Coastal Voices

LYME REGIS: On Golden Cap by John K Miles in association with Billy Bragg, B Sharp and The Young People of West Dorset & East Devon

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• You Tube (01) – Coastal Voices – B Sharp & Billy Bragg songwriting workshop
• You Tube (02) – Coastal Voices – B Sharp & Billy Bragg songwriting workshop

Photos available from Maisie Hill – 07597 932 385.

John K Miles has composed numerous scores for film and television (BBC1, BBC2, Channel 4, Channel 5 and various independent film production companies), released two solo CD’s (‘The Enchanter’ and ‘Trane Ride’), and written prolifically for theatre, jazz groups, world music ensembles, and the classical concert hall. John has also led many creative music workshop projects, facilitating composition and performance for a range of clients. Billy Bragg is an English alternative rock musician and activist whose music career has spanned more than 30 years. B sharp are a highly successful music project in Lyme Regis. Set up and run with young people it provides creative opportunities and raises a positive profile.

Composer John K Miles has been commissioned by B Sharp and Coastal Voices to write ‘a vocal piece for mass choir’ with youth groups and choirs across West Dorset & East Devon, as part of the Cultural Olympiad. press release. The working title for this composition is ‘On Golden Cap’.

Young people from Axe Valley, Colyton Grammar, Woodroffe,  St Michaels, Mrs Ethelstons, Charmouth primary, B Sharp core group and trainees worked with John earlier in the year generating material for the composition with some of these groups having an opportunity to work with the legendary singer songwriter Billy Bragg on developing the lyrical content.

The piece is due to be finished at the end of January, when rehearsals will begin in earnest for the 27th July 2012 Weymouth performance (Cultural Olympiad) and funding permitting, the May 6th Lyme performance (International Earth Festival).

The finished composition will function as stand-alone piece, whilst also connecting with the wider Coastal Voices Project along the Jurassic Coast and with B Sharps Hear Here project.

Coastal Voices Aims:

• To undertake cross art form exploration of the ‘voice’ of the World Heritage Site
• To invite communities along the Jurassic Coast and beyond to develop a sense of ‘place’ by creatively exploring the global context of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site
• To contribute to the development of a sustainable infrastructure for vocal music in Dorset, East Devon, Bournemouth and Poole which provides continuity of opportunity for all children and adults to develop their skills in singing, leading, composing and performing world class vocal music.

Coastal Voices is an umbrella project linking the arts and earth sciences through the concept of ‘the voice’.  It aspires to encourage and stimulate coastal communities in the South West to connect to their ‘place’, to examine and ‘voice’ the unique relationship with the geology and forces which shape our environment, and also to explore the ‘voice’ of the coast. It will actively promote international exchange and dialogue, and connect communities, amateurs and arts professionals, leading to a shared outcome for 2012 and beyond. Hundreds of people will be given the opportunity to perform and work with professional and international artists through an 18 month process of ongoing engagement (March 2011 – August 2012).

Some of the lyrics written with Billy & John:

Woodroffe yr 9′s & B Sharp trainees:

Step after step
Feeling the breeze
On Golden Cap
Up here I feel at ease.

I feel so free
Touching the clouds
The beach below
Far from the madding crowd

St Michael’s year 5′s:

It’s not all about fossils fossils fossils
It’s not all about fossils fossils fossils
it’s all about ice cream
it’s all about its all about the beaches
it’s all about rainbows it’s all about dolphins

Billy Bragg’s Top Tips on writing good songs:

• Enjoy the sunset
• Believe in yourself and what you have to say
• Say it with meaning through your music

Time line.

Nov – Jan 2012 John K Miles will write the final piece, during which time John will revisit the 7 participating groups across East Devon & West Dorset.

Late Spring 2012 – Rehearsals with John & vocal coach Sammy Hurden

May 6th – premiere performance in Lyme Regis (funding permitting) as part of the International Earth Festival.

July 27th – B Sharp – Weymouth performance as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad Celebrations.

BE AN OLYMPIC SINGER: COASTAL VOICES NEEDS YOU!

Four new commissions, hundreds of singers, and performances in Dorset and Devon as part of London 2012. If you sing – in school, in a community choir, a choral society or just in the bath – Coastal Voices needs you. Led by Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts and international music producers Serious, the Coastal Voices project is building up to the London 2012 Olympics by looking to recruit hundreds of voices to join in professional workshops and rehearsals in locations up and down the Jurassic Coast from September 2011, with four vocal ‘hubs’ set-up in Poole, Weymouth, West Dorset and East Devon. As part of the Cultural Olympiad, Coastal Voices will link to Australia and is connected by World Heritage Sites and also by the commonality of Sydney and Poole having the 2 largest natural harbours of the world. Communities right across the coastal region of Dorset and East Devon will be unified through ‘voice’ and ‘place’ and 25 people from Dorset will perform in London on 21st and 22nd July 2012 as part of the River of Music Festival. Working with composers from rock, jazz and contemporary music, the commissions range from new arrangements of cult classics by Nick Cave and B sharp’s stories of Lyme Regis from John K Miles and Billy Bragg, to John Surman’s Brazilian infused Wind Samba and Marc Yeats’ new geological sound world. Each offers choirs the chance to explore new music and the magnificent World Heritage Site coastline which will form the backdrop to the Olympic sailing and windsurfing events in 2012. Performances are planned in Poole, Weymouth and Greenwich in 2012.

Coastal Voices Project Manager Kate Burrough. 07967 622680 kate@kateburrough.co.uk

Supported by:

Coastal Voices is part of an ongoing participation programe and linked to River of Music – the Cultural Olympiad programe supported by National Lottery funds through the Olympic Lottery Distributor and Paul Hamlyn Foundation. Commissioning funding has been supported by the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site through Creative Coast.

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