This recording includes the songs of St. Godric, who claimed that all of his songs came to him in visions. For example, during a vision in which he saw Mary Magdalene and the Virgin Mary, the Virgin taught him "Sainte Marie viergene," saying that if he found himself in pain or tired or succumbing to temptation, he should sing this song and she would come quickly to his aid. Godric died in 1170, making these songs the earliest songs in English with extant melodies. More on St. Godric can be found in the liner notes.

I am particularly drawn to the songs without fixed rhythms. The rhythms of songs such as "Stond wel, moder, under roode" and "Ar ne kuth, ich sorghe non" are driven by the speaking rhythms of the words and by musical intuition. I like the improvised quality of these songs, and I enjoy the extra opportunity to express the text.

Performing medieval music involves some challenges not faced by those interested in later music. Instrumental accompaniments were almost never written down, and even the choice of instruments used was quite free. What you hear on this recording is very much our own arrangement. Our instrumental parts arise from a combination of planning and improvisation. Instrumental countermelodies are generally written out in advance by either Kathryn or myself. Drone parts are generally worked out in rehearsal. The process goes something like this:

Kathryn: How about this?
Robin S.: ...mmm...no...maybe an A? ...no...a D? ...no....
Kathryn: What about this?
Robin S: Yeah, that's best.
Kathryn: That's what I played originally.

All instrumental preludes and interludes are improvised.

In addition to the challenge of writing our own instrumental parts, very few English songs have survived with their melodies, although we have many lyrics. For the surviving melodies, I have used E.J. Dobson and F. Ll. Harrison's book, Medieval English Songs. For others (e.g. Lenten is come, Lutel wot hit any mon), I have set lyrics in the style of that time and place. I typically start by choosing a mode, which defines what notes are in the scale and which are most important, and then I start playing with the words, improvising tunes. When I get a fragment that I like, I write it down, and gradually the piece begins to take shape.

Lenten is come