Markets for the Masque
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Faculty of Humanities
Abstract
Markets for the Masque is a follow-on project designed to consolidate the success of practice-based research started in 2005, AHRC-funded for its first three years and supported by the University of Southampton since then. It takes the outcome of the research in two new directions, one championing the performance of masque music to a classical music circuit with the group Theatre of the Ayre, and the other exploring the connections with plucked improvisation across genre boundaries, in collaboration with members of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Both approaches bring a quasi-theatrical style of presentation and correspondingly adventurous improvisation to mid seventeenth century English vocal music, and beyond it to uncover similar structures in other kinds of music with plucked accompaniment.
The practice-based research encouraged florid ornamentation of vocal lines, opening the way both to enjoyment and to appreciation of swathes of sketchily notated material produced by leading English composer-performers of the early baroque period. This project will take this to new audiences worldwide through the recording of a CD for Linn Records, and develop relationships with festivals and venues across the UK (Salisbury, Buxton, Swaledale, St David's, The Stables Wavendon).
A new rationale has emerged for musical collaboration between players of early plucked instruments like the lute and baroque guitar and not-so-early cognates like the ukulele. Collective improvisation across genre boundaries encourages listeners to cross them too. I first encountered the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on CD and via YouTube. Their bravura musicianship and unshakable sense of ensemble seemed to me to set a standard to which Theatre of the Ayre's lute section should aspire. Subsequent personal contact and a series of trial workshops led to Lutes & Ukes, a hybrid group whose eclectic programmes mix seventeenth and twentieth century music, switching seamlessly and repeatedly between old and relatively new. All the group's singers self-accompany on their plucked instrument of choice. Lutes & Ukes draws inspiration from the world of the seventeenth century English masque without attempting to recreate it. Performances range from serious to riotously comic in the same way (masque-antimasque), and through sheer variety they help promoters cast audience development nets wider than ever.
The next phase of development both for Theatre of the Ayre and for Lutes & Ukes will be to increase both groups' visibility on the promotional circuit and build market value for their respective repertoires.
The practice-based research encouraged florid ornamentation of vocal lines, opening the way both to enjoyment and to appreciation of swathes of sketchily notated material produced by leading English composer-performers of the early baroque period. This project will take this to new audiences worldwide through the recording of a CD for Linn Records, and develop relationships with festivals and venues across the UK (Salisbury, Buxton, Swaledale, St David's, The Stables Wavendon).
A new rationale has emerged for musical collaboration between players of early plucked instruments like the lute and baroque guitar and not-so-early cognates like the ukulele. Collective improvisation across genre boundaries encourages listeners to cross them too. I first encountered the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on CD and via YouTube. Their bravura musicianship and unshakable sense of ensemble seemed to me to set a standard to which Theatre of the Ayre's lute section should aspire. Subsequent personal contact and a series of trial workshops led to Lutes & Ukes, a hybrid group whose eclectic programmes mix seventeenth and twentieth century music, switching seamlessly and repeatedly between old and relatively new. All the group's singers self-accompany on their plucked instrument of choice. Lutes & Ukes draws inspiration from the world of the seventeenth century English masque without attempting to recreate it. Performances range from serious to riotously comic in the same way (masque-antimasque), and through sheer variety they help promoters cast audience development nets wider than ever.
The next phase of development both for Theatre of the Ayre and for Lutes & Ukes will be to increase both groups' visibility on the promotional circuit and build market value for their respective repertoires.
Planned Impact
AHRC support will unlock partnership funding as follows:
Salisbury Festival engagement fee £4,125
St David's* £6,000
The Stables £3,000
Swaledale £3,000
Buxton £3,000
* St David's Cathedral can accommodate a large audience, enabling St David's Festival to pay a higher fee than other promoters.
The Salisbury Festival will provide promotional services valued at £4,000 and Linn will cover the £9,000 cost of CD production.
In Salisbury Theatre of the Ayre will reach a live audience totalling around 300. Festival publicity is widely distributed: at least 100,000 people will be made aware that The Masque of Moments is happening and will learn about the music on offer.
