Thirty-five singers had a very enjoyable day with David Oliver from Northumberland. David is a passionate, cheerful and engaging advocate of England’s songs and dances, as well as music from other cultures, who loves to encourage everyone to be happy, confident and enthusiastic about participating and sharing in our great musical traditions.
David taught us six great songs, encompassing different styles and traditions of singing, and shared the stories behind the music. The evocative Unst Boat Song from Shetland, learned from the wonderful fiddler, Catriona MacDonald, is one of Shetland’s oldest songs. Two mining songs Rap Her to Bank, from County Durham and Union Miner were followed by the tender Scottish lullaby Coorie Doon. Traveling further afield, we also enjoyed the beautiful Hawaiian song E Malama in honour of the earth.
David also struck up on his accordion joined by Jane on the fiddle with the Reel of Tullochgorum leading the group in a lively ceilidh dance, and playing the beautiful slow air Miss Rowan Davies.
“a lovely day … songs and entertainment were brilliant”
“a lot of fun, good music and accompanying stories”
More about David…
A former High School headteacher from Hexham, Northumberland, David Oliver was Folkworks* Education Director from 1993 to 2009, and has wide and varied experience of organising and delivering courses, singing workshops and training events in folk music, song and dance. His singing experiences include church choir, choral societies, rock band, folk groups, madrigal and chamber groups, and leadership of Folkworks Advanced Vocal Skills workshops.
He’s a leading Northumbrian dance band accordionist and caller, and creator of The Hexham Village Band, a 30-strong community ceilidh band. From 2006 until 2012 he was musical director of the Tynedale Community Choir.
In 2014 he tutored on Village Harmony’s three-week traveling song camp in the USA, and ran community choir workshops as far afield as New Hampshire and Seattle. In recent years he has also led community music projects in Hungary, India, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Sweden, Japan and France.
David is a regular provider of In-service Training, advice, information and resources for teachers, and lectures on folk music education for the Universities of Durham and Newcastle. He’s co-author of Folk Voiceworks (OUP 2007), author of English Accordion Music (Schott 2008) and creator of the best-selling Folkworks Session Collection. He was Chair of FolkArts England 2003 to 2009, and is now supposed to be retired.
(*Folkworks was created by Alistair Anderson and Ros Rigby in 1987 as North-East England’s development agency for folk music, song and dance. It was a founding partner of Sage Gateshead, Tyneside’s centre for world-class musical performance and learning.)