I have always loved Medieval and Renaissance music and have been fascinated by the instruments developed during those periods. This led to me study Early Woodwind Technology at the London College of Furniture, where we were encouraged to make exact copies of surviving instruments.

 

In my workshop I have developed those skills to make instruments based on existing models, but adapted for the modern musician: bearing in mind requirements for ease of fingering; modern pitch; and using only sustainable, locally sourced woods.

 

I make  tabor pipes based on those found on the wreck of the Mary Rose (Henry VIII's flagship), and a medieval recorder based on one found in a 15th Century latrine in the Polish city of Elbląg.

 

This year I will be working on developing a soprano shawm from the Brussels Museum and a sopranino  rauschpfeife from the Berlin Museum, under the guidance of master Renaissance reed instrument maker Eric Moulder, funded by a scholarship from QEST.

After the reeds, I plan to make a consort of late Medieval recorders based on the illustrations in Virdung's Musica Getutscht (1511), and later to develop a consort of Renaissance recorders.