UPCOMING COURSES

Spring 2021 Online

Explore medieval notation, melodic improvisation and ornamentation, and singing and musical instruments within specific contexts, repertoires and music sources.

Starts March 1, 2021

Medieval Music Notation

Modal Notation

Explore modal notation, the key to the music of the School of Notre Dame, through the study of treaties, musical sources, and genres that record the practice, and learn to transcribe it, sight read it, and perform directly from original sources.

Franconian Notation

Learn to read Franconian notation directly from the original sources following the instructions given by Franco of Cologne and other medieval writers. This opens the door to  monophonic and polyphonic repertoires of the 13th and 14th centuries.

Repertoire & Performance

Melodic Improvisation (Vocal and Instrumental)

Learn how to improvise vocal and instrumental preludes, interludes, postludes, and full melodies following medieval musical and rhetorical compositional techniques, melodic modal practice, and performance conventions.

Melodic Ornamentation

Learn how to ornament a medieval vocal or instrumental melody utilizing pitch inflection, repercussive and tremulous sounds, passing and neighboring tones, and pitch and melodic substitution and transposition as it is indicated in medieval music sources.

Voice & Musical Instruments in Context

These courses will help you develop a historically-informed vocal or instrumental playing technique, realise and use appropriate medieval performance conventions, and build a relevant performance repertoire. 

Medieval Singing

The Vocal Art of the Monophonic Conductus at the Peak of the Notre Dame Phenomenon

Study Philippe le Chancelier’s songs while developing an advanced vocal technique and acquiring practical tools for the understanding and performance of any medieval song repertoire.

Vielle

The Vielle and Jerome of Moravia

Strengthen your vielle technique while studying the tunings, repertoires, and performance practice precepts (ornamentation, phrasing, rhythm) given by Jerome of Moravia in his Tractatus de music (c. 1280).

Harp

The Harp and Anglo-Norman Repertoire

Develop a varied playing style on the medieval harp while exploring the fascinating sounds of the Anglo-Norman repertoire.

Citole/Gittern/Psaltery

The Citole/Gittern/Psaltery and the Clerical Music Repertoire

Strengthen your citole or psaltery technique and performance practice while exploring a collection of clerical compositions (Latin songs and instrumental pieces) associated to those instruments in medieval literature and art.

Portative Organ

Discovering the Portative Organ (Beginner)

Learn the basics of portative organ technique and performance practice while immersing yourself in the world of medieval music and its repertoires.

Organ Performance Practice in the Medieval Clerical Universe (Advanced)

Build up your organ and portative organ performance practice technique while studying the repertoires that are most linked to the use of the organ and the portative organ in the Medieval clerical world.

Bagpipe/Pipe & Tabor

Bagpipe/Pipe & Tabor: Instrumental Dances for Wind Instruments

Advance your bagpipe (musa) or Pipe and Tabor playing technique while reconstructing a collection of pieces for these instruments based on the pastourelle, dance song, and instrumental music repertoires connected to them in medieval sources.

 

Frame Drums & Percussion

Frame Drums and Percussion (Beginner)

Learn to play round and square frame drums in medieval style by studying strokes and techniques recorded in medieval sources. You will also discover how to apply medieval rhythmic modes and their ornamentation to the accompany of vocal and instrumental pieces.

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Places are limited for each section, so sign up early.

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What Our Students Say

The Online Course was amazing. The content was very well organized, very didactic, with a lot of information distributed weekly. I had the opportunity to go deeper into the subject and was able to organize the course according to own pace and time. Highly recommended for everyone who loves medieval music and its context, and who also wants to go deeper in the subject.

Marcelo Miranda – Brazil

This was the best summer course I did so far. It is very complete, well structured, all teachers have the highest quality and the ambience is always constructive and friendly. I truly recommend this course to everyone that is passionate about medieval music and to curious that want to learn more.

Jorge Luís Castro

The online summer course was a fantastic experience! The fact that we had a week to comprehend everything, practice and work on it, gave us the opportunity to go much deeper than in regular an onsite course. The course was challenging and of great interest for beginners as well as for more advanced and professional musicians. Where other courses and institutions teach you about Medieval Music, the Online Music Course of Besalú gives you the real Middle Ages.

Marjolein van Amers - The Netherlands

I enjoyed the course a lot and learned many new useful things about everything from historical context to performance practice. It opened my eyes to some new repertoires and added perspectives on some of the ones I already knew. I especially enjoyed the Improvisation class, because I think it made me understand medieval composition in a much better way. I’d recommend the course to anyone interested in understanding medieval music better and who want to work from the sources.

Gustav Olai - Sweden

Last year I had the opportunity to attend the Manuscript to Performance sessions and I can only say good things. The depth, the rigor and the care with which each subject is treated are unique, the first-class teachers and of course the good atmosphere, make this course an unforgettable experience.

Fabiana Sans

This music program is excellent because it combines all relevant disciplines in a multi-disciplinary format that medievalists do not typically receive in graduate school: music performance, music theory, religious and philosophical study, and study in chant and liturgy that underlies other musical innovations. This ethno-musicological approach is an exciting way to bring the study of the Middle Ages to life.

Karmen Lenz

I have been attending the Besalú program for four years and I have yet to attend another summer school which surpasses it. I work professionally as a musicologist (albeit specializing on a different era) and I can only say that I wish my colleagues in academic musicology worldwide displayed the same amount of rigor, excellence, seriousness and enthusiasm in their research as staff at Besalú systematically do.

Eva M. Rodriguez

The International Course of Medieval Music Besalú offers singers and instrumentalists the possibility of studying the repertoires of monodic and polyphonic music composed between the 11th and 13th centuries.

With the support of: