Hurley Burley with a Hurdy Gurdy

Hurley Burley with a Hurdy Gurdy

RNIB Music workshop for 8-12 year-olds

19 February 2010

Hurdy gurdy? Shawm? Serpent? Lizard? Not instruments you'll find in every school or orchestra, but for one day in half term, all these and many more, made the RNIB Family Centre reverberate to the sound of the music of Tudor England.

Listening to instruments is one thing, but knowing what they look like and how they work if you have never seen them is not always obvious. With this in mind, the RNIB Music Advisory Service decided to organise a hands on workshop for young musicians aged between 8 and 12. But first we needed some instruments; and not just models or instruments in a museum behind glass. Cue Nick Perry, a musician at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, a member of the London Waits, as well as an instrument maker and repairer along with his endless collection of historical and hand-made instruments.

Proceedings began with the arrival of the King which was heralded by a stunning fanfare played by the Court Trumpeter. We discovered that the trumpet in Tudor times had no valves like the modern trumpet and that the notes were altered just by the position of the player's lips. The fanfare used just three notes, A, D and F sharp. We quickly realised that although we were all expert raspberry blowers, it takes lots of practice to make a sound fit for a king.

Next we heard the sound of the serpent, a low, resonant sound which was slightly muffled. We were unsure why an instrument would be named after a snake until we had a closer inspection. The six feet of wooden tubing would be far too long to play normally, so it is wrapped around in an S-shape, hence its name. The finger holes were enormous and too wide for most of us to cover, leading to some very peculiar noises… The serpent had a very distinctive feel (and smell) and we quickly identified it as leather.

The next instrument was described by one participant as looking like a lighthouse, getting thinner and thinner towards the top with the fingerholes as windows for keeping look out. It was also coated in leather and had a pattern rising to the top like a spiral staircase. The instrument was acornetto, a woodwind instrument with a cup-shaped mouthpiece, about the length of a treble recorder but curved. We saw (and heard) two different models, one hexagonal coated in leather, and one rounded made of wood. The sound was soft, and said to imitate the human voice.

During the afternoon, a hunt passed by, with the drones of their cowhorns and the cries of Hula!" clearly heard over the galloping hooves of the neighing horses. They interrupted their hunt to show us their instruments and let us try them ourselves. The horns were quite short with a very wide bell for maximum volume. They could be played one-handed and were used by the huntsmen to communicate with eachother whilst riding horseback.

Music accompanied not only grand entrances or the hunt, but was also used by town cryers to entertain and draw attention to new stories, by street sellers and also to accompany story-telling. Having heard and tried lots of instruments, we tried setting some lines of a story to music ourselves:

Let music sound while he doth make his choice;
Then if he lose he makes a swanlike end,
Fading in music.

(William Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice)

We used recorders percussion and singing, as well as handchimes, a 20th century but very atmospheric addition.

Later on the same day, amid the hurley burley of a town tavern singing songs, a hurdy gurdy player came in and accompanied our singing before relieving us of our small change and disappearing into the night. His instrument was most unusual, consisting of four string and a wheel which is turned with a small handle and acts as a bow like a violin. It can play several notes together over a drone and can produce a distinctive pulsing rhythm , perfect for dancing to. He let us try turning the wheel whilst he played the strings which was great fun, but we probably wouldn't have earnt much money on our own…

For parents and friends, we re-enacted the whole day, including dancing a pavanne, a simple three-step dance, to the tune of a shawm, a large and very loud oboe-like instrument. We performed the lines from the Merchant of Venice, fading into absolute silence, just like a musical swan song… Finally, we lifted the roof with a set of Scottish bagpipes. Inflating the bellows and keeping them topped up with air as well as playing the chanter is enough work for three people, let alone one. but the sound is terrific. It's easy to understand though why they were designed to be played outside!

Comments from the participants included "I liked playing fun instruments."

"I loved it. Thank you."

Our sincere thanks to Nick for letting us explore and try his many fabulous instruments, and for creating a small piece of Tudor England in the RNIB Family Centre!

James Risdon - Music Officer, RNIB

February 2010