Rehearsals are underway for our debut project – recording a selection of the music from the Shirley Partbooks, copied for the Shirley family of Staunton Harrold in Leicestershire by William Lawes. Particularly exciting are the Italian madgrials – despite being an important part of the repertoire for early 17th century viol players, these have hardly ever been recorded on viols alone. Finding ways of bringing texted music to life without text – and thinking about appropriate ornamentation – is a great challenge, and also has its effect on how we approach the consort repertoire found in these manuscripts.