The Fund is used to support students and residents of NW England and North Wales by helping finance them to take part in non NWEMF early music events. In recent years we have had very few applications so we were delighted to support Kira Thomas. She grew up in South Cumbria, attended Dallam School, in Milnthorpe, and was a choral scholar in Levens Choir before going to Bristol University to study music. It is there she developed a keen interest in playing Renaissance reed instruments.
Kira applied to attend a three-day residential Renaissance Brass and Winds course being run at Hellens Manor in Herefordshire, in July 2023, which was led by William Lyons (early reeds specialist; dir The City Musick, Dufay Collective etc) and Richard Thomas (cornetto and trumpet player; dir Quintessential Cornett & Sackbut ensemble, The Prince Regents band etc). Both are experts in the field of Renaissance performance and extremely popular workshop leaders. This is her report on the course:
“The first thing which struck me about Hellens Manor was the beautiful setting, it seemed ideal for our creativity to flow in a relaxed setting. We started the course on the Monday afternoon with a session exploring a sixteen-part work in preparation for playing alongside sixteen voices on the Wednesday. Early instrumentalists are a rare breed so to have this many players in one place is very special and an opportunity to be enjoyed! I started by playing tenor dulcian for the initial session which was very helpful in enabling me to experiment with some new reeds and subsequent fingering in an ensemble context. After dinner we continued to rehearse, without the tutors, to practice our ensemble skills before coming together to compare interpretations then hastily heading off for a well-earned visit to the pub.
Tuesday started with recapping the pieces we had worked on the day before, then we broke off into smaller groups which allowed us to explore our instruments in a different setting. This gave me the opportunity to move to the top line on soprano shawm, followed by playing a 6-part crumhorn consort piece, the instruments kindly being lent to us by our tutor William Lyons. This was followed by a wonderful dinner and a session reading/playing straight from facsimile on G alto shawm. I always love the added challenge of reading from facsimile and would love to do more of this in my general playing.
On Wednesday morning we were joined by a local choir which gave us the unique opportunity to work alongside singers. This always gives a new perspective on how we are interpre6ng a piece, especially when it comes to phrasing and communicating the text. I was part of a purely instrumental choir and had great fun with my colleagues imitating the articulation of the choral choirs. The day ended with an informal concert to the general public as well as friends/family members of the other participants.
Overall, Hellens was a fantastic experience. I loved being able to work in such a small group of talented players and particularly with William Lyons, Richard Thomas. I feel that this allowed me to learn something every day, as well as perform pieces that rarely get heard live. I am extremely grateful to NWEMF for their sponsorship as I would not have been able to attend without it”.
Published in November 2023 Newsletter
