Hey, I grew up watching Ray Charles play. Hehe, I lilt all right. Thank you sweet Mary.

Hi Cynthia. I'm happy to help out. I already happened to have this because I love this music and also play this tune. Glad you found it useful. :)

Dang it Brian, did you know Negri? How in the world does a guy produce "Bianco Fiore" on a dime? You are amazing, and I'm not certain, but perhaps mysterious or magical. Not sure exactly. Seriously, I am blown away at your kindness. Thank you so much. You make me want to practice more. And yes, my parrot is a music critic, but thankfully, not too harsh.

Not sure why he wrote it in F. I do believe it was originally played on the lute. There is actually some controversy as to whether Negri actually composed the music... he may have actually just compiled it for his dancing instruction.

Thank you both- I didn't realize that was a clef sign. Is there a particular reason this tune was written in the key of F?- to match with a lute or other particular instrument perhaps? Or was there a singing part with it?

Cynthia- I don't mean to take over your video here- just had a few questions about this tune. Your playing is lovely!

Strumelia, that style of notation is known as "mensural" notation. Bar lines came into common practice gradually during the 17th century. Negro was primarily a dance master. And the change in meter was not uncommon for many of the dances of his day.

Interesting that the third part goes to Common time, then back to 3/4 (3/2, or 6/4?) time for the first two parts. Not having measure lines adds a little more challenge til you get your bearings... =8-* :)

Strumelia - you're welcome. Guy - thanks! :)

Hi Strumelia. It is indeed a B flat. That little cleff sign at the bottom shows you where middle c is. That is known as a "Soprano Clef."

Brian, thank you! This may have some very nice things to attempt to play on my new little soprano rebec.

Questions- At the right end of the staff lines- is that a little dotted pickup note ...or what?

And... trying to figure out the key signature in the one you posted here. With one flat I;'d think the notation was for F, but the flat seems positioned for a d-flat, not a b-flat, so....?? or is this a different clef than treble clef? thanks for your help!

Hi Strumelia. No problem - the notation is on page 158 of the pdf (page 146 of the actual document itself) and the tab is on page 159 of the pdf (146 of the actual document). I tried to paste in a screenshot for you, but I get an error that says I've exceeded the character allotment when I do that. Maybe I'll try again in a separate comment. But if not, you can get to it with the above info. :)

Brian, everywhere I click on that page takes me only to a scan of a page of text from the books. Maybe I'm just not clicking on the right things. Can you point me to where the actual music notation is? (standard notation would be good). Thanks!

Hi all. I just wanted to mention that Negri's entire Le Gratie d'Amore / Nuove Inventioni Di Balli (1602/1604) is available online for free. It contains music and lute tab for il Bianco Fiore. You can get it here:

Le Gratie d'Amore / Nuove Inventioni Di Balli

Aw, that's too sweet of you Cynthia! I don't have tab... but I have the score. It's just a matter of taking some time and arranging it for 3 strings (in my spare time LOL).

Very cute birds! Thanks for the kind words - much too kind, in fact. :)

One simple way to play the C part melody would be:

4 3 2 1 0, 1 2 3 1 2 0, 4 3 2 1 0, 0 1 (2 3)

4 3 2 1 0, 1 2 3 1 2 4, 4 3 2 1 0, 1 (2 3)

Where the numbers are fret numbers on the melodyy strings, with the exception of those in parentheses, which are on the middle string. To get the timing right, just check out some of the version of this dance on youtube.

That's sounding very nice, Cynthia. I need to look at learning the rest of this suite... the whole thing is so pretty!

Hi Cynthia. Thanks for sharing this. This tune is a favorite of mine. There's actually a third musical section of this four-part dance that you may want to seek out - it's quite pretty and it also happens to be the easiest of the three sections to play. :) Ensemble La Follia has recorded a very nice version if you want to hear it. Also, I guess I missed the version with your parrot. What kind of bird is he/she?

Thanks John, yes the parrot gives my video a certain sense of ruthless irony. Hehe.