by Lucas Capobianco
The Waverly Consort is an American musical group that was a part of the early music revival movement. The early music revival movement was a result of the counterculture that occurred in the 1960s. The members in the band play a wide variety of instruments to produce something I can only describe as tavern music during a renaissance fair. The Waverly Consort was led by Michael Jaffee and Kay Jaffee. In addition to coming to Geneseo in March of 1984, The Waverly Consort performed in venue halls such as Linken Center; they have also done concerts in South America and Great Britain. The renaissance / medieval style music that this group revived is incredibly unique for its time. I believe that keeping track of musical history is essential for fully understanding the period. My favorite song by this band is their rendition of Francesco Landini’s “Ecco La Primavera.” “Primavera” means springtime in Italian. This is very fitting considering how fresh this song sounds. “Ecco La Primavera” has a series of wind instruments that harmonize to create a very peaceful beginning. Later, the song has percussion, bells, and a singer. Altogether the song sounds almost as if the snow outside is melting and the sun is coming out. Very interesting music. I highly recommend listening to a little.
The Waverly Consort is a part of the counterculture movement that happened in the 1960s. The counterculture movement resulted from dissatisfaction with our current government. People were very angry about the inequality between races and the war in Vietnam. It was a time of great change and the ideal of the American dream was not appealing to everyone anymore. Instead of living just to work and have a family, it was a time to have fun and experience the world. A time for people to discover what they wanted to do without the interference of the government. A major idea during this movement was anti-authoritarianism. The government can not tell us what to do, only we can. Huge musical artists were born during this time singing about these ideals. The Beatles were one of these groups challenging the status quo through song and their music reached billions of people. This was the hippie era where people wanted to hear different kinds of music. People wanted to return to their roots instead of barreling into a new age again. The Waverly Consort produced relaxing old-age music that helped people feel closer to their roots. Although this band was created at a much later time, I doubt this music would have been possible without the counterculture movement.
The Waverly Consort came to our school to show us what kind of music people listened to over 700 years ago. Our School paid $5,500.00 for this group to come and play. Tickets were $9.00. This is a unique musical group and I would have loved to see them perform.