Who is Nick Crump?

Vital and not so vital statistics

I have lived in Shaftesbury area for about 25 years bringing up two fine boys (now young men) with my wife Heather.

I divide my time between creative musical antics and looking after a 14 acre garden (not mine). Therefore I could be a musical gardener or a gardening musician, either way it gives me a very rounded and rewarding life.

I have been a musician for as long as I can remember. My father was a professional oboist in London (now retired and living in Shaftesbury) and he undoubtedly had a strong influence on me. Experimenting with all sorts of instruments in my youth gave me a broad taste for many different styles and genres, from classical, to folk and jazz.

When my own children reached the right age, I re-kindled my interest in the recorder and realised what a versatile instrument it can be when played with care and skill. I moved from playing classical music to folk, and then started to compose melodies for our newly formed Hambledon Hopstep Band (a ceilidh band established in 1985 and still going). I also took up the trumpet again and enjoyed re-discovering the dynamic range and wide variety of tones that it can produce.

Meanwhile, I bought a set of Uilleann pipes and taught myself the basics of this fiendishly difficult instrument. Then came the serpent, what a wonderful looking instrument and such an earthy sound.

The environmental campaigning organisation Common Ground and its 3 year project called Confluence got me going on inventing instruments from plumbing. The plumbers Rob and Pete Cowley of Sturminster Newton helped with materials and I then set about making tuned downpipes and the infamous boghorn made from a brand new loo.

They were both a great success and Karen Wimhurst (composer / musician) wrote pieces specially for them and sax quartet which gave birth to the show Pipeworks. Since then I have invented the bath harp and music was again composed specially for it by Karen.