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A Cannibalistic Cat: Thomas Master’s Stringy Situation
Are these the strings that poets saigne,Have cleared the Ayer and calmed the mayne,Charmed wolves and from the mountains crests,Made forrests dance with all their beasts?Could these neglected threds you see,Inspire a Lute of IvoryeAnd bid it speake? So thinke then wahtHath been committed by my catt!That in the silence…
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“Hallelujah Rye Love Him So”: Linguistic Errors in British Barbershop Singing
This post is adapted from a presentation I gave to the Musicality Category at the British Association of Barbershop Singers’s Contest and Judging Seminar in February 2025. It explores some of the recurring pronunciation mistakes that British barbershop singers often make when adopting an American accent for stylistic purposes. Before…
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Music and the Hackness Home Invasion: Hoby vs Eure in the Star Chamber
[Item 15, single membrane (Interrogatories on behalf of Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby)] dyd not the defendantes duringe the time that the plaintifes famely were soe att praiers as aforesaid stampe and trample with theire feete and thereby make an extraordinary noise over their heades and did they not therewithall make very extraordinary…
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Praiers, Pills, and Pelicles: Gregory Streamer’s Attempt to Hear the Language of Cats
Good succes of things make men ioyous Saturn is a colde olde planet. There is great cunning in due applyinng of medicins The cause of hearing The difference between voices and noyses. The hermony of heaven excelleth all other. The hermony of elemental mixtures. Chaucers house of fame. At every…
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Too Many Cooks? John Wallis on the Palate, the Passions, and the Music of the ‘Ancients’
Dr. John Wallis discusses the diminished effects of music compared to ancient times, attributing this to hyperbole and changing musical contexts.
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Like to an Almaine flute: La Primaudaye on Voice and Speach
The text explores the nature and significance of speech, emphasizing the tongue’s role as a vital instrument for communication and expression.
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A Good Voice to Beg Bacon: Two Centuries of Musings on Music and Sound
The text explores the nature of sounds, music theory, and their effects on human perception, emphasizing harmony, discord, and the physics of sound propagation.
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The Oxbridge Hypothesis: Elitism in the English Revival of Early Music
The English choral tradition reflects socio-cultural elitism, influencing early music performance practices and perceptions of vocal authenticity today.
Catterwall 