Stewart Hardy

The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.

The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.

Stewart will be exploring the music of the great Irish composer Turlough O’Carolan whose music is still heard in concert halls as well as played in pub sessions. His compositions embrace ideas from the baroque whilst remaining firmly rooted in Gaelic folk music. These workshops will introduce some of O’Carolan’s finest melodies and explore the effect of applying folk articulation and ornamentation to a form that is free of the constraints of regular folk dance structures. As is the tradition on HISS courses, he’ll be involved in a few collaborations – with Mary Tyers working with small folk ensembles which will use old English maggots as repertoire; with Jake Herringman on tunes constructed over a ground bass; and with Anne-Marie Chistensen-Brown looking at playing for “country dances,” comparing and contrasting material from England and Denmark. Material for other classes will include dance tunes used by Nathaniel Thompson in his 1680 publication, “180 Loyal Songs” and, under the banner of acquiring skills for learning by ear, he will also run a workshop looking at pattern recognition in music. Who could possibly resist? Book your place here.

The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.

Two days of live fiddle workshops, exclusive video tutorials, sessions, concerts and guided fiddle practice. Events will be aimed at all abilities of fiddle player from competent beginner through to advanced, led by guest tutors Kevin Lees, Sophy Ball, Grace Smith and Jim Boyle, alongside our regular tutors Melissa Whitehead and Stewart Hardy.

The weekend will be a mix of Live events on Zoom and exclusive Video Tutorials recorded for the Summer School, and each tutor will share their expertise with different ability levels. There will be suggested times over the weekend for several video tutorials, but you will have access to those purchased for 6 months with all supporting materials available to download.

There will be four ability levels (Competent Beginner, Lower Intermediate, Upper Intermediate and Advanced) with one live workshop and one video tutorial dedicated to each level, plus a wider selection of video tutorials focusing on Style led by each tutor. There will be time during the weekend to attend the events dedicated to your level and to one other, so you can try the workshops and videos for the next closest level as well. For example if you are a Lower Intermediate player, you could, in addition, challenge yourself to the Upper Intermediate tunes, or consolidate what you know by joining the Competent Beginners.

The Historically Informed Summer School is a unique international residential course exploring the common ground & connections between early music and folk & traditional music. The course covers all aspects of early music and folk & traditional music and is suitable for students of all ages and experience from elementary to advanced.

This year it will be going ahead in-person with full Covid-secure measures in place.

This will be our delayed 10th anniversary year of enjoyable and spontaneous music making!