VILLAGE MUSIC WEEKEND
1st - 2nd March 2008
For Voices, Winds, Strings, Brass & Squeezeboxes
Traditions of Band Music & Singing from Early Times to the 21st Century
VILLAGE MUSIC WEEKEND1st - 2nd March 2008For Voices, Winds, Strings, Brass & Squeezeboxes Traditions of Band Music & Singing from Early Times to the 21st Century |
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Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
VIVIEN ELLIS
Songs & Harmonies from Mediaeval Europe
VIVIEN ELLIS & GILES LEWIN
Early Music for Singers & Instruments
TIM HILL
21st Century Village Band
TIM HILL & PHIL HUMPHRIES
Folk Music for Saxophone, Clarinet & Brass
PHIL HUMPHRIES & DAVE TOWNSEND
The Poole Sound
CHARLES SPICER
Dance Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries
English Village Band
DAVE & MANDY TOWNSEND
Mr. Sankey’s Gospel Songs
VIVIEN ELLIS performs medieval, renaissance and traditional music with international ensembles Sinfonye, The Dufay Collective and The Broadside Band. Her CD with The Dufay Collective, Cancionero, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2003. Vivien has toured throughout the UK, Europe, North and South America, Canada and Australia, appearing in major festivals and concert series. She has made numerous recordings as a soloist and has featured in many radio broadcasts and TV soundtracks. She and Giles Lewin perform as Alva.
GILES LEWIN specialises in traditional music of Europe and the Middle East. He has always preferred informal to formal music making, learning most of his Irish music in the pub and with the band Afterhours. His interest in the Arab influences in Medieval music led him to Cairo to study Arabic violin. He is a founder member of the medieval ensemble The Dufay Collective and traditional group The Carnival Band. He plays in the new Spiers and Boden folk big band Bellowhead.
MANDY TOWNSEND is one of the most experienced American shape-note leaders in the UK. When not digging Dave out of a hole in his workshops, she sings with various choirs including The Christminster Singers and plays accordion and hammered dulcimer, and is pianist and organist at Rose Hill Methodist Church.
THE MELLSTOCK BAND:
TIM HILL plays clarinet, flute and saxophone. He has many years’ experience leading workshops in street band music and improvisation. He creates, composes and performs improbable experiences with Tongues of Fire, and has worked on many community arts projects with organisations including Welfare State, Folkworks, Folk South West and taps.
PHIL HUMPHRIES studied trombone at Trinity College, London, and embarked on a career as a big-band trombonist with the Andy Ross Orchestra. He became involved in early music, and is now one of the world’s leading serpent players. He is a member of The London Serpent Trio and music-hall duo The Lost Chord, and teaches brass and early music in Dorset schools.
CHARLES SPICER plays oboe, flute, pipe & tabor, shawm and bagpipes. He studied music and drama at the Guildhall, London, and worked widely as an actor for TV, film and theatre, appearing in productions at The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and many other venues. He has led many music education projects and is a member of The Oxford Waits.
DAVE TOWNSEND is a full-time musician and singer, playing concertina, fiddle and accordion as a soloist and with various groups. His formidable technique and unique style on English Concertina are only one part of a wide range of activities, including music for TV, film and theatre, as well as recording, composition and research.
Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
SATURDAY COURSE UNITS:
A1 Vivien Ellis - Songs & Harmonies from Mediaeval Europe
A kaleidoscope of musical colours and rhythms for unaccompanied voices.
[Level -B/I/H]
A2 Tim Hill - 21st Century Village Band
Modern harmonies and rhythms collide with English tradition to take the music forwards into the next milennium and back into the mists of creation. Suitable for any instrument.
[Level - I/H]
A3 Charles Spicer - Dance Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries
An approach to Tudor and “Playford” tunes for present-day folk musicians. Suitable for instruments ancient or modern, as long as they play in G, C and F at modern concert pitch.
[Level - B/I/H]
A4 Phil Humphries & Dave Townsend – The Poole Sound
William Knapp and Joseph Stephenson were among the most influential composers of west gallery music in the late eighteenth century. Both lived in the Dorset port of Poole, knew each other’s work, and probably drank in the same pub. With voices and instruments we will explore some of their thrilling and monumental music.
[Level - B/I/H]
SUNDAY COURSE UNITS:
B1 Vivien Ellis & Giles Lewin – Early Music for Voices & Instruments
A wide-ranging mix of earlier and later European music for mixed ensemble. Suitable for most instruments ancient or modern, as long as they play in G, C and F at modern concert pitch
[Level -B/I/H]
B2 Tim Hill & Phil Humphries - Folk Music for Saxophone, Clarinet & Brass
Discover new ways to arrange and perform folk repertoire on winds. Have fun making music with loud instruments and learning how to use them for traditional tunes.
[Level - I/H]
B3 Charles Spicer – English Village Band
Bring along anything that can play in G and D to re-create the unforgettable sound of the village bands of nineteenth-century England, and discover how to make village band arrangements of your own.
[Level - B/I/H]
B4 Dave & Mandy Townsend – Mr. Sankey’s Gospel Songs
The roaring gospel songs popularised by the American evangelists Sankey and Moody during their visits to Britain in the late nineteenth century became ingrained in the consciousness of nonconformist communities throughout England and Wales. Nowadays they have the status of religious folk-song among those from Methodist, Baptist and Congregational family backgrounds, and are kept alive by local “Sankey Singing” nights, often driven by energetic piano playing. The tunes are by turns rumbustious or sentimental, the choruses totally infectious, and the harmonies easy to grasp. Beware – by the end of the day you’ll be queuing up to sign the pledge!
[Level - B/I/H]
Ability Levels Terms & Conditions Booking Form
