1. Estampie
2. Virelai
3. Ballade	[QuickTime Clip]
4. Rondeau
5. Estampie	[QuickTime Clip]

Five Medieval Dances is a light-hearted set of compositions in standard medieval forms. While not based on any particular medieval works, the pieces nevertheless exhibit features of medieval styles, including modal harmony, hocket, double leading-tone cadences, and voice-crossing. These elements blend with contemporary elements, such as chromaticism, odd rhythms, and electronic sounds, to produce a result that reflects medieval music without being medieval music. An estampie was a lively dance based on recurring first and second endings, x and y. Any number of units could be presented with these endings, so the form was AxAy, BxBy, CxCy, etc. The virelai, ballade, and rondeau were fixed forms for songs dating from fourteenth-century France. The Casio CZ series of synthesizers is no longer made, and in any case were fairly primitive by today's standards. Nevertheless they had some appealing features. They were portable and easy-to-use, and programming new patches was a snap. Perhaps one of the best features was the 8-step envelopes for pitch, loudness, and wave-form. You can hear these used to create an underwater boom-echo effect in the ballade movement. In 2006 I transcribed this piece for string quartet plus double-bass. The new version was commissioned by and premiered at the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival in June 2007.