Welcome to Ripplingkeys Music
I'm Rory Marsden, a Norfolk-based musician. I hope you enjoy looking round my website. Please contact me if I can help with your music requirements.
New Gittern!
When I was at the Medieval Music In the Dales festival two weeks ago, I bought a new gittern – a medieval instrument which is an early form of the guitar. This one was made by Ugo Casalonga from Corsica. He has a wonderful workshop, where he makes all manner of medieval stringed instruments, entirely by hand. I enjoyed talking to Ugo, and I loved the sound of the gittern he had on display. It was a great opportunity to buy this instrument, and Bolton Castle was a wonderful setting for the Instruments Exhibition during the festival.
Mediæval Music In The Dales
This Festival is held every year in the Yorkshire Dales, and I never even knew about it until early this summer! So here I am in Wensleydale, home of Wallace’s favourite cheese, ready to leave early for Bolton Castle tomorrow. I have brought my violin, my recorders and my gittern (mediæval stringed instrument, rather like an early guitar). I’ve signed up for a few workshops, including a string workshop and a male voice choir! Should be good, but I’ll let you know….
Dinner Jazz at Blackfriars Hall, Norwich
I was both honoured and delighted to be asked to play dinner jazz for Nick and Antoinette Faulkner’s Golden Wedding Anniversary celebrations at Blackfriars Hall last Saturday. It was a glittering occasion, with elegant guests, beautiful food and a sparkling ambience in this most stylish of venues.
The Bösendorfer piano on the stage has a rich and velvety sound, and I played two 45-minute sets of (mostly) jazz – throwing in a couple of lovely classical works, one by Beethoven, the other by Chopin. The jazz numbers from my set included: