Tirwedhow

by Martha Woods

‘Tirwedhow’ means ‘landscapes’ in Cornish. This melody came to me when I was walking down the street. I assumed it was in 7/8, and it was only when I got home to notate it that I realised it’s actually in alternating bars of 11/8 and 12/8! A few months after I wrote it, this tune evolved into a song about place and identity called ‘Crooked Landscape’ which can be found on my EP, ‘Spring at Last’.

Martha Woods is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Cornwall. Having grown up playing and dancing with traditional Cornish dance team, Tan Ha Dowr, and writing songs for her band, The Woodcarts, she went on to study on the Folk and Traditional Music degree at Newcastle University (including a year at the University of Limerick). She enjoys writing tunes and songs for a range of different settings and combining elements of folk and traditional music with more contemporary genres.