Initiation

One sunny day in June 1975, I woke up in a B&B and found out at breakfast that a bearded, folky fellow was also heading to Dartington for an interview. He was passionate about music and told me

he was a multi-instrumentalist who could play a jaw-dropping number of folk instruments.

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We both set out for Dartington but got lost, ending up taking the longer route via the second drive, where there is a church on the corner. When I arrived, it felt like I had stepped into Woodstock—boys and girls dressed in kaleidoscopic colors and an assortment of outfits that bore no resemblance to the formal school uniforms of my past.

I remember dining in the canteen, overlooking the valley below, and feeling like I had entered a special place. Later, I would learn that Dartington was developed as a refuge from war and a pandemic over a hundred years ago—an idealistic experiment in creating a utopia. The vision still feels as pertinent as ever. Such luminaries as Aldous Huxley had visited, adding to the sense of stepping into a world apart.

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That day was a memorable one. I was asked to play three different sounds on my clarinet—my second study instrument, which I had barely played before. Flummoxed by the challenge of finding a third unusual sound, I resorted to playing some trills. When questioned about my response to the task, I naively admitted, "I don’t often play them."

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Fast-forward to the end of the day: I left Dartington on a local bus, having wandered through the college, the Great Hall, and the beautifully landscaped gardens on a warm summer evening. As I travelled home, I thought to myself, I must go to that college. I had no idea then of the impact it would have on my life—and the lives of so many others.

This site is an homage to Dartington, encouraging others to share their memories and new visions of this extraordinary place.

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Gilbert Gabriel, 06/03/25