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Sandra Kerr

Sandra Kerr has had a long and distinguished career in folk music, beginning with her training in the acclaimed Critic's Group (1963-72), under the tutelage of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. Here she received a strong grounding in the folk arts, including song, instrumental music (she plays English concertina, guitar, Appalachian dulcimer and autoharp), folk and agit-prop theatre. She developed her song-writing skills here, and did much research, becoming familiar with all the works of the great folk lorists such as Sharp, Child, Bronson and so on. This reseach resulted in some ground-breaking recordings including Sweet Thames Flow Softly, A Merry Progress to London and The Female Frolic, possibly the first album to explore the folk repertoire in it's relation to women's experience, a theme which was, and is, constantly recurring in her work.

In the late 70s and 80s she worked mostly in the media, where her writing and presenting skills were much in demand. She co-wrote and researched all the music for the much-loved TV series "Bagpuss", currently enjoying a revival of cult proportions. She also acted in the films, finding her true vocation as a bossy rag doll and several mice….The rest of the decade was spent researching material for, writing and presenting a whole range of programmes for BBC Children's Radio, including "The Music Box" and "The Listening Corner ". The last decade or so has seen a slightly different emphasis in her work for, though she has continued to perform and record, she has become one of the most sought-after workshop leaders in the country. She offers a whole range of training programmes from voice production to traditional singing style, concertina workshops, training for teachers in the use of song and dance in early years education, and more. She also directs two immensely popular folk choirs, Wercasfolk (a women's group, 30 strong) and VoiceMale (newly formed men's choir) for whom she has reseached and arranged an exciting repertoire of folk and world music. The diverse nature of her work has meant that she has incredibly broad experience and understanding of the use of folk song and music in a variety of settings.

Suggested Links

More about Sandra Kerr
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/staff/profile/s.j.kerr

Related Courses

This tutor does not have any upcomming courses, but taught in the following subject areas. Please click on the links below to find similar courses.

Singing Courses

Making Music

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