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| Renaissance guitar player. The renaissance guitar was tuned in the same intervals as the low-G tenor ukulele, but was double strung, apart often from the 1st course. The scale length was 5 – 10 cm longer than on the tenor. Note the thumb-under right-hand technique. As far as I can tell she's fingering the chord of G major (2 4 5 4). Published in a blog by Michael Fink here |
The wonderful galliards on To plead my faith written by Bacheler himself and by John Dowland [which I posted recently here and here] are only loosely loosely based on the melody, and the structures vary. So, I thought: "what would they have done if they had ukuleles, and wanted to represent the whole song?". (For "ukulele" you can read "Renaissance guitar".)
This simple arrangement for low-G ukulele is an attempt to answer the question. As I wrote it, it became clear that one reason they modified the range of the upper voice is that it goes up to the 10th fret, which on the lute is not feasible for chordal work as the frets are glued to the soundboard and used just for the occasional note on the top few strings.
The uke arrangement includes the whole song and preserves the melody as the upper voice. It draws in part from the accompaniment written by Bacheler, but much is original (whilst attempting consistent with the musical practice of the period). It also incorporates some ideas and motifs from Bacheler’s and Dowland’s galliards.
The first expositions of the four strains are fairly plain and built on block chords, whilst the repetitions are rather more lively. For a simple playing piece, just repeat the first statements and ignore the divisions (fancy repetitions). For a strumming piece you could fill in the chords of the chordal treatments, and spank your plank.
Anyway, you can download the arrangement files using the links below and see what you think:
