I’m doing a little research and then I remembered one of my children’s favourite films ‘Fantasia’ by Walt Disney watch the clip and you’ll see why this popped up on my walk this afternoon.
All posts by Quentin Budworth
Artist Respond
The act of writing new music in the midst of a global pandemic is an act of defiance. It’s saying “to hell with despair” affirming a faith in the future. For the last few years, I have been developing my work as a solo musician and composer whose primary focus is the Hurdy-gurdy and drone music. As an artistic response to the global pandemic I want to try something new and challenging.
I will be exploring the world of electronica, ambient sounds and site-specific work. I live very close to the sea in Bridlington it’s literally a minute walk from my house I’ll be going to the beach to play, tinker, ponder, observe, sketch, experiment, appropriate and create musical sketches and ideas with sound in new and unusual ways. Try out new compositional work and approaches, use my voice as an instrument, make sound with objects I find and then play them in the environment. Recording the sounds of the sea and the animal and human life surrounding it and weaving music from that soundscape.
St Hughes Foundation – ‘Artist’s Respond’
Great news this morning I received an award from the St Hughes Foundation to compose site responsive music as part of their ‘Artist’s Respond’ funding. The aim of these grants is to enable selected artists to engage with their practice in whichever form felt most relevant at this challenging time, without the need to produce something at the end. I will be writing music and creating a short film and sharing the story.
2020
This is a tune I found on the Hurdy-gurdy after studying Scandinavian folk music with a number of teachers during my Arts Council funded DYCP (Develop Your Creative Practice) year. It was written in D harmonic minor and has an ABAB structure it is written to be played for dancing and in folk sessions. When I was studying the Scandinavian music, I found it to be quite melancholy and reflective in character so I wrote this tune as an up-tempo response to that.
It’s a Slängpolska a type of walking freeform dance in 3 time very popular in Sweden. It’s definitely a party tune, a smile in a sea of sadness. In a way it’s my two fingered salute to a year that is still trying to get its act together. I have a feeling that this tune will be popular with younger players, dancers and festival audiences when the time comes for playing it out.
The tune is inspired by the playing of leading Scandinavian Hurdy-Gurdy players Nicholas Koch Simms, Johannes Geworkian Hellman and Anders Norudde from the legendary Swedish Band Hedningarna.
I premiered the piece to an audience of 5000+ Hurdy-Gurdy players on the Hurdy-gurdy Community Facebook page. What larks!
Rioja for Ena
Here’s a tune I wrote for my mum it’s a waltz for Ena she’s in her 80’s and now lives in a care home in Huntingdon as she has complex medical needs. Her separation from my father was hard to witness after 50 years of marriage they were inseparable and love each other deeply. When my father could no longer look after her, he visited her every day until Lockdown in March.
In May my mother was diagnosed with Corona Virus and we got the call from the care home it doesn’t look like she’s going to make it she’s not talking and having trouble breathing. My brother called and asked what should do? We started talking about mum and I asked him what would she really like and he said Rioja later on that day armed with a bottle of Rioja my brother donned the full PPE required to enter the care home. My mother was asleep so he left the wine by the bed with her favourite chocolates for good measure.
We got a call from the care home the following evening she’s awake, her breathing is much easier she’s smiling and laughing and drinking the Rioja and enjoying the chocolates,
A testament to the miraculous restorative powers of Rioja and the fortitude of my mother.
Dronemusik Danmark Online Ensemble – Anglais, by Keld Nørgaard, and Vindmølledans, trad.
It was great fun to be a part of this online ensemble project. Dronemusik Danmark put an open invite to participate in a joint recording in isolation of these two tunes an Anglais, by Keld Nørgaard, and Vindmølledans, trad.
