As well as lecturing, Jon undertakes a range of other
educational activities, ranging from primary school to
adult. In 2004 he was project leader for a ‘Diverse
Orchestras’ collaboration between the Burning Bush the BBC
Concert Orchestra, involving extensive workshops in
secondary schools leading to a concert with the orchestra
at the Royal Festival Hall. In 2004 he took part in the
research and trial delivery of ConsortEM, a computer system
for making music performance accessible to disabled
children that was developed between the York Festival and
York University.
With Sirinu, Jon has been a regular tutor on the Cambridge
Early Music Summer Schools. Drake’s Progress, a Tudor
workshop project with Sara Stowe, was recently awarded an
Educational Tour of over 50 workshops in Yorkshire and the
West Country by the National Early Music Centre in York. An
extended version has been taken twice to the Wigmore Hall
and the Wallace Collection.
Currently workshops and courses include:
Join Sir Francis Drake - Tudor explorer, soldier,
adventurer and PIRATE - and sail with him in a musical
recreation of his famous voyage around the world in 1577.
We introduce the musicians Drake insisted on taking on
board his cramped ship, together with a huge array of
unusual and exotic instruments - including dulcimer,
crumhorns, pipe and tabor, panpipes, mbira, ud and qanun -
and invite you to sing, dance and play along with not just
the Tudors but also the new sounds they discovered on the
unknown shores of Africa and South America.
‘It was great! We all sang, danced and played music’
- Ellie Lawrence (aged 11)
Enter into the exquisite world of the mediaeval miniature
through the magical music of the Burgundian Chanson. Far
from being just historical curiosities, these songs have a
vital beauty that compares with any period. Improve your
ensemble and sight-reading skills by working in small
groups with music that is by turns challenging and
charming. For singers and instrumentalists (lute, string,
wind, recorders), of intermediate to advanced standard,
with an interest in or who want to explore late mediaeval
and early renaissance music including sacred music and
instrumental dance music.
A demonstration of instruments including the dulcimer,
gittern and harp on
the medieval side and various santurs (dulcimers) and the
qanun from the
middle east. As well as introducing the instruments and
music, the lecture
elucidates the ideas behind them, their symbolism and
status and the
fascinating context of the working lives of the musicians
and their
employers.