The Tutors
Offering a wealth of experience and interests in different musical genres and periods, the tutors for the 43rd Northern Recorder Course are:
- Bob Berry: Renaissance Band, Playing the third octave, Playing from Memory
- Before 1973 there was little music in Bob's life until he heard some recorders being played. Later, passing a music shop he saw a recorder in the window, bought it and beavered away at “Priestley and Fowler” for a few weeks. Following his first visit to the NRC, then at York, Bob was hooked. He now plays with the Manchester Recorder Orchestra, Tapestry of Music and is the Musical Director of the Cumbria branch of the SRP. Bob teaches recorders from beginners to music degree/diploma level and is keen to stress that he is still learning.
- Brian Blood: Recorder Care and Maintenance Classes, Recorder Ensembles
- Recorder player, adjudicator, arranger, teacher, performance coach, instrument designer and CEO of the world-famous Dolmetsch workshops which have been based in Haslemere, Surrey since 1918, Brian has from the mid-1960s worked as a professional recorder player in France, Germany, the US, Holland, Colombia and the UK as well as on television, radio and recordings in both the fields of classical and popular music. He has been a member of the Dolmetsch Recorder Consort for over forty years. His work on the Dolmetsch Website, www.dolmetsch.com, particularly his authorship of the online music theory and history resource has been recognised with one of the MERLOT Awards for Exemplary Online Learning Resources presented at the 2007 MERLOT International Conference, held August 7-10th in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
- Ruth Burbidge: Elementary Recorder Technique, Trio Sonata Tuition
- Ruth studied at the Royal Academy and at Trinity. She has a wide teaching experience in school and college and has performed on harpsichord and recorder. She now teaches flute and recorder and runs Recorder MusicMail (www.recordermail.co.uk)
- John Hawkes: Music through Movement, Recorder Ensembles
- John was born in 1942 and, although trained as a physicist, has always had a strong interest in music, including composition. As well as the recorder he also taught himself to play the oboe, and plays the latter in a number of local amateur orchestras. For several years he attended composition classes at COMA Summer Schools where the tutors included Diana Burrell, Stephen Montague and Michael Finnissy. In 2002 he was awarded MMus (with merit) in composition at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, following 2 years part time study. A significant number of his compositions are for the recorder including 2 symphonies for recorder orchestra. From 1997 to 1983 he was secretary of the Newcastle upon Tyne SRP and in 2004 formed the North East Recorder Orchestra and became its Musical Director. He is also deputy conductor of the Tynedale Symphony Orchestra and has been a tutor at the Cheltenham Recorder Festival in both 2005 and 2006.
- Further details about John may be found on his website at www.johnhawkes.co.uk
- Ruth Hayward: One to one lessons
- Since graduating from Trinity College of Music, Ruth has taught recorder and flute to both children and adults. Ruth has attended the NRC for many years and has benefitted from a varied array of tutors. Among then was Piers Adams with whom she went on to have regular lessons. In addition to teaching, Ruth has performad regularly in ensemble and as a soloist. She has played several concertos with the Manchester Recorder Orchestra as well as orchestral concerts and recitals on the flute.
- Helen Hooker: The Evolution of the Sonata, Recorder Orchestra, Ensembles
- Helen studied recorder at Trinity College of Music under Philip Thorby, graduating in 1993 with a first class degree and the Post-Graduate Certificate in performance with distinction. Helen regularly teaches on residential courses and is chairman of the Recorder Summer School. She is a Musical Advisor to the Society of Recorder Players and conducts recorder groups throughout the British Isles. Helen has performed widely both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She performs regularly with the Parnassian Ensemble who have recently released their debut CD, A Noble Entertainment - Music from Queen Anne's London (Avie-AV2094). Helen is also Assistant Musical Director of the Hampshire Recorder Sinfonia and has worked as a tutor for the National Youth Recorder Orchestra of Great Britain since its inception in 2002.
- Further details about Helen may be found on her website at www.helenhooker.co.uk
- Steve Marshall: A Taste of Minimalism, Telling Tales
- Steve has a background of jazz, blues and rock, although years of music theory study have tamed the beast somewhat. He publishes his own compositions under the banner of May Hill Edition (www.mayhill.co.uk), which features 140 titles, ranging from solos to large pieces for recorder orchestra. His compositions are performed pretty much everywhere (possibly not Albania), and in particular by most of the recorder orchestras. He is musical director of the North Cotswold SRP and from time to time conducts other recorder ensembles (including 12 SRP branches, all of whom have asked him back!). His favourite recorder by far is the contrabass, which he plays in the Phoenix Recorder Orchestra, co-founded by Steve and Pam Smith in 2003. It is no coincidence that orchestral contra players find his contra parts unusually interesting!
- Andrew Melville: Tangos, minimalism ... and more
- Andrew is a composer and assistant conductor of the London Recorder Orchestra in which he plays contrabass. He has composed many pieces for recorder orchestra, including Brightness Falls, Lachrimae Tango and a Concerto Grosso with three soloists (Tr, Ten, B). He runs a recorder evening class in Wandsworth, London and has conducted at the NRC and Cheltenham Recorder Festival. He is interested in a wide range of music from Machaut to minimalism, Tallis to tango.
- Janice Ormerod: Blow that Bass!, Alternative Wind
- Janice is a tutor at the Stockport Recorder College, where she directs the Senior Ensemble. She also regularly conducts at the Manchester Branch of the SRP where she is Chairman. Janice performs with the Barrowmead Ensemble and has been a member of the great-bass section of the Manchester Recorder Orchestra for some years.
- Pam Smith: The English Fantasia, Multi-Choir, Chamber Recorder Orchestra
- Pam studied piano, viola and clarinet at Chetham's School of Music. She worked as a secondary teacher in music and modern languages then specifically with teenagers with emotional and behavioural problems. Pam is Musical Director of the Cheltenham & Gloucester branch of the SRP, the Phoenix Recorder Orchestra and the Chamber Recorder Orchestra of the West. Starting with the first Easy Orchestra Playing Day in September 2007 she aims to give players of a more modest ability the opportunity to experience playing in a recorder orchestra. It is no surprise that Pam is greatly in demand as a visiting conductor of the SRP throughout the country, as she is a gifted tutor with that rare ability to inspire even the most modest of recorder players.