The Early Music Legend

Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood , Principal (Blog)- Posted on 12.05.2016 RAM I’ve just read an illuminating blog about David Munrow by Margaret Jones at Cambridge University, where a new display has opened to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Munrow’s untimely death on 15th May 1976. The Academy’s Library is fortunate to house the David Munrow Archive – a performance-centred archive, primarily of sheet music from performances given by Munrow’s Early Music Consort of London. I remember being part of the ‘purchasing team’ from the Academy when this went to auction in the early 1990s. Jeremy Summerly and I couldn’t believe our eyes – and, actually, Iaan Wilson (one of Munrow’s playing colleagues) was there too, picking out his parts from seminal recordings and shows. The archive also contains scores and arrangements for television and film productions, and some radio scripts. You can browse an online catalogue of the materials in the National Archives . The Academy’s Museum col...

  Object type  Data Source Royal Academy of Music instrument Acknowledgement Presented by Christopher Hogwood CBE HonRAM. Collection The Christopher Hogwood and David Munrow Collection Description Percussion instrument: Collection of strikers and beaters belonging to David Munrow. Comprising a matching pair of beechwood strikers, the remains of two drumsticks, a striker for a gong with a large fabric-covered head, a small turned striker of hardwood and a spatula-like striker (?). Classification woodwork Material brass Object type Type Length Width Height Diameter Unit (length) length of pair of strikers 250 millimetres gong striker 270 millimetres small hardwood striker 140 millimetres spatula-like striker 220 millimetres Accession No 2012.469 People Munrow, David (John) , performer Hogwood, Christopher CBE MA (Cantab) HonDMus HonRAM , performer Gallery

Scope And Content (RAM, or the Royal Academy of Music) A performance-centred archive, largely comprising files of music that relate to concerts given by the Early Music Consort of London (founded and directed by David Munrow) and to their audio recordings. In addition, the archive contains Munrow's scores and arrangements for television and film productions, as well as some radio scripts. Material relating to Munrow, Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (1976), and some correspondence, is also included. Biographical History David John Munrow (1942-1976), an early woodwind instrumentalist, with a particular expertise in the baroque recorder, is best remembered as a pioneering exponent of early music. Through his founding of the Early Music Consort of London, which performed a range of music that had remained largely unheard for centuries, Munrow developed a broad audience for music from the medieval period through to the late baroque, played on authe...

             I doubt whether DM would have been offended in any way if he saw this post onsite. It comes from another discussion group on google, and was apparently written by a noted journalist who had met him. The English-Irish expression "hit in the (k)nackers" (struck in the testicles) is thought to originate from the tiny tunable medieval kettledrums called Nakers strung on waist belt and lying roughly in the testicle region.  Struck one handed with a stick and if you missed..... During the upsurge of interest in medieval music in the UK in the 60s I was often out banging my Nakers. In fact the situation got so serious that after complaints from outraged listeners, the BBC Pronunciation Department issued an edict to all announcers (Red Capitals said: IMPORTANT PRONUNCIATION INSTRUCTION). "Some pronunciation of the word Naker (a medieval percussion instrument) has caused offence.  Please note...

When I first entered the lecture area at the Royal Academy of Music I instantly recognized the profile at a distance of Ed Bream who is writing a thesis on the DM, and the performance practices of the Early Music Consort. He told me that progress on it was "..very slow" unfortunately. Anyway, I must confess there was quite an assortment of individuals who came. A veritable all, and sundry!! The lecture itself was illustrated by extracts from Pied Piper, and music samples plus on screen projections from two PCs of some material from the RAM collection, and other sources mentioned here. I did not take notes on the talk but here are some key points which were made by Mr. Summerly. However, I have tried to be reasonably accurate ...... a) Munrow had the ability via his radio broadcasts to make long deceased composers come alive. One also felt that he was talking directly to the listener. b) Munrow helped popularise the recorder. However, a certain John  Paul Jones of ...