UNC Jazz Press

(Othmayr) SATB, synth, bass and drums. VINTAGE COPY. The writing here is much more homophonic than in most madrigals. It has a folk music quality which can be underlined in the performance: very simple, very happy.

View all charts by Ward Swingle

MADRIGALS These arrangements were first performed by the eight-voiced Swinger Singers on microphones but can easily be done acoustically by a chamber or concert choir as long as a proper balance is kept amoung the different sections and between the voices and instruments. Close attention should be paid to the pronuncation of foreign texts. I would suggest recording a reading of the text by a language expert to use as a guide. Regarding the instrumental accompaniments: Remember that their function is to complement the sound, not to dominate it. This will often require some subtle mixing by a good sound engineer, even (and particularly) if the choir is singing without mikes. The synthesizer settings are for a DX-7, but other types of synthesizers can be used if they are capable of producing similar sounds. All Swingle octavos are sold as singles not in packs of 16. Instrumental sets are sold independently from all accompanied arrangements and must be ordered separately. Instrumental sets.