Lady Maisery Creative Song Week

With traditional and contemporary folk song as our starting point, this mid-week course is a chance to delve deeply into the songs we sing, work on how to make our music more meaningful and discover what might move us forward in our personal musical journeys.

Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans of Lady Maisery will be your guides and mentors in the creation of new music, arranging and harmonising traditional songs, creating new tunes for old song texts and writing new songs. Workshops will be a variety of whole group activities and some small group self-directed tasks, so participants should be open to exploring ideas in this way.

The Lady Maisery Creative Song Week will include: learning some inspiring folk songs by ear, exploring our voices through vocal and breath work, creative musical and writing tasks, improvisation with others, working with archives/library texts, and chances to perform or share songs in a supportive environment.

Though the format remains unchanged from previous years, the trio will choose material carefully, to ensure enjoyable new challenges for returning participants!

Participants are invited to bring along instruments if they wish and there will be chances during the week to focus on playing an instrument if desired, but some parts of the week will focusing purely on singing so all participants have to be happy to sing.

Workshop places are limited, so please book early to avoid disappointment.

Who is it for?

This course is aimed at intermediate and advanced level singers. You’ll be interested in exploring your own creativity – making new arrangements, sourcing archive material, and even writing new songs. You’ll need to be open to working in small and larger groups and trying new ways of working.

The Team

In an English folk scene currently bursting with bold and innovative folk music, vocal trio Lady Maisery shine brightly. With their unique approach to harmony singing, intelligent and thoughtful arrangements of both traditional repertoire and original compositions, Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans harness and celebrate their united voice. Whether unearthing a feminist twist hidden in a traditional tale, delivering a poignant anti-war ballad, or showcasing their immense multi-instrumental talents in original compositions that draw on a myriad of musical influences, Lady Maisery are skilfull explorers of the power, beauty and vitality of song. Over the last five years, the trio have toured widely, performing sell-out shows across the UK and Europe.

Underpinning every performance are Lady Maisery’s distinctive harmonies: sometimes lush and rich, sometimes dark and invigorating, they intertwine with assured precision. The trio are also one of the foremost English proponents of mouth music, or “diddling” – once common in England, and still found across parts of southern and northern Europe, this form of singing without words is a perfect showcase for their sheer musicality. Each also an accomplished instrumentalist, many songs are expertly accompanied by a rich tapestry of Rowan’s fiddle, banjo and bansitar, Hazel’s harp, concertina and melodeon, and Hannah’s accordion and foot percussion.