Torture from the Dreadful Dark Ages


Plague Pestilence & Plucking Psalteries



The Black Death Minstrel Show






that kinda thing should hook the kids attention in primary school music workshops

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 08:58 PM

I like Heart's Ease. Why shouldn't a duo be called that?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: agingcynic
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 09:06 PM

Howlin' Beowuff

(port guzzling partly to blame for this)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: frogprince
Date: 28 Feb 10 - 10:00 PM

Golden Olden

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 01:28 AM

Dowland2Dylan

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Little Robyn
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 01:55 AM

I like John's 'Psaltery of the Earth'.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Chris Green
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 04:11 AM

How about Toots and the Curtals? Or King Crumhorn?

On another note, be careful when marketing yourself to schools as 'early music'. They tend to read it as 'music for early years' and you can often find yourself singing madrigals and playing saltarellos to highly bemused 4-year olds!

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Chris Green
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 04:13 AM

Btw, where are you based? I do early music stuff as well as mediaeval banquets and the like with my partner and we occasionally need to dep stuff out. Any chance you could pm me with some contact details?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 04:22 AM

Another name for Heartsease is Pansy. Perhaps best avoided when it has 'other' connotations in the UK.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 05:04 AM

Yes, but people who know what the plant Heartsease looks like are not going to tranpose the connotations, surely. I don't go round calling people names, but if I did I wouldn't say 'you heartsease'.

Anyone (maybe not many of us) who enjoy Playford dance, will know the dance and tune.

It doesn't tell people who are not 'in the know', so you'd have to add a sentence under your name, maybe.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: bubblyrat
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 05:54 AM

The Early Byrds

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 06:49 AM

eariesque?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 07:22 AM

The Crying Shawms

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Nicholas Waller
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 07:26 AM

You could attack the problem a bit like one of those old MAD spoof "Do-It_Yourself Newspaper Story" multiple choice things.

List a bunch of instruments you might be using:

Gittern, Lute, Gem's Horn, Crumhorn, Rebec and more

List a number of ways of saying "duo":

Brace, Couple, Duo, Two, Binary, Double, twins etc

List some old musicians by name or type:

Troubadour, Blondel, Tallis, Perotinus Magister, etc

List a bunch of relevant other words:

Dance, Prance, Singers and so on

List some tune or song titles:

Nutmeg and Ginger, Mrs Winter's Jump, Heart's Ease, for instance

And then mix and match like mad to get Rebec Prancing Duo, or Nutmeg Tallis, or Mrs Winter's Blondel Gittern Twins, or Binary Crumhorn.

If that's not enough, add in various mediaeval games, torture practices, famous paintings and plants. You could put each word on a different piece of paper and throw them all in the air and see what landed on the butter dish right side up. Or throw darts at them.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:24 AM

Thank you, thank you all.

GUEST,erbert, I really like The Black Death Minstrel Show. Why is that *so* funny? That would combine a sense of history, music and comedy. Seems ideal to me.

And bubblyrat, I like The Early Byrds, too.

Anyone else agree with Suegorgeous that Heart's Ease is a good name? That way a set with Holborne's 'Hartes ease' followed by the Playford 'Heart's Ease' could become our theme tune, so to speak.

How about something that is purely descriptive that might sound different at a festival or folk club than it would to a teacher or pupil in a school (where we also plan to work). How does The Early Musick Song, Dance and History Company sound? (We are planning to teach children to dance simple pavans, galliards and branles; as well as getting them to sing with us, play some simple instruments, and give them a bit of social history.)

Chris Green, I have PMed you, as requested.

I am very grateful to you all.

Any more suggestions? :-)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Les from Hull
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:30 AM

The Airlie Birds is the name of Hull Rugby Football League Team here in the UK (they used to play in Airlie Street).

