GET yourself along to a palace to hear The Magic of Medieval Music.

The show, by Ian Pittaway, comes to Redditch's Palace Theatre this summer.

A spokesman said: "Ian Pittaway is a man on a mission. Having played medieval and renaissance music in historical buildings, and on TV, he now wants to promote the music he loves on a short solo tour."

But Medieval music? Really?

Ian says, “Yes, - why not? These songs and tunes are so full of life. The melodies and instruments are so different to anything you’ll hear in modern music. The DJ John Peel used to say, I want to hear something I haven’t heard before, and there are lots of opportunities for that in medieval music.”

Keen to recreate the sound of the middle ages, Ian plays on replicas of medieval instruments.

He added: “On this tour, I’ll be playing a beautiful mellow 13th century harp, and a bray harp from the 15th century. The bray harp has wooden dowels which the strings vibrate against, creating a buzz. I’ll also be playing the lovely lute, which was on the rise in the late medieval period; a gittern, like a smaller lute; and a koboz, the eastern European fretless gittern. And I'll be singing, of course.”

Did people sing about the same themes as in modern music?

“Yes,” said Ian. “Medieval composers sang so much about lost love. A favourite theme was, I love her, she doesn’t want me, I want to die. Nothing has changed on that score, but they did it with such poetry and beauty.

"There are also some surprises and gems of humour. The two earliest complete surviving secular songs in English are both about the weather. I’ll be singing those, and a fabulous 13th century song about a miraculous pork chop.”

The date for the diary is Friday, June 9, from 7.45pm, at The Palace Theatre, Redditch.

Tickets from 01527 65203 or www.redditchpalacetheatre.co.uk/whats-on