Lutes & Ukes will reach a live audience totalling around 1,500 (St David's 600; The Stables 300; Swaledale 300; Buxton 300). Education sessions in Swaledale will involve approximately 60 schoolchildren.
Theatre of the Ayre's Linn CD should sell between 1,500 and 2,500 hard copies. Radio exposure is expected.
The Lutes & Ukes recording will be made available online. Some Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain postings have been watched over 1 million times. Lutes & Ukes has more modest ambitions but should achieve a YouTube audience numbered in tens of thousands.
Research published by UK Music and VisitBritain suggests that domestic music tourists spend £87 per head on average when attending concerts [Wish you were here: Music tourism's contribution to the UK economy, October 2013, p. 43]. This includes the cost of concert tickets. On a conservative estimate Markets for the Masque should trigger £40-50,000 in consumer spending on goods and services other than live music, not counting income generated by Linn through the sale of CDs and downloads.
Thus the immediate economic impact delivered by Markets for the Masque will be in the region of £100,000:
Fees to artists £45,000
Linn's up-front investment in CD production £9,000
Induced audience expenditure on food, drink, accommodation etc. £40-50,000.
Wider cultural impact
Markets for the Masque will normalize programming and approaches to performance currently thought of as experimental. Further successful outings together with the availability of a prestigious Linn CD and a strong YouTube presence for Lutes & Ukes will build promoter confidence, generating work for both groups. Greater public understanding and appreciation of mid seventeenth century English theatre music should result, and a new lute-playing platform outside the instrument's early music heartland will exist.
Markets for the Masque is ideally timed. The new Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe in London stretching the "Shakespearean" envelope in some very creative ways. I am collaborating with Globe/Wanamaker on a number of projects complementing Markets for the Masque (eg: a Restoration Tempest with music, and Molière's Le Malade Imaginaire in English translation, including music by Charpentier). Strong synergies are apparent: I shall take full advantage of them.
Professional development
Theatre of the Ayre has up to 20 musicians. Lutes & Ukes has 8 playing members plus a sound engineer. Neither group's line-up is completely fixed: different programmes need different vocal/instrumental combinations and promoter preferences need accommodating. I have worked with more than 40 colleagues in both groups since 2005: a substantial body of shared improvisatory expertise has accumulated but is not at this stage as deeply embedded as we wish it to be. With more concert experience we will be able to make performance practice more fluent and communicative, and change the frames of reference between song and theatre music, with a beneficial impact beyond these two groups.
Theatre of the Ayre's CD when released and Lutes & Ukes' YouTube presence once established will transform both groups' marketing operations. New relationships with promoters will build goodwill and allow deeper penetration of promoter networks.
Salisbury Festival engagement fee £4,125
St David's* £6,000
The Stables £3,000
Swaledale £3,000
Buxton £3,000
* St David's Cathedral can accommodate a large audience, enabling St David's Festival to pay a higher fee than other promoters.
The Salisbury Festival will provide promotional services valued at £4,000 and Linn will cover the £9,000 cost of CD production.
In Salisbury Theatre of the Ayre will reach a live audience totalling around 300. Festival publicity is widely distributed: at least 100,000 people will be made aware that The Masque of Moments is happening and will learn about the music on offer.
Lutes & Ukes will reach a live audience totalling around 1,500 (St David's 600; The Stables 300; Swaledale 300; Buxton 300). Education sessions in Swaledale will involve approximately 60 schoolchildren.
Theatre of the Ayre's Linn CD should sell between 1,500 and 2,500 hard copies. Radio exposure is expected.
The Lutes & Ukes recording will be made available online. Some Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain postings have been watched over 1 million times. Lutes & Ukes has more modest ambitions but should achieve a YouTube audience numbered in tens of thousands.
Research published by UK Music and VisitBritain suggests that domestic music tourists spend £87 per head on average when attending concerts [Wish you were here: Music tourism's contribution to the UK economy, October 2013, p. 43]. This includes the cost of concert tickets. On a conservative estimate Markets for the Masque should trigger £40-50,000 in consumer spending on goods and services other than live music, not counting income generated by Linn through the sale of CDs and downloads.
