Re-Sounding Yardley: For Oboe, Viola, Tape and Live Sound Processing

i. South Yardley, Chatter
ii. Acocks Green, The City of a Thousand Noises
iii. Sheldon, Breathe
iv. Stechford, Play

Resounding Yardley, beginning and ending at St Edburghas Church, is a piece in four movements each exploring a ward of the Yardley district. The piece is composed using field recordings taken in each ward with the participating community groups and draws on ‘soundmarks’ of the district. Live musicians respond to the sounds and interpret an accompanying graphic score which has been created using drawings made by students from Kimichi school and the Stetchford beavers.

South Yardley
Working with members of the South Yardley Craft Group this movement features the iconic Swan Island, South Yardley Cemetery, Tyseley train station and the South Yardley WI.

Acocks Green
Students from Kimichi school have been tuning in to their sonic surroundings, creating soundmaps and scores with each group composing and performing a short piece. The scores are used throughout the piece but mostly in this movement.

Sheldon
Attending a session with the Sheldon Tai Chi group fluctuated between meditative breathing and rousing song! Followed by some field recording in Sheldon Park Farm where you can’t escape the proximity to the airport!

Stetchford
Working with the 261st Birmingham (St Edburghas Yardley) Beavers group field recording trip took us to South Yardley Park where they explored a rich sonic palette from natural to urban sounds and had quite a lot of fun in the playground! In the following workshops the beavers listened and talked about their sounds and responded to through drawing, the result of which are embedded in the score.

Commissioned by BCMG as part of the city wide for-Wards project