South Downs Songbook
Project Overview
By commissioning contemporary songs and compositions we are celebrating the South Downs as a place that inspires world leading writing, painting and photography
What we did:
-
live tour of newly commissioned songs and compositions by leading UK composers and student composers 20-30 June 2022
-
live composition workshops and performances Feb-June 2022
-
FREE digital resources pack including downloadable sound samples, photos, poems, paintings & prints, all inspired by the South Downs
-
ORDER FREE DIGITAL RESOURCES PACK HERE
-
workshops in schools and colleges across East Sussex and Brighton & Hove
-
four new five-minute songs for the Orchestra of Sound and Light
-
by four established UK composers inspired by the South Downs:
Evelyn Ficarra, Ed Hughes, Rowland Sutherland, Shirley J Thompson -
composer interviews how-tos including getting started, development, getting unstuck!
-
meet the musicians videos: how to write for flute, clarinet, keyboard, guitar, voice
-
be inspired! poetry, photos, paintings and prints
-
live performances of new works by GCSE and A level music students
-
an expanding online songbook
-
Site photographs copyright Sam Moore
Navigating this website
Whether you are a composer, teacher, student or just interested in music, we think you will find the resources and information here interesting. You will probably start by listening to the pieces but there are a number of ways to work through the website, depending on your role and interest:
Teachers, students composing in school/college and individuals composing at home - download the resource pack as this includes teacher notes, a composer brief, a PowerPoint covering various parts of the process and ‘how to’ guides on choosing your stimuli and getting started composing, structuring and developing your ideas, and a considerable number of samples that you may use in your Digital Audio Workstation (there’s also a guide to using samples). If there is one composition you like more than the rest, watch the interview with that composer first but all the composers talk about how they got started, overcame problems etc. and there are also transcriptions and summaries of the interviews. The composition brief is flexible enough to work as a composing component for the main exam boards and music qualifications but might also be adapted for use with younger students in class.
Listeners – Why not start by listening to one of the four compositions and then watch the full interview with its composer. You might then explore some of the South Downs inspired photos, artwork and poetry and listen to the samples recorded on location on the Downs in the free digital resource pack.
How we did it:
Meet the Project Team
Composer interviews
Duncan Mackrill interviewed the four professional composers
commissioned by the South Downs Songbook.
He asked them all the same questions:
Composer backgrounds, influences and setting the scene for their piece
Getting started and choosing a stimulus
Particular music techniques and ideas (including how technology is used)
Structure in the compositions
a) Developing b) Finishing c) Getting unstuck!
Watch the videos below or use these links to watch in Youtube with live hyperlinks to each topic:
Evelyn Ficarra - Ed Hughes - Rowland Sutherland - Shirley J Thompson
Meet the Musicians and their instruments:
5-minute how-to guides
Be Inspired!
The South Downs has inspired artists of all kinds for centuries
including the four professional composers featured here.
Click here for more photos, artwork and poetry.
for students and teachers
We hope to inspire student composers to write their own songs and compositions for the South Downs Songbook. Duncan Mackrill, our Education Consultant, has created an amazing FREE pack to inspire students to make their own songs. Register here and you’ll be sent a link to a Zip file containing multiple resources.
What's in the Pack?
1. Downloadable Sound Samples for students to use in their compositions.
Recorded live in the South Downs National Park.
Sound Samples created and curated by film/games composer Peter Michael Davison.
2. How to guides:
-
Using Samples and Teacher Notes
-
Getting Started (including questions to consider, coming up with ideas and selecting stimuli)
-
Structuring your composition and making it musical
-
Developing your ideas, getting ‘unstuck’
-
Finishing your piece
3. Interviews with our four composers:
Composer advice - Quick Summary
Interviews by our composers arranged by topic: text only (videos here):
-
Composer backgrounds, influences and setting the scene for their piece
-
Getting started and choosing a stimulus
-
Particular music techniques and ideas (including how technology is used)
-
Structure in the compositions
-
Developing and finishing the composition and getting ‘unstuck’
4. PDF scores and composing sketches by Evelyn Ficarra, Ed Hughes & Rowland Sutherland
5. South Downs photos and artwork
Poems by Val Whittington
Stills by Sam Moore
South Downs-inspired drawings, paintings and objects from Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft
Our Partners and Funders
Project funding from Arts Council England
Partner Schools and Colleges:
BHASVIC, Brighton
East Sussex Academy of Music, Lewes
Hastings Academy, Hastings
Partner Organisations:
South Downs National Park Authority