Thus the immediate economic impact delivered by Markets for the Masque will be in the region of £100,000:
Fees to artists £45,000
Linn's up-front investment in CD production £9,000
Induced audience expenditure on food, drink, accommodation etc. £40-50,000.
Wider cultural impact
Markets for the Masque will normalize programming and approaches to performance currently thought of as experimental. Further successful outings together with the availability of a prestigious Linn CD and a strong YouTube presence for Lutes & Ukes will build promoter confidence, generating work for both groups. Greater public understanding and appreciation of mid seventeenth century English theatre music should result, and a new lute-playing platform outside the instrument's early music heartland will exist.
Markets for the Masque is ideally timed. The new Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe in London stretching the "Shakespearean" envelope in some very creative ways. I am collaborating with Globe/Wanamaker on a number of projects complementing Markets for the Masque (eg: a Restoration Tempest with music, and Molière's Le Malade Imaginaire in English translation, including music by Charpentier). Strong synergies are apparent: I shall take full advantage of them.
Professional development
Theatre of the Ayre has up to 20 musicians. Lutes & Ukes has 8 playing members plus a sound engineer. Neither group's line-up is completely fixed: different programmes need different vocal/instrumental combinations and promoter preferences need accommodating. I have worked with more than 40 colleagues in both groups since 2005: a substantial body of shared improvisatory expertise has accumulated but is not at this stage as deeply embedded as we wish it to be. With more concert experience we will be able to make performance practice more fluent and communicative, and change the frames of reference between song and theatre music, with a beneficial impact beyond these two groups.
Theatre of the Ayre's CD when released and Lutes & Ukes' YouTube presence once established will transform both groups' marketing operations. New relationships with promoters will build goodwill and allow deeper penetration of promoter networks.
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Lead Research Organisation)
- Canterbury Festival (Collaboration)
- Salisbury International Arts Festival (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Linn Records (Collaboration)
- St Davids Cathedral Festival (Collaboration)
- The Stables, Laine Dankworth Centre (Collaboration)
- Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (Collaboration)
- Buxton Festival (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- The Stables (Project Partner)
- Swaledale Festival (Project Partner)
- Linn Product Limited (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Elizabeth Kenny (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Kenny, E.R.
(2017)
Edinburgh Companion to Literature and Music
Kenny, E.R.
Shakespeare, Music and Performance
| Title | A quiet Revolution |
| Description | Theatre of the Ayre (directed E Kenny) programme of music from the Interregnum highlighting the masque composers explored in the Masque of Moments, exploring what they did during the i1650s. Private concerts given by Henry Lawes and traces of continuing with an anglo-Italian vocal trainman undertake by professional singers in BL Add 11608 counter a narrative of decline. Featured in the York Early Music Festival as part of their Politics and Power theme. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2018 |
| Impact | Programme sell-out. Programme repeated at the Georgian Concert Society, Edinburgh and at the Jaqueline du Pre Concert Hall, Oxford in 2019 as a result. |
| URL | https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/16330251.five-concerts-have-sold-out-for-2018-york-early-music-fest... |
| Title | A quiet Revolution: Vocal Music during the Interregnum |
| Description | Theatre of the Ayre at the Georgian Concert Society repeat of York Early Music Festival performance. March 17 Jaqueline du Pre Music Building March 1 |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Impact | Connection made with local singers in Oxford and Edinburgh to recruit singer to model sociable singing of rounds from Hilton's Catch That Catch Can. Nicholas Mulroy and Matthew Brook well known for their expertise for this audience, as well as Alison McGillivray introducing rare heard music for lyra viol. Kenny playing English theorbo also a rarely heard new colour in this repertoire. Presenting a viable performance alternative to well know composers "selling" a programme, instead selling on performer personality and improvisation skill. Oxford performance included pre-performance talk by Elizabeth Kenny outlining the research elements and methods in more detail. |
| URL | http://www.gcs.org.uk/concert_list.htm |
| Title | Markets for the Masque: Salisbury Masque of Moments |
