Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Pear Tree and Partridge
Laura Hairgrove Randall and Mary Vanhoozer are Renaissance women who love to make music, engage in rich conversation, and share the gift of beauty in the everyday through a variety of creative outlets. Their shared passion have led them to Pear Tree and Partridge:
More than simply a music duo, their musical and creative collaboration also represent a way of living.
Pear Tree and Partridge is committed to crafting live music with skill, dedication, and creativity with the aim to create excellent music for the joy, enrichment, and good of their local communities. In addition to concerts, Pear Tree and Partridge also shares blogs, poetry, recipes, and pictures on their website, creating a virtual space for artistic reflection and personal rejuvenation.
Multi-instrumentalist and melodist
Angelus ad Virginem*
Mary Vanhoozer
Playford's Wheel
COMING SOON
Growing up in Edinburgh, Scotland, I became enthralled by the culture of music making there: even as a child, I was deeply touched by the way that music seemed to accompany the rhythms and routines of every day life, in addition to special occasions. As a professional musician, music continues to shape my day to day experiences.
Sample page
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A sense of thankfulness propels me to share this gift with others: not only the ability to offer live music, but also that of helping others craft and nurture a culture of music making themselves to share with their local communities. To that end, over the last two years I have been playing and collecting English country dance tunes, taking special note of the melodies whose range and idiomatic writing seem particularly well suited for the hurdy gurdy. The fruit of this project is 'Playford's Wheel,' an anthology and guide to playing 70 English country dance tunes, mostly from Playford's Dancing Master, for hurdy gurdy. I have also written second voice parts in accordance with the style of the original melodies (see sample 'Black and Grey'). These second voices provide gurdy players with the opportunity to play and collaborate with other instrumentalists.
I believe that the hurdy gurdy offers a unique contribution to renaissance dance music, and subsequent traditions that have sprung out of it. In light of this belief, 'Playford's Wheel' marks the beginning of a longer term project: it's the first of a series of anthologies, each of which will feature a seminal collection of dance music from the 16th, 17th, or 18th centuries. These melodies will be specifically transcribed for the hurdy gurdy.