...From afar people visited, laughing and dancing about as troubadours sang and played their merry tunes. ~A Medieval Yule~
A medieval themed blog should never be without a post on music and dance! As it is today, so it was in the past the heart and soul of the culture.
During the 12th century, celebrating Twelfth Night continued through the New Year until January 5th. Music often rang throughout the festivities, as musicians played their buoyant and cheery songs. Many musical instruments were heard, echoing throughout the castle, including lutes, recorders, horns, trumpets, whistles, bells, and drums.
There were two types of medieval musicians, the Minstrels and the Troubadours. A minstrel was a servant employed as a castle or court musician. The name 'minstrel' means "little servant". Minstrels often created their own ballads but they were also famous for memorizing long poems based on myths and legends.
A troubadour was originally a traveling musician. The early troubadours went from one village to the next and some even journeyed to the
Of course no festivities were complete without dancing. The Farandole was one of the many popular dances performed in times of celebrations. It started with a slow rhythmic measure to which the dancers moved around the floor. As the tempo increased the dancers followed with high kicking steps.
I'd like to think the following dance scene from A Knight's Tale is similar to the kind of dancing my hero and heroine, Marcus and Liana would have experienced in A Medieval Yule at a Twelfth Night celebration. I've included it here for your enjoyment. When you watch, can you imagine how much fun it would be to step back into the past and join in the merriment?
This post on Music and Dance concludes the Medieval themed blog posts for now. Be sure to leave a comment here or on any of these themed posts and then stop by on December 31, New Year's Eve, to see who the winners are!
Continue to have a safe and happy Yule season!
Kaye
9 comments:
Hi Kaye, I loved the dance scene in A Knight's Tale. I think the only thing that is not "historically correct" is the "Golden Years" song by David Bowie. Otherwise, the dance style and moves are based in the proper time period. Not to mention the costuming, fantastic! I have been reading your medieval posts and have very much enjoyed them. Thank you!
Dianne
I've always thought a troubadour would make a terrific hero. Minstrela and jesters hold a place in my heart--one of my fav childhood books was Taash and the Jester, with the wise jester playing the fool while saving the kingdom.
Dianne - You are so right I should have mentioned that on the post! Thank you so much for sharing that info with us. I so agree about the dance being close to period. That scene just seemed so right and reminded me of images I had while working on Medieval. Thank you for stopping by to comment!
Melissa - Taash is a terrific book! I do love the idea of the supposed fool saving the kingdom. Note the series Merlin airing on SyFy in Jan. It is similar in the sense that the young Merlin has to hide his magical abilities and is always protecting Prince Author, getting him out of trouble without his knowledge. And Merlin often becomes the bumbling butt of many jokes, almost like a jester.
Thanks for coming by to comment, Mel!
I'd love to learn a few medieval dances. The one from 'A Knight's tale' was so much fun. Love Bowie! He's a bit of a troubadour himself.
I learn something every day. :) I always thought terms, troubadour and minstrel were interchangeable.
i love the dancing in A Knight's Tale. Also, thanks for clarifying the difference between minstrel and troubadour, which i didn't know
Diane - I love medieval dance. And you are so right about Bowie, his music just seems to fit so well with that dance scene from A Knight's Tale!
Maria - I use to think the same thing until I did the medieval research. Gosh, I've learned so much about the medieval lifestyle lately too.
Sarah - I love the dancing in AKT too. And as I said above, I found that out from my research on medieval music!
I did not know the difference between minstrels & troubadours. Interesting post!
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