Avril Dankworth

Avril Margaret Dankworth (born April 1922 in Southend-on-Sea , Essex ; † early March 2013 ) was a British music teacher and author.

Avril Dankworth was the older sister of jazz musician John Dankworth and was educated at Walthamstow High School, Hockerill Teacher Training College, the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music . At first she worked as a singer, u. a. in the choir of George Mitchell , and accompanied Mátyás Seiber before teaching in London schools and colleges. In 1965 she founded the Sing for Pleasure movement with two fellow students . In 1970 she built a music school curriculum after John Dankworth and his wife Cleo Laine acquired the Old Rectory in Wavendon in the Borough of Milton Keynes . She organized an annual music camp for children and young people at the nearby Stables Theater , which resulted in the National Youth Music Camps held at Wavendon Stables. In 1990 she received an honorary doctorate for her music education work. She wrote several books including Make Music Fun and a work on the history of jazz .

Dankworth was married to trombonist Les Carew (1908-1994) since 1971, who played in the big bands of Jack Hylton , Bert Ambrose and Geraldo .

Publications (selection)

• Jazz: An Introduction to its Musical Basis . Oxford University Press London / New York / Toronto, 1968, 2nd edition 1979. ISBN 0-19-316501-5
• Play Tunes: Variations on Five Nursery Rhymes for Simple Instruments . Feldman, 1968
• Voices and Instruments . Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd., 1973
• Make music fun . Dryad Press, 1977

Web links

• Literature by and about Avril Dankworth in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Obituary at Rhinegold ( Memento from October 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
2. ^ Website of the National Youth Music Camps
3. ^ Obituary (Les Carew) in The Independent
4. ^ John Chilton Who's Who of British Jazz. London 2004, p. 58