Zachary Taylor
Presents
‘’A Musical Gateway to the Past”
with demonstrations, talks, concerts and special events for music clubs, history societies, etc.
The following are available as ‘taster’ lectures, or as one- to three-day courses.
The Secret Ukulele
The ukulele was born about 400 years before George Formby and it is still maturing!
Around the World with a Guitar
Examples of exceptional guitar music from exotic and exciting places
Musical Instruments as Works of Art
Demonstration, of a show and tell variety, of instruments that look and sound beautiful
13 Centuries of plucked strings
Tracing the development of stringed instruments from the lyre to the guitar
Strings of stone
Creating representations of ancient musical instruments from sculptured evidence
The Guitar Revealed
A closer look at its origins, influences and development; its 500 years of music
The Saxon Lyre
A fascinating instrument based on the finds in the Prittlewell grave.
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At many and varied venues he has given courses on musical instrument making and illustrated talks in the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and America.
He has contributed to, or made outright, several programmes for Cinema,Television and Radio, including;
'Hoffman', a Peter Sellers movie, produced by Ben Arbeid 1970
An Organistrum for Santiago (BBC) 1988
Strings of Stone (TVE Spain) 1989
Riddles of the River (Anglia TV) 2001
Fred Dibnah’s programme on Peterborough (BBC) 2002
Time Team (Channel 4) King of Bling 2005
The Saxon Lyre (BBC) 2006
Music’s Missing Link (BBC) 2007
Zachary has participated in the research and reproduction of many ancient instruments, examples of which he owns and uses in his demonstrations.
His instruments range from the 6th to 21st century, including: lyres, psalteries, dulcimers, harps, citole, organistrum, simphonie, hurdy-gurdy, lutes, ukuleles, mandolin and guitars.
Subjects of talks include; research methods, historic development, making and playing of the instruments, in any or all combinations, to suit the needs of the proposed audience.
Media comments:
1* ‘Acknowledged maestro of mediaeval music’; ‘The instruments are wonderful works of art’.
ITV Thames
2* ‘Taylor speaks (and even laughs!) most naturally’; ‘ a single improvisation by one interesting man’.
Sunday Telegraph
3* ‘I hope Radio 3 has in mind a sequel to his fascinating programme’
Sunday Times
4* ‘World renowned instrument maker’
London Evening Standard
5* ‘One of our foremost instrument makers’
Woodworking International
6* ‘Taylor recreates the sound of the Media comments:middle ages’.
Hello magazine
7* ‘Renaissance man of music’; ‘Zachary Taylor has achieved a constructional miracle’.
Focus magazine
8* ‘Taylor has an impressive pedigree in the music world’.
Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Talks & Demos