| Description | Performance in Ageas Salisbury International Festival of The Masque of Moments (Theatre of the Ayre). |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Sizeable audience showed with the right framing (Salisbury Festival and now also Theatre of the Ayre track record for innovation and performance excellence) relatively little-known repertoire can have popular appeal, while also attracting cognoscenti of the early music scene. Firm establishment of the Lawes' with Salisbury through collaboration with Wilton and with Salisbury Cathedral Choir embedded the idea of further possibilities both here and further afield. |
| URL | http://www.salisburyfestival.co.uk |
| Title | Masque of Moments Linn Records |
| Description | Cd recording of repertoire from the Masque of Moments programme with Theatre of the Ayre (Kenny director), Salisbury Cathedral boy choristers. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | As detailed in collaborations, with worldwide distribution and reputation of Linn Records will ensure a wider audience for this music as well as critical notice for performance possibilities of hard-to-programme masque repertoire. Reviews to date have been widespread both nationally and internationally, and recognise the significance of the research as well as he quality of the performance. 16 reviews can be found here http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-masque-of-moments.aspx for example MusicWeb International Recording of the Month: 'This beautifully recorded disc will no doubt be one of my highlights of 2017.' BBC Radio 3 'Record Review' Disc of the Week: 'It had me under its spell almost immediately...' and BR Klassik CD Pick: ,,An der CD erfreut die Buntheit und Farbenpracht der Stücke.'' |
| URL | http://www.linnrecords.com |
| Title | Performances of Lutes&Ukes: The Wolves of St Elvis |
| Description | Tour including St Davids Pembrokeshire, The Stables, Buxton and Canterbury Festivals. Programme created in partnership with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (see collaborations) using the research methodology of improvisation with voices and plucked instruments of the masque repertoire. Programme included 17c theatre and masque music, 16c lute ensemble music but also illuminated arrangements from ZZ Top through Robert Johnson and Elvis Presley, illuminated by the research methods. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Vividly demonstrated research, historical performance and classical music do not need to be restricted to small audiences of the converted but can appeal across genres if performed well and with the impetus of breaking new ground. Reached a far greater audience via social media, youtube video, UOGB website, CD merchandise; all tools and strategies mentored by UOGB. Also established connections to do with leadership and direction across the genres: non-classical groups are far less restricted by the need to demonstrate how the music is organised by having a conductor. In this they are similar to large masque collaborations which happened by passing leadership around cells of collaborators. |
| URL | http://www.facebook.com/LutesAndUkes |
| Title | The Masque of Moments |
| Description | CD showcasing little-heard music from English Masques 1605-1653. Directed by Elizabeth Kenny with my group Theatre of the Ayre, set up a decade ago. The music has been written about hardly performed, as survives in fragmentary form; the CD was only possible after years of research in and experimentation with sources from vocal and instrumental manuscripts as well as publications such as Playford's Courtly Masquing Ayres. The focus is the group of improvising composer-singer-instrumentalists known as the Lutes and Voices, instituted by James I and continuing until the Civil War. Ends with music from James Shirley/Matthew Locke's Cupid and Death 1653 suggestion that the tradition continued in different form, and enabled by different patronage mechanism: from court to public theatrical funding, so as well as being of musicological and literary interest it is of relevance to the history of cultural policy studies. 5 part dance music for strings also included to take into account the work of Holman et al on the distinctions between viol and violin family repertories. Consort of lutes and Irish harp, viols, violins, singers. The latter including groundbreaking recording of Milton/Henry Lawes Comus extracts with fifteen year old soloist as done in 1634 but not since. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | Reviews note unusual appeal/entertainment value of the music itself, redefining a genre known to be recherché and difficult. A highly ornamented approach to English vocal music established as at least one of performance "norms" available. Recording of the Month: 'This beautifully recorded disc will no doubt be one of my highlights of 2017.' MusicWeb International gloriously skilful and varied in texture(a) sense of genuinely collective, community music-making that gives this recording such personality and charm. Gramophone April 2017 Full reviews page here (c. 20 notices) and includes international impact with recognition in Germany, Italy and the USA https://www.linnrecords.com/recording-masque-moments |
| URL | https://www.linnrecords.com/recording-masque-moments |
| Title | The Masque of Moments |
