A LEADING folk singer has been lending her ear to musical students for a masterclass at Burnley College.

Becky Unthank has taken time out from touring to discuss songwriting and melody with A Level students at the Princess Way college.

She worked with the students on a range of vocal exercises and discussed her career, which has so far seen her nominated for a host of awards and become a darling of Radio 2.

And when the workshop was over she invited the lucky youngsters to see Becky play with her sister Rachel as The Unthanks, at the Picture House in Hebden Bridge.

Its part of an effort to bring in outside experts from different fields to speak to students at the college.

Student Will Jessop said: “The workshop was really inspiring and helped us all to understand folk music better. It also gave everyone the opportunity to have a go at folk singing, whether they were singers or not."

The Unthanks have recenty released a live album ‘The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons’, to great acclaim.

When the band was originally known as Rachel Unthank and the Winterset they received a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2008.

Lecturer Jenny Pidgeon added: “Becky helped the students to understand folk music better as it is an area many of them have little experience of.

“She showed the students how folk music links into many other forms of music and encouraged them to think about using different types of music in their own singing and composition work.”