29 musicians each submitted their recording of a piece of music, which was subsequently put together, and here you can hear the result
Beginner friendly tunes for D/G Hurdy-Gurdy with Paul Sherwood and Quentin Budworth
During the Lockdown of 2020 Paul Sherwood and I have led classes for D/G hurdy-gurdy players via Zoom and had a lot of fun doing them. Some players described it as the thing that they looked forward to the most during the week. Here are the tunes for you to download and a link to the Youtube playlist Lockdown-tunes All
If you have any questions about the tunes you can contact quentinbudworth@yahoo.com
Old Dog New Tricks at Bridlington Contemporary Art Gallery
Friday 13th March 2020 Bridlington Contemporary Art Gallery
Rebecca Folds Gallery Programmer:
‘On Friday evening the gallery space at Bridlington Contemporary was packed with an expectant audience, eager to hear the renowned hurdy-gurdy player, Quentin Budworth. We had seen Quentin before at the Hull Folk Festival with the band Celtarabia. That was a massively amplified, foot-stomping, head-banging, stadium rock performance on an outdoor stage with a huge crowd of festival goers dancing their socks off.
It was a surprise and delight to see him in this more intimate setting, transformed from rock god into an entertaining and informative raconteur showing us the more subtle and thoughtful side of his musicianship.
With the help of an Arts Council Grant, Quentin had spent 2019 travelling through the UK and Europe visiting centres of musical excellence, meeting and playing with and learning from the best musicians, composers and instrument makers who form a quite remarkable international community.
Quentin’s account of his year of travel took us from this country to various festivals, gatherings and musical schools throughout Europe. We heard about the different traditions, styles, and approaches in different parts of the continent. It was good to know that these were being shared and adapted, keeping the tradition alive and of course Quentin was able to demonstrate all this on the two beautiful instruments he had with him. The were plenty of questions from the enthusiastic audience in the final part of the evening and I think everyone learnt a lot – from the history of the hurdy-gurdy since the 11th century to the response of contemporary composers to the instrument. And of course a whole load of cracking tunes – all in all a fantastic evening’.
‘Old Dog New Tricks’ Live at Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Budworth is a Hurdy-gurdy player and composer on a quest. For the last year he has travelled across Europe learning from master Hurdy-Gurdy players from different traditions.
Supported by an Arts Council Develop Your Creative Practice Grant his travels have taken him to France, Spain, Crete, Germany and Holland.
In this unique event Quentin will share tunes , stories and insights about what he has learned on his musical odyssey. Featuring music from across Europe and newly composed tunes Quentin will give a rare insight into the world of an itinerant Hurdy-Gurdy Man and composer.
Reviews:
Sam Pirt (Musician The Hut People)
‘We had a wonderful inspiring evening last night, upstairs at the Monks Walk in Beverley, watching The Hurdy Gurdy Man ‘Old Dog New Tricks’ one man show.It was all about Quentin Budworth travels, stories and tunes he picked up along the way.The show is on again so keep an eye out for it.What a great evening it was and also what a wonderfully atmospheric venue it was too!A great night by a great musician with some great stories and tunes!’ #hurdygurdymaster
Gordon Meredith
‘What a wonderful evening spent in the company of the lovely Quentin Budworth and his Hurdy Gurdies as well as lots of good friends in the audience. Quentin treated us to lots of tunes from around Europe, each accompanied with its own anecdote of his many travels. Plus great pub and great beer. What a combination!’
Lou Loudhailer
‘Totally fab night, really enjoyed it!’
Mark Kelly Organiser upstairs at Monks
3 years ago we started putting completely unplugged, or acoustic nights on in the only remaining room upstairs in Monks Walk in Beverley, a room haunted by the ghost of a local blacksmith who many moons ago hung himself downstairs after falling on hard times, and a room with a 13th Century wall as a backdrop. It’s a unique, medieval, and intimate space, and Quentin Budworth’s ‘Old Dog New Tricks’ Hurdy Gurdy couldn’t be better suited to our little room.
A 90 minute journey through the differing hurdy gurdy techniques used to play this unusual instrument around the World. A confident raconteur, and a man who knows his Hurdy Gurdy, we were treated to French, German, and Scandinavian compositions as Quentin swapped from one Hurdy Gurdy to another.
Our room was filled with sounds like we’ve never heard before, and the audience were captivated, if a pin had dropped it would have disturbed us!
Afterwards Quentin opened up the room and took a Q&A session, covering the history of “the hardest instrument to play in the World”, explanations of where all the different sounds where coming from, different playing techniques, and at one point even dismantling one of his Gurdy’s to explain his point! ~ a charming fellow, and a mesmerising show, it would make a great Festival workshop, but for anyone who wants an introduction to this amazing instrument, Quentin’s night is a must’.