| Description | Live performance of The Masque of Moments, Wigmore Hall, London. Included Salisbury Cathedral Choir and teenage soloist as well as Theatre of the Ayre. Feb 28 2017. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | Cemented a successful partnership with Wigmore Hall centring on Theatre of the Ayre as innovators in the Early Music field. Selected to be a Donor Circle event for the Hall. I introduced the group selected by Wigmore to the musicians and involved them in the rehearsal, as a development project for the Hall. |
| URL | https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/whats-on/theatre-of-the-ayre-elizabeth-kenny-201702281930 |
| Description | Rigid genre distinctions in classical music can be unhelpful in reaching audiences. Nothing is so obscure that a connection with local communities and a willingness to move towards existing audience enthusiasm in order to broaden it, cannot be found. Historical performance practice is founded in texts, but composer-authorised versions of repertoire are not always the ones that were widely used, not the ones that may be of value in communicating the best of the music to audiences today. Improvisation techniques cut across genre boundaries and are as useful in classical as in popular music, but need generous research and development time to be used with the effectiveness than comes from familiarity with the techniques involved. Conversely, audiences familiar with historical performance can be encouraged to consider performer skills as part of the toolkit for illuminating a broader range of repertoire than currently exists in the composer-dominated market. There is much more interest in niche areas than I suspected, partly based on the appetite online for novelty/singularity harnessed to expertise and depth of research. |
| Exploitation Route | More remains to be done on the work of mid-seventeenth century figures such as William and Henry Lawes, John Hilton, Nicholas Lanier etc. Making not only the composers but the performer additions mainstream would help this ms-century repertoire gain a place beside Purcell and Dowland. The potential for words-and-music combinations in stage shows and semi-opera in the early Restoration is starting to be realised in the light of how to flesh out sketchy source material using performance traditions and techniques that are implicit in manuscripts. Connecting music with place is being done in other areas of music, and has has further potential here. The relationship between treatises and practice is not always straightforward, and mid century England has rich material in both: this is a god test case in when to break and when to follow the rules. Collaboration across genre boundaries does much to illuminate the assumptions and practices behind current performance, which is an essential pre-requisite for research inquiry. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://www.elizabethkenny.co.uk |
| Description | Festivals, promoters and therefore audiences as now familiar with new concepts: 1. The organisation of historical performance can follow models other than conductor-led symphonic-derived ones. Leadership is provided along the lines of theatre: direction happens more in rehearsal, then performers stand independent in concerts, 2. Masque music considered to be relatively unperformable outside academic environments or unfeasible because of huge historical budgets and sketchy source material can be the basis on which programmes can be built. Singers and agents aware of the possibilities this opens up. Connection with a historical sense of place is vital in reaching communities, a principle on which the masque itself - coming out of local, particular, topical issues - is based. 3. Education: through workshops with Lutes&Ukes classical music can be accessible to a wider variety of participants who do not have access to orchestral instruments. Chordal foundations are the building blocs for both classical and popular music when seen from a plucked rather than an "elitist" orchestral perspective 4. Younger performer scholars are using the model to investigate apparently unpromising written evidence from the multidisciplinary perspectives of archival work, experimentation and performance. 2 Phd projects beginning at the Royal Academy of Music, and with non-academic impact at the Foundling Museum and London Handel House Museum. 5. Music Festival "Bellarte" in Franconia, Germany, invited me to direct and devise programme with young professionals on seventeenth century masque including alos contemporary music. Performance project including dance at the Royal Academy of Music March 2019 "The Stuart Masque" with introductory talk and directed rehearsal by me in collaboration with Mary Collins (dance) , Margaret Faultless (strings) and Michael Chance (voice and stage direction). Research findings shard with colleagues before the project began, and with students during rehearsal process. 6. Theatre of the Ayre CD (Delphian) in production with tenor Ed Lyon incorporating findings on the Irish harp and using small version of the same player team. Liner notes and song concepts by me. Due for release Sept 2019. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Canterbury Festival Lutes&Ukes |
