Editing Harrison Birtwistle (section)

===Early life===
Harrison Birtwistle was born in [[Accrington]], a mill town in Lancashire around 20 miles north of [[Manchester]].{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=4}}{{refn|Regarding his name, Birtwistle stated that "in some reference books my name is down as Harrison Paul, which it isn't, and never has been. I don't have a second name."{{sfn|Birtwistle|Maddocks|2014|p=10}} Many people close to Birtwistle knew him as "Harry"<ref name="NYT"/> or "Harri".<ref name="Hewett2022"/>|group=n}} His parents, Fred and Madge Birtwistle, ran a bakery, and his interest in music was encouraged by his mother.<ref name="NYT"/>{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}} She bought him a clarinet when he was seven and arranged for him to have lessons with the local bandmaster.{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}} He attended [[Accrington Grammar School]].<ref name="Tomlinson">{{cite web| last=Tomlinson | first=John | title='How that music was created remains to me a complete mystery': John Tomlinson on fellow Lancastrian Harrison Birtwistle | website=The Arts Desk | date=20 May 2022 | url=https://theartsdesk.com/node/88156/view | access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> Much of his youth was spent roaming the countryside near his home, and his frustration with the disruption of the nature by modern technology would affect his later work profoundly.<ref name="Hewett2022">{{cite news |last=Hewett |first=Ivan |author-link=Ivan Hewett |date=18 April 2022 |title=Sir Harrison Birtwistle obituary |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/sir-harrison-birtwistle-obituary |access-date=18 April 2022 }}</ref> Other youthful activities included the construction of amateur theatrical sets, and the subsequent imagining of dramas taking place inside them.<ref name="Clements2022">{{cite news |last=Clements |first=Andrew |date=18 April 2022 |title=Harrison Birtwistle: an utterly distinctive composer who wrote music of delicate beauty |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/18/harrison-birtwistle-utterly-distinctive-music-of-delicate-beauty-andrew-clements |access-date=18 April 2022 }}</ref> Birtwistle became proficient enough to play in the local [[Concert band|military-style band]] and also played in the orchestra that accompanied [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] productions and the local choral society's performances of Handel's ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]''. From around this time Birtwistle first composed, later describing his early pieces as "sub-[[Ralph Vaughan Williams|Vaughan Williams]]".{{sfn|Hall|1984|p=5}}

In 1952 he entered the [[Royal Northern College of Music|Royal Manchester College of Music]] in Manchester on a clarinet scholarship. While there he came in contact with contemporaries including [[Peter Maxwell Davies]], [[Alexander Goehr]], the pianist [[John Ogdon]], and the trumpeter [[Elgar Howarth]].<ref name="NPR" /> Between 1955 and 1957 he completed [[national service]] in the [[Royal Artillery]] (Plymouth) Band, based in [[Oswestry]].<ref>N. Wilkins, ''Musical Encounters'', London, 2018.</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/arts/music/harrison-birtwistle-dead.html | title= Harrison Birtwistle, Fiercely Modernist Composer, Dies at 87 | work=The New York Times | first=David | last=Allen | date=18 April 2022 | access-date=25 May 2024}}</ref>