A Northumbrian abroad

Over the last few years I've been getting more and more interested in early music - particularly polyphonic choral music of the renaissance period. What started as an interest has grown in to a passion, and it was ignited at the BBC Proms in 2005. Prom 64, a late night Prom, saw Harry Christophers and The Sixteen perform a varied programme which culminated in  the forty-voice motet Spem in Alium.

Over the last three and a half years I have attended numerous live performances of Spem, in many London locations. In 2007 it even returned to another late night Prom. Each concert has had its own unique qualities, and each has been special in a different way. On top of that, if my MP3s were LPs, they would long ago have been worn to dust.

Spem in Alium is an incredible work, not unique, but for me to date it remains in terms of tone, texture, and sheer emotional impact the insurmountable peak of its genre.

Over time I have listened to a great deal more of Tallis's work, as well as music from a host of other composers of the period.

This year I have decided to follow in the footsteps of Thomas Tallis, and visit each of the locations where he worked - or the sites on which those places once stood. My tour will take in:

• St Paul's Cathedral, where Tallis was a chorister
• Dover college, the site of the former Dover Priory, where Tallis was organist from 1532
• back to the City of London to St Mary-at-Hill, where Tallis was organist from 1538
• then to Waltham Abbey in Essex, where Tallis was the last organist prior to its dissolution by Henry VIII
• I'm going to include Canterbury Cathedral, though Tallis was a clerk there only briefly before he took up his position at
• The Chapel Royal, from where much of Tallis's published work as we have it today emanated

I haven't yet decided exactly how I'm going to go about this - I think it will probably take place in the summer, preferably in the order above, though it probably won't make much sense to visit the City twice, and Kent twice separately. I'd also like at least one of the visits to coincide with some performance of a work by Tallis.

I'm also mulling whether to blog / photo blog / video blog this 'pilgrimage' as I will be conducting research along the way - not research that will add to the sum of human knowledge, rather research to expand my own knowledge of Thomas Tallis's life and works. My only reservation there is that I'm the last person who can pass himself off as an expert on Tallis!

The final unresolved question in my mind is whether to kick the tour off with a visit to Notre Dame, the birthplace of polyphony. Any suggestions / thoughts / ideas welcome!