Latest / The Downing Arts Podcast / LT26.2 In Pursuit of a Pheasant Plucker

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LT26.2 In Pursuit of a Pheasant Plucker · The Downing Arts Podcast

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  Welcome to the downing arts podcast.
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  It's week two. The weather is grim, but there are signs that spring is on
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  the way. Stay tuned to hear about forthcoming arts activities this week.
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  My guest today is Downing alumnus and guitarist supremo Declan Hickey.
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  Welcome Declan. Good to be here. Thanks, Louisa. Now your name is
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  one that listeners might be very familiar with as I'm constantly publicizing your concerts and
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  so on. As you very kindly keep in touch, can you tell us
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  a little bit about what you've been up to recently? Sure. So for
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  the past couple of years I've been freelancing as a guitarist
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  and doing bits of writing about music for
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  festivals and things like that, and a lot of teaching as well.
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  So. So a kind of mixture of those things.
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  Basically lots of concerts in the lead up to
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  Christmas and some afterwards as well. So a typical kind of
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  portfolio career they call it. Absolutely. So you were
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  with us at Downing 2017 and I remember your
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  last year was kind of derailed a little bit by Covid, but then you went
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  on to the Royal Academy, is that right? That's right, yeah. So 2017 to
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  2020 at Downing, the last term of which
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  was to Covid, and then a year
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  in between, and then I did two years at the Royal Academy of Music in
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  London, which was great. And it was a real kind of contrast to
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  the music education you get in Cambridge, which is fantastic.
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  But they the two different environments offer different things and
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  I'm glad to have had both, I think. Did you always want to be a
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  guitarist? Not really, no. It's funny being
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  a guitarist because you don't grow up with the obvious infrastructure there.
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  You don't have the kind of orchestral jobs or the choral
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  singing worlds to fit into. The structures aren't there for you necessarily.
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  So you kind of have to make your own projects and your own work.
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  And so I think the result of that was just that when I was younger
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  I wasn't thinking, oh, I'm going to be a guitarist. I didn't really know what
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  that would look like. And I think as I got a little
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  bit older and learned a little bit more about music and
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  studied music a lot, I began to have kind of projects that I wanted
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  to put on myself and enjoyed the kind of agency you have as a guitarist.
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  And so now I'm really enjoying playing the guitar, teaching the guitar, researching about
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  the history of the guitar, which I do as well, and also lots of different
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  types of guitar. So I play 19th century guitar. I've recently started learning the Renaissance
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  four course guitar that kind of thing. So I'm loving it now. But no,
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  the honest answer is I don't think. I always knew I wanted to be.
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  A guitarist and I know you've done some really interesting projects. I mean,
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  I remember you coming to Downing in, was it November 2024
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  with you, brought some friends and did a kind of genuine as it gets salon
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  concert in the Master's Lodge. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean,
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  I feel very lucky actually to have ended up at
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  Downing College, which is the only early 19th century college, because that is
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  one of the golden ages of the guitar and it goes through perpetual
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  phases of popularity and then fading into obscurity throughout its
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  history. But the early 19th century has come to be called the great vogue for
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  the guitar in Western Europe. And so I got really into that period of guitar
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  history and Downing is the perfect place to put on salon
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  type performances and use early 19th century guitars and other instruments as
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  well and perform that repertoire in a genuine early 19th
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  century salon in the Master's Lodge. So it was a very special evening actually.
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  Yeah, and it was packed out as I recall. It was thanks
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  to your expert advertising and promotion. Thank you very much.
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  But yeah, complete with encouraged audience heckling. I seem to remember
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  there was a. Little bit of that. Yeah, that was quite funny.
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  So what have you been sort of involved in recently? I know your,
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  your monthly newsletter, which is always hilariously written.
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  I always enjoy reading it. And you've been writing about pheasants.
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  Have I misremembered? No, no, you're absolutely right. I mean,
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  there are many layers of allegory and wordplay and I won't
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  regale listeners with all the details of that. If you'd like to be added to
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  the mailing list, you can be very welcome to. But I
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  have recently been doing quite a bit of new music, working with some composer
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  friends. So we. Lovely concert in a tiny
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  village in Shropshire near the Welsh border called Clangunford.
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  It's not exactly where my friends Oren Johnson and
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  Johnty Lefroy Watt are from, but it's pretty near, pretty equidistant from
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  where they both grew up. And it was again, a packed out venue in
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  a small provincial church in the West
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  Midlands and performing a whole program of contemporary
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  music, new music for violin and guitar or violin
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  and two guitar or, sorry, two violins and guitar. And it was a
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  really special occasion actually and it really encouraged me that you can
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  bring new music anywhere and there might well be an audience
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  for it if you sell it in the right way. And Encourage people to
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  get stuck in. So when you say new music, is it in a particular style?
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  Or how do you, with your background and research interests, I mean, how do you
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  wrap that all up together? Is it in a particular style? I mean,
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  I think composition departments now seem to be quite pluralistic.
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  So it's not like every composer comes out of a music conservatoire or
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  a university composing in the same kind of idiom.
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  And generally speaking, the composers I've worked with have been incredibly
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  free thinking. Every piece is a new venture and it
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  doesn't have to be anything like the piece that came before it. And that's
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  really exciting as a performer because you don't know what a composer
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  is going to give you even if you've worked with them before. And I think
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  for me the best thing about working with composers is
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  actually the social aspect to it. I mean, I love history, I love
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  historical research, I love performing music by dead composers.
