Early Musical Instruments

Sunday, November 24, 2013


Toys and Techniques blog

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
....... The above show was called Early Musical Instruments and aired in 1976. There were 6 episodes, each involving Munrow and a group of Englishmen making a racket with a certain family of instruments - reed instruments, strummed ones, percussion, etc. Some of them are positively evil looking, such as the gemshorn, a recorder made seemingly out of satan's antlers, or various guitar-like monsters with about twenty strings and nightmarish dragon-like tuning heads. The series was filmed at the beautiful and eerie Ordsall Hall in Salford, known for the ghosts of a White Lady and young girl that have been seen in its staircases.

Munrow tragically took his own life at 33, but his legacy carries onwards and upwards -- one of his recordings was on the golden disc accompanying the Voyager spacecraft into the heavens in 1977.(edited by the blogger of The Early Music Legend)


...Also, it should be said that the production company ordered the musicians to wear an extra layer of clothing as it was very cold in Salford! Munrow's wife did not apparently see the series at the time when it was aired at the end of 1976... at 9.30 am on Sunday mornings on ITV. Apparently, she still gets some royalties from his recordings, and lives in Hyde Heath. RS/blogger.
 




Posted by at

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Performance Practice of David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London : Medieval Music in the 1960s and 1970s

  Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy/Blogger Ref  http://www.youtube.Searle8 Edward George Breen Music This thesis focuses on the musical contribution of David Munrow and his Early Music Consort of London (EMC) to the so-called early music revival of the 1960s and 1970s. By exploring the notion of shared cultural space in performances of medieval music by leading ensembles of the time, this thesis seeks to isolate aspects of performance practice unique to the EMC. An assessment of literary sources documenting the early music revival reveals clear nodes of discussion around Munrow’s methods of presenting early music in concert performance which are frequently classified as ‘showmanship’ with a focus on more scholarly performance practice decisions only evident in the post-Munrow period. Close readings of these sources are undertaken which are, in turn, weighed against Munrow’s early biography to map out the web of influences contr...
Read more

Overview of the Munrow Archive

Image
Skip to Content List of Access Keys Search the website | Search the catalogue Cookie policy |   Search the archives Search our website Search our website Search our records Skip to content Home page A to Z index Search Visit us Help Complaints procedure Terms of use Contact us Access key details About us Education Records Information management Archives sector You are here: Home > Search the archives > Access to Archives > Records Access to Archives Part of the UK archives network   Royal Academy of Music Library   Papers of David Munrow Papers of David Munrow The entire contents of this catalogue are shown below. Browse the hierarchical structure instead Reference DM Covering dates 1908-1976 Held by Royal Academy of Music Lib...
Read more

Contemporaries of David Munrow Remember

Here, I thought it would be interesting to give out some of the testimonies of people who knew David Munrow well, and not so well. This collection will over a short period of time be expanded. But here comes the first testimony from Michael Laird who did alot of work for the Consort.... 1. Michael Laird.       I first met David Munrow in 1969. I was performing a  Bach B Minor Mass (Ithink) in Wolverhampton in 1969. A cheerful,energetic young man sitting  next to me on the bassoon introduced himself as David Munrow and asked immediately "do you play the cornetto?'' "What's that" I queried "Oh" David said "it's a wonderful instrument made of wood with holes and a trumpet type mouthpiece. You can buy one from Christopher Monk. I'll give you his number. They're not expensive. You'll be good at it. If you can learn it quite quickly I can offer you some recording sessions". So that was how we got to know each other...
Read more