I've returned to academia after a looong, unsatisfying break. It's the only environment where my 'unique skillset' is valued, and it's still more secure than being a full-time musician. I keep going out of sheer bloody-mindedness.
I'm giving another talk on Underground Warfare in the First World War for the Western Front Association, this Wednesday 15 April 2026. This time it's the Surrey Branch in Cobham, in person only so I hope to see you there. Details:
www.westernfrontassociation.com/branches/uni...
Twenty years on, this is still brilliant.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_...
Medieval manuscript illustration showing a bear (left) playing a vielle-like instrument and a boar (right) holding up a page of musical notation for the bear to see. A trumpet or other wind instrument lies on the ground between them. They sit on grass, surrounded by foliage.
Violin learners!
Exam coming up this summer?
Terrified about the sightreading?
So was I, until I found a teacher who gave me a method, which I now share with my students.
Interested in lessons? DM me here or email info@katearnoldmusic.com
London, UK / online.
#music #exams #sightreading #teacher
Medieval manuscript illustration showing a bear (left) playing a vielle-like instrument and a boar (right) holding up a page of musical notation for the bear to see. A trumpet or other wind instrument lies on the ground between them. They sit on grass, surrounded by foliage.
Violin learners!
Exam coming up this summer?
Terrified about the sightreading?
So was I, until I found a teacher who gave me a method, which I now share with my students.
Interested in lessons? DM me here or email info@katearnoldmusic.com
London, UK / online.
#music #exams #sightreading #teacher
When an immortal crusader offers you the chance to pick the Grail and you choose... poorly
Painting title: Sleeping Jeppe. Artwork of a tabby cat sleeping outside in the spring sun.
'You are lord of a place bounded like a dream.'
-To a Cat, Jorge Luis Borges.
🎨Bruno Liljefors
#BookWormSat
Oh ace! Thanks, that's good to hear. New album on the way soon!
🏰🎶🎵🎶🎵
Get ready for another term of amazing seminars! As always, free! Just remember to sign up here: bit.ly/londonmedieval
#medievalsky #skystorians
Shortly afterwards it was changed from 'Common' to 'Park'.
I think about this whenever I go through Kennington.
Thank you for posting this! It's something I have to keep reminding myself about too. It takes as long as it takes.
Does anyone I know have the CD(s) of the full soundtrack to Ridley Scott's 'Kingdom of Heaven' close at hand? Someone who wouldn't mind checking something for me in the sleeve notes? If so I'd be much obliged.
#MedievalSky
When Easter and First Contact Day collide...
Happy Mr Cadbury's Parrot Day
www.youtube.com/watch?v=924p...
The Three Holy Women at the Empty Tomb
#EasterSunday
BnF MS 1186 Psalter of St Louis & Blanche de Castille; 13th century (c.1230 CE); Paris; f.26r @gallicabnf.bsky.social
The Harrowing of Hell
#HolySaturday
BL Egerton MS 1139; The 'Melisende Psalter'; 1131-1143 CE; Eastern Mediterranean (Jerusalem); f.9v
@blmedieval.bsky.social
I grew up in DC watching Brooks do Shakespeare before he was a Captain.
I saw him play Othello to Andre Braugher’s Iago. One of the best things I’ve ever seen.
I had tickets to see him as Tamburlaine, but he suffered an injury and the rest of the run was cancelled.
Point is, Brooks can ACT.
Oh my goodness, I would have loved to see that.
Bonus: A ginormous knitted hot cross bun; several of these were spotted adorning the choir stalls. They can be taken apart into four independent quarters. I imagine they have overrun the cathedral by now.
#medieval #buns
Ready: Three Alban buns on individual plates, each with two wraps of butter and a knife.
Steady: Close-up of one of the buns on its plate. It is slightly bigger than most modern hot cross buns, about the size of a large bread roll. The top has a faint cross cut into it before baking and is a lovely golden-brown, a little sticky with egg-wash (?) glaze. Currants are evident.
Go: The bun cut in half to reveal a light soft fluffy internal texture, and more currants. Butter about to be applied.
The other day I went on a medieval bun quest to @stalbanscathedral.bsky.social, where monk Thomas Rocliffe is said to have invented the hot cross bun in 1361 and where they are still made to the original recipe.
I recommend them. Soft, light, subtly spiced, and toasted well for next day's breakfast.
36% German, 60% autistic. Wasn't expecting that, to be honest.
Perhaps we can have another one in the fall as well.
I've just been informed that today is International 'Hug a Medievalist' Day, among other things.
Here, 'Listen to an Electro-Medievalist's Weird Music' is also acceptable, and encouraged.
#medievalsky #musicalsky
Monochrome picture of stone roof angel playing hammered dulcimer in Manchester Cathedral, 15th century
Right folks, the next album recording dates are finally In The Diary and they're soooooon. Please continue to watch this weird and wonderful space, oh do.
#electro #medieval #hammereddulcimer #music
Thanks for sharing!
🙂🎶🎵
It already is, for me.
I found my copy of the Price volume, in almost mint condition, in a local charity shop a couple of years ago. Thought I was dreaming. I'd love to know who the previous owner was.
Down a research rabbithole yesterday I found this. Amazing sounds! I'd heard about fijīrī (music of the pearl fishers of the Arabian Gulf) before but never really listened to any. These guys are METAL! You can really hear the energy in the room.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g54m...
PGR Failure Cafe! April 8th, 1pm-3pm in the PGR Common Room at 8-14 Abercromby Square. We've all dropped the ball, lost the plot, missed a deadline, deleted the wrong file, misread the room... failure is universal and you're not alone! Join us for tea, coffee, biscuits and to swap tales of woe 😩😱
The painting on the verso of this folio is the first half of a double-page frontispiece now detached from a <em>Shahnama</em> (Book of Kings) manuscript. CMA 1956.10 is the left half of the frontispiece.<br><br>As though setting the scene for royal stories and activities, these two opening pages of Iran’s national epic present a luxurious gathering in an idyllic outdoor setting. Groups of nobles and international diplomats have come bearing gifts, including costly vessels and hunting animals. <br><br>At the upper right, seemingly uninterested in the emissaries and gifts, a prince kneels with six royal women under an open tent. He pulls one of them toward him, apparently to coax her to drink a cup of wine. At the bottom a musician plays a harp that has been mounted over a stream, painted with now tarnished silver paint. Drama and intrigue seem to be brewing, given the knowing glances and whispers between figures.
Royal Feast in a Garden, verso of right folio from the double-page frontispiece of a Shah-nama of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020) https://clevelandart.org/art/1945.169.b
