Online Resources
Lots of lovely links! Scroll down for
- Primary documentation - scans of original manuscripts of musical notation
- Sheet music - websites with free musical scores in modern notation to download
- Articles - websites with articles, research, historical background, music theory and the like
- Practical - other people's websites that have useful stuff about vocal techniques, making instruments, period musical performance techniques, etc.
Primary documentation
- Cambridge Digital Library, music Link last checked 20th December 2018
- Llibre Vermell de Montserrat - the Red Book of Montserrat Link last checked 20th December 2018
- Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music - Oxford library project. Link last checked 20th December 2018
- The Cantigas de Santa Maria - manuscripts written during the reign of Alfonso X "El Sabio" (1221-1284) and one of the largest collections of monophonic (solo) songs from the middle ages.Site has black and white facsimiles, as well as links to articles on the collection. A really excellent starting place for anyone interested in 13thC Spanish music and poetry. See also Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers in 'Practical' below.
- Link last checked 20th December 2018
Sheet Music
- Choral Public Domain Library - an enormous resource for out-of-copyright vocal music, transcribed and uploaded by volunteers. Link last checked 20th December 2018
- Cipoo.net Public Domain Choral Music - also a site where people have uploaded their transcriptions for public use. Like the CPDL site, it helps to know the name of the composer or piece you are looking for, and sadly neither allows you to search by time period. Link last checked 20th December 2018
- The Lochac Virtual Songbook - Master Dafydd of the Glen put together this collection of songs, which has become the standard repetoir for the S.C.A. Kingdom of Lochac. An excellent resource with good notes on performance. Has MIDI audio files as well as sheet music to download. Link last checked 20th December 2018
- Atrium Maucamedi - updates irregularly, has MIDI (audio) files as well as pdfs of the score, for those who don't read music. Link last checked 20th December 2018
Articles
- "ENGLISH LUTE MANUSCRIPTS AND SCRIBES 1530-1630 An examination of the place of the lute in 16th- and 17th-century English Society through a study of the English Lute Manuscripts of the so-called 'Golden Age', including a detailed catalogue of the sources."
The 1993 Doctoral Thesis of Julia Craig-McFeely, (Oxford) published on-line in 2000. Can be downloaded in its entirety or in parts. Link last checked 20th December 2018 - Medieval Secular Song - a table outlining various musical movements and schools (e.g. Minnesinger) arranged by date, with reference to general traits, main types of songs, surviving manuscripts, examples of surviving songs, terminology, associated composers, and so on. A really excellent starting place to familiarise yourself with Medieval (as opposed to Renaissance) music, and perfect for finding rewarding search terms.Link last checked 20th December 2018
Practical
- Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers - "a complete edition of the lyrics and music of the 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X El Sabio, specially prepared for singers and instrumentalists." Includes pronunciation guide and translations. Link last checked 20th December 2018
- Chordify is a clever site that works out the chords for various song files, either ones you can upload yourself, or ones hosted on YouTube and some other platforms. Chord fingering is provided for guitar, ukulele and piano. You need a paid account to upload files, but can connect to YouTube clips with a free account. Link last checked 20th December 2018