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:44 AM

"Early Modern"

~~~ {to explain this suggestion: in Lit Crit, 'Early Modern' is used to mean: 'written in the period post-Chaucer, beginning approx with Skelton & Spenser, when Modern English was replacing Middle English for literary purposes, up to writers of the early-17th century, up to about the Civil Wars'. ~~~ I review regularly for a journal online called Early Modern Literary Studies (google EMLS), in which 90% of the articles & reviews are on Shakespeare. It seems to me that the phrase, with such overtones, would describe both the content and the aspirations of the duo as you describe them.}

Best ~ Michael

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:51 AM

Ah, Michael, thank you. My first idea was to call us Ancient & Modern, for parallel reasons to yours, connected with our aspirations (though I wasn't aware of the meaning of 'early modern' as you explain it.) 'Early Modern' doesn't have the same churchy association as 'Ancient & Modern' (which could sound like we're going to take our material from a hymn book, which isn't quite the idea).

Cheers
Stower

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Mr Red
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 09:29 AM

Go for the clever. It is more memorable. Without any claims to that - I offer:

Baroque-a-roll
Made Evil
Gregorian Chance
Pa Vain
Viol Inst
Dull Simmer (only joking)
Batter & Psaltery
Find Tuned
Green Leaves
Dowland's
Loves Labour's Lust
Azure Like It (including blues?)
Much Adieu

I could go on................

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 09:47 AM

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower - PM
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:24 AM

"Anyone else agree with Suegorgeous that Heart's Ease is a good name? That way a set with Holborne's 'Hartes ease' followed by the Playford 'Heart's Ease' could become our theme tune, so to speak."

Yes. "Heart's Ease" has my vote (if we're voting).

"(We are planning to teach children to dance simple pavans, galliards and branles; as well as getting them to sing with us, play some simple instruments [...]"

Ah, like a child upon a recorder? A sound, but not in governance?

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,surreysingeratwork
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:13 AM

Since no-one has answered the question "How does The Early Musick Song, Dance and History Company sound? " I'll stick my oar in and reply... IMHO its a bit too long winded and somewhat dull and dry, even if it is self descriptive. Haven't come up with anything suitable myself .... but I'll have a think.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:13 AM

Go for a name which is easy to look up on the Internet or in the phone book. Avoid puns, archaic spellings, words nobody uses anymore and other gimmicks.

Picture a school principal who had you two years ago and wants you back, How will she find you?

I suggest something like:

_____________ (insert name of your town, river or region) Early Music

============
I used to work in a public library. Time and again kids would tell me they wanted to read "The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," but they couldn't find it in the catalog. Didn't we have this famous book?

Yes, we did, but the author had decided to be artful and name it 'FROM the Mixed-Up Files..." The thing is, a cute feature like that gets forgotten in the hurly-burly of our busy lives. We go for the nouns.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:17 AM

Heart's Ease wouldn't mean anything to one who doesn't know the song, etc.

I really like the Early Byrds, too!

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:44 AM

How about "Heart's Ease Early Music Duo"?

I like the name "Heart's Ease" even though I don't know the song, although I do sometimes play Renaissance lute music on the guitar. I might even have it in a book, but it didn't ring a bell. I've heard the name applied to a plant but I had no idea it was a pansy. I like pansies, connotations or no. (In German, they're called "Stiefmuetterchen" == "little step-mothers".)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: GUEST,leeneia - PM
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:13 AM

Go for a name which is easy to look up on the Internet or in the phone

"Avoid puns, archaic spellings, words nobody uses anymore and other gimmicks."

You make a good point, but on the other hand, I like all of these things, except gimmicks. One man's gimmick is another man's, err, something.

"I used to work in a public library. Time and again kids would tell me they wanted to read "The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," but they couldn't find it in the catalog. Didn't we have this famous book?

Yes, we did, but the author had decided to be artful and name it 'FROM the Mixed-Up Files..." The thing is, a cute feature like that gets forgotten in the hurly-burly of our busy lives. We go for the nouns."

Do you really think this would be a reason to give the book a different title? "Cute" and "artful" have their place, too. This book title may well have been the first time I ran across the expression "from the files of ...".

Punning names, etc., can wear a bit thin, like anything else, but I think it's good to approach early music and Baroque music with a bit of humor and creativity. I listen to this kind of music a lot, and I don't like the direction things seem to be going, i.e., toward the way the "serious" music business works for the "standard" Classical and Romantic repertoire.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Smedley
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:46 AM

But the Early Byrds (although I like it) wouldn't mean much to anyone under 40. They would just think you couldn't spell 'birds'.

I think one of your dance names might work & be memorably simple:

Galliard.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Nicholas Waller
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 10:55 AM

"Heart's Ease" sounds too much like Heart Disease.

The Black Death Minstrel Show might be thought tasteless by the many people who found the racist nature/overtones of The Black And White Minstrel Show objectionable. Replacing Minstrel with something else - Pavane, Troubadour, Galliard, Crumhorn - might distance it a bit more.

The Black Death Pavane Duo.

Actually, maybe better to avoid "duo" in case you get a third member.

Black Death Danse Macabre might be going too for any tiny tots you intend to deal with.

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Stower
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 11:10 AM

Thanks again, all. Lots of good points to consider here from lots of people.

Nicholas, I do like the name The Black Death Minstrel Show but did wonder about the associations you mention. Minstrel and troubadour both have meanings which are historically more specific than the way they are (often mis)used nowadays (compared to their historical meanings), so if we're going into schools and covering some of the history curriculum we need to get that right, though having it in our name may be a starting point for doing just that.

There already is (or was) a group called Galliard. There used to be one called Golliard (I think). There's also a group called Piva (another dance form). We could choose Saltarello, Trotto, Pavan, or another dance form as a name, but I'm not sure that would mean much to people coming to the music for the first time (a point made similarly above).

The Early Byrds. I like it because of associations with early music, William Byrd and possibly the 1960s band, The Byrds.   

Mmmmm, you might think picking a name might be easy!

If this thread continues - and I hope it will and many thanks to all so far - I may pick out some of (what I consider to be) the best suggestions and ask for marks out of 10. That process may also lead to more suggestions sparked by ones we have already.

Please keep 'em comin'!

Stower

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 05:01 PM

I suspect that with Heart's Ease you'd get people calling you Heartburn. Mind there are worse names than that last - it sticks in the memory, which is what you want with a name. But once again, there's already a HeartBurn Band in Finland... Though I rather doubt you'd be competing with each other!!!

And once again there's a band calling itself Heart's Ease, this time in New England.

Vintage is another word you could play around with. Maybe even "Vintage Musick", but that sounds a bit solemn.

Early Byrds suggested Tallis Men, with a nod to Thomas Tallis. (No good if either of you is a woman though.)

Subject: RE: Name for new early music duo
From: Paco O'Barmy
Date: 01 Mar 10 - 05:43 PM

Show of Hands?