| Organisation | Canterbury Festival |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Developing the Lutes&Ukes programme The Wolves of St Elvis for performance at Canterbury Festival. Embedding research into plucked and vocal improvisation from the masque repertoire into both historical music and songs beyond the classical repertoire. Themes cohering around Shakesperean and seventeenth century theatre, legends of wolves behind the Elvis myth, and blues repertoire enabled the venue to broaden the appeal beyond the specialist niche of early music. Allowing plucked string improvisation to be the core around which music was generated demonstrated the connections between written - historical - texts and unwritten performance traditions. Especially in a university concert hall, both the research aspects and the entertainment aspects combined in an audience consisting both of university-related people (students and staff) and members of the local community loyal to the Festival. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing the umbrella of a long-established Festival with a very diverse range of programmes appealing to different kinds of audience, which was exactly what the research was designed to test (Markets for the Masque: whether a relatively obscure genre could be developed to appeal across genre boundaries). Print and digital marketing were exemplary and the advice of the Festival team was crucial to producing relevant material. |
| Impact | Performance Lutes&Ukes: The Wolves of St Elvis in St Augustine Hall, Canterbury Christ Church University, Oct 29 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Linn Records Masque of Moments |
| Organisation | Linn Records |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Development and recording of The Masque of Moments for release on Linn Records. Researching repertoire, producing perfuming material, choosing and booking artists, managing the project and recording venue over several months, editing and sleeve notes, input into the cover design and overall marketing strategy, organising copyright permissions where appropriate. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Analysis of market suitability, assessing my choice of venue, all engineering and production including during the recording, post-production editing and digital master, manufacturing and costs associated therewith, marketing including digital and social media. |
| Impact | CD recording The Masque of Moments for release in 2016. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Lutes&Ukes St Buxton |
| Organisation | Buxton Festival |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Developing the Lutes&Ukes programme The Wolves of St Elvis for performance at Buxton Festival. Embedding research into plucked and vocal improvisation from the masque repertoire into both historical music and songs beyond the classical repertoire. Themes cohering around Shakesperean and seventeenth century theatre, legends of wolves behind the Elvis myth, and blues repertoire enabled the venue to broaden the appeal beyond the specialist niche of early music. Allowing plucked string improvisation to be the core around which music was generated demonstrated the connections between written - historical - texts and unwritten performance traditions. Management included booking of artists, logistics and training of a broader pool of players for this concert. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing the umbrella of a long-established Festival with a very diverse range of programmes appealing to different kinds of audience, which was exactly what the research was designed to test (Markets for the Masque: whether a relatively obscure genre could be developed to appeal across genre boundaries). Print and digital marketing were exemplary and the advice of the Festival team was crucial to producing relevant material. Buxton Festival in particular has a connection with opera, which was strategically helpful in marketing. |
| Impact | Concert performance of Lutes&Ukes: The Wolves of St Elvis Buxton Festival July 21 2015 |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Lutes&Ukes St Davids |
| Organisation | St Davids Cathedral Festival |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Devising Lutes&Ukes The Wolves of St Elvis around St Davids Festival. Using marketing learned from Salisbury, this cohered around a sense of place: St Elvis and the Preseli Hills providing a way to frame research into plucked string and vocal improvisation methods, connecting the world of the seventeenth century masque with the music of two Robert Johnsons (Shakespeare and masque-composer, and blues guitarist) with Elvis and music of relevance to the St Davids audience. St Davids is a small community which relies on sell-out concerts for the survival of the Festival, which we provided. |
| Collaborator Contribution | St Davids Festival provided the "hook" on which this research-led programme could be built to appeal to a wider audience. Brand loyalty to the Festival and a strong local ukulele community were accessed. St Davids is a small community which relies on sell0out concerts for the survival of the Festival, which we provided. The classical music associations of the Cathedral also brought in audiences more familiar with early music, who were taken further into the areas of improvisation than is usual for historical performance. Very well received with audiences remarking both on the beauty of the sound and venue, and the entertaining programme: research dissemination by stealth... |
