Gordon, Ruth

Ruth Gordon

I play in Cakes and Ale, a folk band from Norwich. I got involved in the flint project through volunteering at the Sainsbury centre and, through going to the flintknapping workshop with Val and John Lord, became interested in the musical possibilities of flint. Some shards of flint have a ringing tone when struck together and so I wanted to see if I could make a 'flintstrument' with some! I was also interested in the different sounds and rhythms flintknapping creates and wanted to make a performance piece which explored all of this. I gathered together a group of (mostly!) willing musicians who helped me put together a short piece. We provided a rhythmic backing, and Claire-Jane Carter read poetry which she had written, taking inspiration from John Lord's book about flintknapping and stories of flint mining.

www.cakesandale.bandcamp.com