To book ‘Old Dog, New Tricks’ call Quentin on 07877434739
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
Quentin Upstairs at Monks
National Lottery Big Thanks!
It’s the 25th anniversary of the #NationalLottery25 supporting the #arts in the UK. I’m so grateful for their support in funding my work as a multi-disciplinary artist and musician. This year through the Arts Council’s Develop Your Creative Practice funding I’ve been able to study Hurdy-Gurdy with some of the world’s greatest and most innovative players an old dog learning new tricks. I’ve attended workshops in Germany, Holland, France, Spain, England and Greece. I’ve met so many musicians from around the world and made many new friends along the way. The funding the Arts Council gives to artists is a game changer for Artists and Musicians and communities thank you, thank you, thank you. #arts #NationalLottery25
Master Class with Gilles Chabenat at Gaunts House
The Chance to get a couple of days studying Hurdy-Gurdy with Gilles Chabenat at Gaunts House was to good to miss. I learnt an incredible amount in the small group (there were 3 of us) and having the opportunity to see Gilles playing and inprovise on stage was certainly hugely beneficial.
Benoit Roblin
Benoit Roblin plays the Hurdy- Gurdy for dancing. He taught a masterclass at Gaunts House – he loves to use this particular groove in his playing.
Halsway European Music Weekend
I attended an extended weekend course for musicians to develop ensemble playing skills and make imaginative arrangements that are exciting to listen or dance to. Using music from European folk/traditional/popular music traditions as the raw material to make new arrangements that can go in any direction. The aim was to explore and combine all sorts of influences and ideas to make spine tingling music that is more than the sum of the parts.
The course was fairly intensive and included all day ensemble workshop sessions with the aim of performing all the pieces created together at a public concert on the Sunday night. The course was led by musician/composer/arranger Paul James – saxophones, border bagpipes (Blowzabella, Evening Star), Belgian diatonic accordion virtuoso and composer/arranger Anne Niepold and we are delighted to welcome German harpist, composer and teacher Merit Zloch to the team for the first time this year.
The Team
Paul James is a saxophonist, bagpiper, singer and composer from Newbury who writes, arranges and performs music influenced by English and other European folk traditions. Paul was composer for the critically acclaimed production of John Milton’s ‘Comus – A Masque in Honour of Chastity’ at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and has composed music for TV, documentaries, theatre and contemporary dance, as well as the bands he plays in. He has been a member of the hugely influential folk band Blowzabella since 1980, and plays with his pan-European band Evening Star and the folk dance band The Playford Liberation Front.
Anne Niepold studied in the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and attended many courses and masterclasses. As a performer she is a true force of nature – brash, adventurous and phenomenally skilled, she takes the humble accordion in startling directions. Beside her solo projects, she performs with numerous arts companies at home and abroad, and has numerous recordings to her name.
“(Anne) shows us the right way, that of intelligence, respect, emotion and heart. Run quickly listen to her and see her in concert!”
Richard Galliano, Accordionist
Merit Zloch is a harpist, composer and music teacher. She sees herself in the tradition of the itinerant harp players of the 19th and early 20th century, travelling with her harp throughout Europe charming people with her original compositions and arrangements of historical dance music.
She has played in bands almost as long as she has played the harp and is constantly fascinated by the interplay between musicians. She likes to arrange und develop pieces together with her band colleagues and to improvise.
Merit researches historical dance manuscripts and organises musicians meetings, bals and instrumental workshop weekends.
Queries?
If you have any queries about the course, have a chat with course leader Paul James 0788 794 8853 pauljames.eu@gmail.com
Sheffield Eurosession
I attended a music workshop led by Jo Veal and Anna Pack, who are accomplished and experienced musicians. Focusing on simple melodies, the workshop provided tips on ways to busk to unfamiliar tunes, and improve your capacity to contribute to ensemble harmonies and danceable rhythms. So tune up your instrument and bring along your curiosity, generosity and playfulness for a journey beyond melodies and into musical
communication.
The workshop ran between 8-9 and was followed by our usual Eurosession and dancing.
Quentin Budworth Musician 