Tutors
Folk Unbound is the brain-baby of Lucy Huzzard and Mel Biggs, both box players and long time folkies on the English trad scene. Whilst working together on Mel’s Chatterbox podcast & guest tutor series on Patreon, they shared stories about their own battles with confidence and the patriarchy on the folk scene. Mel immediately thought of Frankie Insley as a perfect additional tutor and the Folk Unbound team was born! We are here to take positive action to nurture those who might not always feel welcome or confident in some of the usual sessions/festivals and folk spaces.
Melodeon, song, dance
With one foot on the dancefloor at all times, Lucy Huzzard has over 17 years of music and dance teaching under her bellows and brings an enthusiasm for learning music through movement and embodiment. Having grown up playing for Cotswold Morris and Rapper, Lucy brings the groove of English melodeon music into her current loves- Swedish folk music and dance, and political songwriting in her duo Lucy & Hazel. She’s also one third of Swedish dance facilitators The Third Beat, who teach in-depth courses on Swedish folk dance.
Growing up in Sheffield, followed by studies on the Folk Music Degree and Swedish dance at the Eric Sahlström Institute, she has crossed Rapper swords, stoked ceilidhs and polska’d through the night with some of the finest folk musicians and dancers in the country and further afield. She co-hosts a queer folk session at Gut Level in Sheffield, led by and centring marginalised genders, cis women and LGBTQIA+ people.
Melodeon, flute, dance
Mel Biggs is a Morris dancer, musician, and highly-renowned melodeon tutor based in Derbyshire, England. With over 16 years of teaching experience, she’s known the world over for her perceptive, patient and mindful manner and has an ever expanding toolkit of techniques at her disposal.
For nearly a decade, Mel played in Moirai with Sarah Matthews and Jo Freya. Together they created 3 albums and toured UK and Europe, culminating in their self-penned show ‘Framed: The Alice Wheeldon Story’. Most recently, Mel completed a life ambition to work in musical theatre and debuted as an actor-musician in the 2022-2023 UK & Canada tour of Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical. She has a deep passion for folk & social dance, particularly Balfolk and French dance.
Mel is really looking forward to co-facillitating an event that she feels desperately in need of, and can’t wait to share the benefits of this unique experience with others.
Fiddle, Melodeon
Frankie is an absolute force for community folk music and dance! After discovering folk through Morris dancing as a teenager, she has become a passionate advocate of the joy of folk! She is the founder of DIY Ceilidh, a chaotic, joyful and hugely popular monthly ceilidh series that is volunteer-run and queer friendly.
Frankie is a multi instrumentalist and among other things has a deep love for the one row melodeon and fiddle! When she’s not calling ceilidhs she is also heavily involved with Newcastle’s punk scene, performing in her band Bitchfinder General. She also performs with the Newcastle drone folk collective Powtes.
Frankie is a warm, welcoming and generous teacher who is passionate about helping others find their own joy and expression through music.
