Bellows and Buttons
Music Tuition Weekends
Tutors
Saul Rose, Hazel Askew, Nick Cooke, Vicky Cooper and Helena Painting.
Saul Rose
Hazel Askew
Hazel Askew is a London based singer, musician and workshop leader. She has worked as a performer on the folk scene for many years, most notably with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated vocal trio Lady Maisery and traditional English folk duo The Askew Sisters, with whom she won Best Female Singer at the 2011 Spiral Earth Awards. She was also part of 10 piece female supergroup Songs of Separation who won Best Album at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Hazel is a committed folk educator and often leads projects for the English Folk Dance and Song Society's adult, youth and schools programmes. She has also led workshops and courses for organisations including BBC Proms, Barbican Creative Learning, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Folkworks, Soundpost Music, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Dartington Summer School, Benslow Music and Morley College. Hazel is one of the most experienced melodeon teachers in the country. She has led workshops for various festivals and organisations and helped develop the EFDSS Saturday melodeon classes, which she has lead since 2012.
Hazel is a committed folk educator and often leads projects for the English Folk Dance and Song Society's adult, youth and schools programmes. She has also led workshops and courses for organisations including BBC Proms, Barbican Creative Learning, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Folkworks, Soundpost Music, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Dartington Summer School, Benslow Music and Morley College. Hazel is one of the most experienced melodeon teachers in the country. She has led workshops for various festivals and organisations and helped develop the EFDSS Saturday melodeon classes, which she has lead since 2012.
Nick Cooke
Nick Cooke is a musician and audio mastering engineer from North Somerset. Grounded in the English tradition, particularly music for dance, Nick has been heavily influenced by the folk music of France both Breton and Central, Basque Country and Scandinavia. Nick credits his natural groove, warmth, and danceability in his playing to learning to dance himself, performing at various times with Bristol Morris Men, Black Swan Rapper and Hammersmith Morris.
Nick has been lucky enough to have been playing professionally since a young age in dance bands, including Trinculo and Glorystrokes, and touring throughout the UK and as far as Europe, Canada, Vietnam and USA, with Jim Moray, False Lights, Mawkin, standing in for Saul in various Eliza Carthy bands, and through his more than ten years playing in the Kate Rusby Band. Fitting all this in alongside his day-job running his own mastering business, Nick has also managed to squeeze in the odd bit of teaching at Melodeons at Whitney, Melodeons and More and Shooting Roots at Sidmouth Festival.
Nick has been lucky enough to have been playing professionally since a young age in dance bands, including Trinculo and Glorystrokes, and touring throughout the UK and as far as Europe, Canada, Vietnam and USA, with Jim Moray, False Lights, Mawkin, standing in for Saul in various Eliza Carthy bands, and through his more than ten years playing in the Kate Rusby Band. Fitting all this in alongside his day-job running his own mastering business, Nick has also managed to squeeze in the odd bit of teaching at Melodeons at Whitney, Melodeons and More and Shooting Roots at Sidmouth Festival.
Vicky Cooper
Vicky is band leader for Silkstone Greens North West Morris and is a relative newcomer to all things folk, but long time musician. She has previously taught at North East Playgroup, Derbyshire Playgroup, Whitby Folk Festival and Melodeons in Wensleydale. She has a passion for encouraging others to take up the melodeon in the hope they love it as much as she does! She plays D/G and G/C melodeons, with a particular soft spot for French tunes
Helena Painting
Helena is a keen advocate for adults beginning their musical journey, teaching Absolute Beginner melodeon workshops at melodeon events and folk festivals since 2018. Helena is a regular tutor at Melodeon Playgroup, and has taught at folk festivals including Towersey, Sidmouth, Shrewsbury and Chippenham, working solo and alongside Ed Rennie as part of their Squeezebox from Scratch project. A lover of folk dance and music, Helena runs supportive steady-speed sessions, with a particular focus on English tunes.
Lester Bailey
Lester is a Buckinghamshire based melodeon tutor and fettler. Since retiring in 2010 he has turned his hand to melodeon fettling and now is known for both this and his YouTube videos covering both melodeon maintenance/repair and many, many tunes. He is a morris and ceilidh band musician and runs local Slow and Steady sessions.
Over the weekend he will be available for minor repairs, advice, and given a bit of notice more complex repairs.
Over the weekend he will be available for minor repairs, advice, and given a bit of notice more complex repairs.