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  But it is a unique privilege and joy to
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  play music written by people who are not just alive, but friends that
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  you can talk to and work with on the piece at hand. And do you
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  ever compose yourself? I don't really. I arrange lots
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  of music and I am getting a little bit
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  more into historical reconstruction of music that we can
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  be quite sure existed at one point, but we don't have the surviving scores,
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  that kind of thing. But I've not yet taken the plunge and
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  tried to actually write my own music, which is a strange thing really. It's a,
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  it's an historical anomaly that performers these days don't always write their own music.
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  So I think at some point I will give it
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  a go and see what comes out. Maybe no one will
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  ever hear it, but I will give it a go. You say
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  you arrange lots of music and so on. I mean, is there a. I suppose
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  logically there would be a direct correlation between say piano accompaniments and
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  guitar, but I'm sure it's probably not that straightforward.
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  So when you're writing say, you know, two violins, a guitar
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  like you've just mentioned, I mean how, how does the guitar. What's the guitar's role
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  in that? Yeah, it's a good question. Guitarists think
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  a lot about transcription because the canon, the sort
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  of guitar canon that emerged in the 20th century was
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  heavily. A large portion of the guitar
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  canon that emerged in the 20th century was piano transcription,
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  Albanith keyboard works, Scarlatti sonatas,
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  even the so called Bach lute suites. Most of them, in fact
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  all of them were originally keyboard suites basically for the Lautenwerk,
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  which is a kind of sort of harpsichord like instrument. So there was a
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  lot of piano or keyboard transcription going on when the guitar
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  was getting off the ground again in the 20th century. But even in the 19th
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  century, guitarists were arranging things. It's always been, for whatever
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  reason, an instrument where people like to transcribe things. And I.
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  In my experience, it works best when you arrange something for guitar
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  plus something else. It's a. Obviously an instrument I love, but it is
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  and can be a very fiddly instrument. And certain
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  restrictions very readily come up as soon as you
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  put one finger down, for example. That limits the number of possibilities hugely.
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  So it's why, I think people are often put off if they
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  don't play the instrument, because it does lend itself to people who really know
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  the fingerboard quite intimately. And then you can come up with all kinds of creative
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  solutions. But there are limitations, which is why I really enjoy
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  transcribing for, let's say, guitar and violin play
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  a lot with a violinist called Eliza Nagle, who's fantastic. And then you've got the
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  melody taken care of, basically, and then you can use the guitar to
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  flesh out the texture and provide the harmony and that kind of thing.
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  The guitar in larger ensembles is a different beast, really. And then
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  it can be coloristic, it can be melodic as
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  well, of course, so we can do lots of different things. But trying to take
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  a solo keyboard work and transcribe it through the guitar, I think often is
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  the most punishing kind of transcription.
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  And I often come away at the end of it thinking, you know, what was
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  it worth it? Whereas guitar plus something else, or plus two or three other instruments
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  is fantastic, brilliant. And I know you. You sometimes dress up for your performances,
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  sort of period costume type thing. I imagine a fair amount of research must
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  go into that as well. I mean, how easy is it to get hold of
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  these sorts of costumes? Well, I've not found it that easy, actually,
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  but. And I've confessed, I'm not a specialist in
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  Regency dress. I wish I were,
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  but for me, it's actually quite an important part
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  of the musical experience. If you're doing a sort of historical recreation
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  of something because it brings your audience
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  along with you immediately, I think if they see you walk out
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  in costume or they see you in period dress, or even something that sort
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  of approximates period dress, which sometimes we have to put up
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  with, then it immediately transports them somewhere else.
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  And it can actually be quite ghostly, I think, when you start playing
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  music that maybe hasn't even been heard or performed in a couple of hundred
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  years, and I do like to plumb the depths of the niche repertoire
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  for the guitar in that period. If you're playing this music that maybe no
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  one else has played or heard in a couple of hundred years, dressed in
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  the way that they were in a suitable historical environment,
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  like the Downing College Master's Lodge, for example,
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  then there is something really quite magical about that.
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  And so I think why not get stuck in, do the whole hog and
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  dress up for it as well. Brilliant. Well,
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  thank you very much. We're out of time I'm afraid. I'd love to talk to
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  you all day, catch up a bit more, but thank you very much for coming
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  on the show and do let us know if you're or any other performances you're
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  doing and who knows, we may see you in Downing very soon. Thank you for
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  having me. It's been great fun and I hope to be back in Downing very
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  This week in College tonight at 9 o' clock in the chapel,
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  the choir will sing the first choral Compline of the term. Come along for some
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  time out, followed by port and hot chocolate. On Friday 11 till 12
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  in the Wilkins room there's a Qi Gong session in association with the Heng Gallery's
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  current exhibition. See the show notes for more information and to book at
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  5pm in the theatre. There's then an exhibition panel discussion on the work currently on
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  show in the gallery. Tickets are free but need to be booked in advance.
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  Again, see the show notes for details. Also on Friday at 9:30pm
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  in the JCR is an open mic night hosted by the Music Society. See the
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  show notes for details on how to participate. Evensong is on Sunday
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  as usual at six in the chapel this week a celebration of the Feast of
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  Candlemas, including music by Philip Moore and Richard Shepherd. On Monday
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  6:30 till 7:30pm in the chapel, the chaplain will be giving
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  a talk on what is the Church of England. Refreshments will be served and
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  all are very welcome regardless of belief or background. Also on Monday
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  at 7pm in the JCR there will be an estimating evening hosted
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  by last week's podcast guest Dr. Hamish Symington. It promises to be
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  a lot of fun and there will be free pizza lots going on to brighten
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  up these dark winter days. Thanks for listening.