Exploring Texture and Structure in Music
Practical Explorations of the horizontal and vertical kind
This course is for people who like to make music, who like to think about music, who like to create, perform, jam, practise or rehearse. It’s for people who are curious about music and how it works, for people who would like to explore aspects of music in practical ways with other like-minded folk.
We will
Drum, blow, scrape, strum, pick, bow, sing, shake and hit stuff to explore structure and texture
Explore texture and structure in music we are familiar with and in less familiar music
Explore momentum in music via bass lines, harmonic rhythm and chord progressions
Explore heterophony and interlocking with reference to South East Asian music
Explore cyclical structures with reference to Balinese gamelan, Zimbabwean mbira and Ghanaian drumming
Explore timeline, polyrhythm and polymetre with reference to West African music
About this event:
Dates - 7.45-9.00pm every Monday (6 week course).
Mondays 9, 16, 23, 30 November and 7, 14 December 2026.
Price - £54 for 6 week course.
Location - Upstairs @ Open House. Please arrive 5-10 minutes before class to settle into the space.
Equipment - All instruments are provided.
Booking - Limited to 12 spots, to book your spot please click below.
*Please note: This course is for people with some previous musical experience. We imagine that, for example, drummers & percussionists would be able to play to a pulse, players of harmonic instruments would know some chords and players of melodic instruments can navigate some scales. If you are a beginner then please look for our “Discover” course in the new year.
-
Mark Bradshaw is a composer, songwriter and performer now living in the Hope Valley. Accomplished on guitar, piano and mbira, with sidelines in flute, marimba and percussion, he’s recorded and performed, and researched and taught all over the world.
In the UK, he was a member of Spirit Talk Mbira, and one half of the mighty Blissful Virtuous. In eSwatini, where he lived and taught for 10 years, he mentored and collaborated extensively with the country’s finest singer-songwriters, Bholoja and Velemseni. In Singapore, he headed up the acoustic quintet, Shumba ye Moyo. A new album with his current project, Mark Bradshaw and the Jackdaws, is due for release in late summer 2026.
A musician, teacher, curriculum writer and ethnomusicologist, he has 40 years experience of working with individuals, classes and groups in schools, colleges and beyond in the UK, Asia and Africa. He believes that music-making is a universal action, and something that has the power to bring us together for positive change. When we make music together, we express our humanity and make our world, however fleetingly, a better place. goes here