David Coffin is an American

traditional folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

ian specializing in

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

and

maritime music This is a list of performers who focus on maritime music or who have at some point made notable contributions to that genre. Traditional-style performers *Jerry Bryant (songwriter), Jerry Bryant, singer-songwriter from Maine, also performs histo ...

, based in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

, United States. He is the song leader for the Revels music programs in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He also presents music enrichment programs for schools throughout New England. One program is based on the history of the recorder, and the other is called ''Life at Sea: A Voyage in Song''. Coffin has a

bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

voice and plays various types of concertinas, recorders, and whistles, in addition to archaic instruments like the

shawm The shawm () is a Bore (wind instruments)#Conical bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 13th or possibly 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissanc ...

rackett The rackett, raggett, cervelas, or sausage bassoon is a Renaissance-era double reed wind instrument, introduced late in the sixteenth century and already superseded by bassoons at the end of the seventeenth century. Description There are fou ...

, or

gemshorn The gemshorn is an instrument of the ocarina family that was historically made from the horn of a chamois, goat, or other suitable animal.

. He comes from a musical background: his father, Reverend

William Sloane Coffin William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In his young ...

, studied to be a concert pianist with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

in Paris, his grandfather was pianist

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

, and his great-grandfather was Polish conductor

Emil Młynarski Emil Szymon Młynarski (; 18 July 18705 April 1935) was a Polish conducting, conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue. Life Młynarski was born in Kibarty (Kybartai), Russian Empire, now in Lithuania. He studied violin with Leopold Auer and ...

. He leads several sea shanties, including the title song, onscreen in the 2019 Maine-set film '' Blow the Man Down''.

Discography

In addition to contributing to a variety of collaborative CDs for Revels Records and North Star Records (both are local

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

recording labels), Coffin has also recorded four solo albums: ''Flight of Time'', ''Nantucket Sleighride'', ''Safe in the Harbour'', and ''Last Trip Home'' which he recorded with his daughter Linnea. All feature traditional and maritime music, some of which is taken from the singing of

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a British folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as o ...

and

Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter who sang traditional-sounding songs frequently inspired by Canadian history and the working people's daily lives, especially from the fishin ...

. During the pandemic he also recorded three digital albums; one is a virtual hymn sing, one is a live broadcast Maritime Concert, and the third is called The Sound of Time. This last album is a composite of songs requested on TikTok. Every song was recorded in one take with no editing. He is credited on four songs on the 2020 soundtrack album for ''Blow the Man Down''.

References

External links

Official website of David Coffin

The official website of Revels, Inc.
* * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American folk musicians American male singers American bass-baritones American woodwind musicians American recorder players Sarah Lawrence College alumni {{US-woodwind-musician-stub