| Impact | Concert performance Lutes&Ukes: The Wolves of St Elvis May 26 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Lutes&Ukes Theatre of the Ayre and UOGB |
| Organisation | Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Theatre of the Ayre (my ensemble) is based for this project around 4 lutes. We collaborated with 4 ukuleles from UOGB. Our contribution was providing historical repertoire from the 17c masque tradition as tools for improvisation along 17c lines. Methods of arranging, of counterpoint and of vocal ornamentation were brought from archival and manuscript work as well as the published masque literature, We enabled UOGB to expand their repertoire into classical and early music, and to reach classical audiences and festival infrastructures. |
| Collaborator Contribution | UOGB provided a unique opportunity to test the quality of research methods in the context of musicians highly skilled and experienced in a related but different area, that of improvisation and arrangement outside of classical music norms. Their critiques of these methods illuminated both the 17c and modern repertoires. Exchanges of ideas centred around plucked instruments but also widened in scope to include vocal music, ideas for programmes and marketing and audience expectations. they also provided an invaluable social media and fan base to connect with the ukulele community, as well as support in kind in the way of rehearsal facilities and access to the publicity associated with the bigger UOGB. Working methods and research interests of both groups changed in mutually beneficial and continuing ways. |
| Impact | All the performances (St Davids, Canterbury, Buxton, the Stables) in the portfolio, as well as compilation CD of the Robert Johnsons for sale via Facebook and at live concerts. |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Salisbury Festival Masque of Moments |
| Organisation | Salisbury International Arts Festival |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Devising programme for performance in the Festival June 2015. Development of performing material, rehearsal, artist booking and project management. Follow-on funding from AHRC project the Lion and the Unicorn: this part of the research outcome was in developing an audience for less well known seventeenth century masque music, and re-locating it as relevant to the more mainstream context of opera and chamber music improvisation. Success measured in audience numbers - one of the stronger performing Festival events - and enthusiastic reception. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Setting the research into the context of place: connecting the music with relevant location in Wilton. Providing a context in which an audience unfamiliar with the music would feel connected to this sense of location, as well as providing a "brand" trust and confidence. Advice on budget and support for marketing materials, access to digital and social media and the long-standing expertise to use them that this Festival has developed over many years. Enabling me to engage with sponsors and audience alike in opportunities to explain the significance of the research, and more importantly, to perform it. |
| Impact | Concert in Wilton Church June 3 2015. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | The Stables Lutes&Ukes |
| Organisation | The Stables, Laine Dankworth Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Developing the Lutes&Ukes programme The Wolves of St Elvis for performance at The Stables. Embedding research into plucked and vocal improvisation from the masque repertoire into both historical music and songs beyond the classical repertoire. Themes cohering around Shakesperean and seventeenth century theatre, legends of wolves behind the Elvis myth, and blues repertoire enabled the venue to broaden the appeal beyond the specialist niche of early music. Allowing plucked string improvisation to be the core around which music was generated demonstrated the connections between written - historical - texts and unwritten performance traditions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Providing marketing advice and access to digital and social media, rehearsal venue and technical expertise in the areas of sound and lighting, for which this venue is well-known. Providing a context with a broad appeal and a regular audiance willing to trust the venue's choices and branch out beyond their habitual music choices. |
| Impact | Concert performance The Wolves of St Elvis 31 May 2015 |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | School visits |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Workshops at Moorlands Primary School for children ages 7-8, interaction with the lute and with singing. Workshops with Salisbury Cathedral School towards the Masque of Moments. Foundation for future plans including whole-class ukuleles, as Theatre of the Ayre pioneered in 2013 when we worked with 360 children in London and York. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |