Who We Are
Birmingham Folk started out as an idea between friends Katie, Ruth and Max, who had all individually spent time travelling abroad to experience traditional music first hand and always arrived back in Birmingham with a head buzzing full of new folk styles and hundreds of tunes but nowhere to play them. Taking part in workshop weeks, folk seminars and one off learning environments is addictive and we wanted to create some of that feeling that we experienced on our travels, here in our own city, whilst helping other people to feel that buzz without necessarily travelling. A common thread was that none of us like to be too tied down to one type of folk music in particular but while exploring a new style, really like to get inside the stylistic aspects and colour of the traditions.
Birmingham Folk aims to create a scene for something which is as much for our participants as for ourselves. Through workshops and sessions we aim to create a shared body of repertoire in our musical community so that we can have more opportunities to play together. We also hope to create an environment for learning - not just in our events but in the city in general. We recognise that learning music by yourself can be uninspiring or unmotivating - but knowing that there are others to play your tunes with can be a completely different experience! While the three of us are experienced teachers and enjoy leading tunes from our own existing repertoires, one of the biggest joys for us is also learning tunes from our participants themselves and hearing the stories connected to the music and the people. Aside from the workshops and sessions we host, we also offer one-to-one private lessons either with one of the team or on rotation
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Katie Stevens
Katie is a multi instrumentalist specialising in clarinet and other traditional woodwinds (but enjoys a dabble on a string or two).
She loves to get into the nitty gritty of the musical genres she explores and to learn about other people and cultures through the music they make.
Katie is an active musician on the Birmingham scene playing in Bonfire Radicals and with Max in the Destroyers!
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Ruth Lindsay
Ruth grew up in the folk music scene of central Scotland before moving to Birmingham where she became obsessed with the fiddle music of trad Irish seisuns, spending a lot of her time geeking out about ornamentation and rhythmic bowing techniques. She is a teacher and freelance fiddler, gigging regularly on the ceilidh and festival scene with bands and acoustic artists. Ruth also has a keen interest in the theatre world with her broad interest in folk fiddle styles landing her performing and composition roles with the RSC in Stratford upon Avon. Ruth loves to meet and connect with new people through music and finds that wherever you are in the world, you can learn so much about a place or person from their music alone.
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Max Gittings
Max is an educator and performer playing and teaching Folk Music and Woodwind Instruments from these islands and across the world.
He specializes on Flutes, Whistles and Bellows Bagpipes and has performed at major UK festivals with The Destroyers and worked with theatre companies including the RSC and Come From Away. Having been a part of the Birmingham traditional session and workshop scene for the last 20 years Max is delighted to be working with his colleagues to further the enjoyable learning, playing and sharing of folk music and tunes in the future with Birmingham Folk
“I've been taking private lessons with all three of the organisers of Birmingham Folk and am having a great time learning all kinds of different tunes and getting different insights and ideas! My interest in folk music is global so I'm delighted to have found a music scene where there is an interest in all kinds of traditions from around the world”
— Jim