News and Features
Alex Bartholomew
Alex started playing the violin aged 7, is classically trained and played in local youth Chamber/Symphony orchestras. Alex has had her current violin for over 20 years. It's believed to have been made in Markneukirchen, Saxony - a town famous for making instruments for over 300 years and is thought to be just under 250 years old.
Steve Wiles
Steve was a founder member of Suffolk band RSVP, and played in that band from the late ‘80s until 2010; he has been calling for ceilidhs for even longer, with that band and also others from the Essex/Suffolk border area. In this time, he has developed a repertoire of dances suitable for all ages and all levels of expertise, and is also able to include French dances if the occasion demands them.
His main instrumental contribution is on the melodeon, which he first picked up to provide dance music for Colchester Morris and children’s morris and clog sides. Having been a bass player prior to learning melodeon has influenced his box-playing style; his belief is that if a squeeze-box has buttons on both sides, you should use them all equally. His playing style acts like a rhythm guitar, sitting between the melody instruments and the comouter-generated bass/drums. Having used Hohners and Salterelles, he currently plays a 3-row Castagnari Mory, uniquely tuned to allow an even, flowing playing style.
For some Spanish tunes, Steve sometimes plays a Recording King acoustic guitar in Double Dropped D tuning; he has also occasionally played an Oakwood 10-string electric cittern.
His final contribution is the programming of percussion backing tracks used in live performances; all 3 band members are involved in the refining of these important elements of the band’s unique sound. He uses Cakewalk software to create the ‘kick-drum-and-hi-hat’ sound that is regularly heard in discos and clubs, but rarely backing fiddle and bagpipes.
Sarah Holmes
Sarah is a classically trained oboist who plays the wind instruments in the band. During a visit to the annual music festival at St Chartier, Central France, she bought a beautiful set of French bag-pipes and so began playing the Musette with the band. She has recently extended the instrument collection and now also has a Gaita (Spanish bagpipe) and a saxophone as well.
Roland, the mysterious fourth member of Skylarking
Roland, the mysterious fourth member of Skylarking
Why does Skylarking use a machine as its fourth member?
Rhythm is an integral part of the human experience from birth onwards: from our heartbeats when we’re born to the cycle of day and night, rhythm makes the world work.
Despite this, in most cultures of the Western World, it seems that melody and harmony have always been regarded as the pure, spiritual elements of music, with rhythm and dance being the less important aspects.
Elsewhere, however, rhythm and movement have always symbolised and strengthened the bonds between people; which is why, in some societies, people affirm their unity by dancing together while in others, dance music is regarded by many as mindless pap.
Based on the rhythms of Africa, Blues was the genesis of the modern musical age, as much for its groove as anything else. From jazz, through Swing and Rock ‘n’ Roll, into pop and contemporary ‘dance’ music, it is the rhythm of the music that makes people tap their feet, clap their hands or get up and dance: not the melody.
English dance music has traditionally had a strong, identifiable melodic bias – to such an extent that, in some bands, all instruments are engaged with the tune. Skylarking believes - very strongly - that you don’t get people dancing with an interesting tune: you need a groove.
However, in a small 3-piece band such as ours, having one person playing percussion takes something away from the interplay of melody instruments which is a feature of our style – unless we resort to modern technology.
Using computer programs and sampling hardware, we have created our own rhythm section by selecting and combining elements that we feel enhance the melodies played by the 3 instrumentalists. These are recorded onto a Roland R-05 WAV/mp3 recorder.
As much thought goes into the backing tracks as to any other element of our arrangements; we hope these rhythms encourage you to get up, dance and have fun, while we enjoy playing the tunes, assisted and driven by the rhythm that Roland provides.
Booking Enquiry
Please read the booking terms and conditions which we hope you will find helpful. It also contains some information about the venue requirements.
The document is attached here, click on this link to view or download.
