Bidwell Brook School

In October Chris Booth from Sound Art Radio and myself worked with the children of Bidwell Brook School at Dartington on a radio project about healthy eating. Much fun was had making healthy food, and the first show featuring the material was broadcast on 30 October. It can be heard here (about thirty minutes in) ...

This work has been supported by Health Watch Devon and is part of a series of programmes about young people and health on Sound Art Radio called "What the Health".

WTH! October 2015 by Soundart_Radio on Mixcloud

Soundcamp 2015 with Soundart Radio

Despite the rain we had a lovely overnight camp at the Sound Art Radio studio on the Dartington Estate with a small and hardy group of listeners enjoying the varied songs of birds around the estate. The event was part of the REVEIL 24 HOUR BROADCAST 2015 - as the name suggests a 24 hour continuous broadcast of dawn chorus's by listening stations around the world.

We started the camp with a Somatics workshop with Tzara Grey. Somatics is a practice that focuses attention on the soma, or "the body as perceived from within" and included some activities that explored the feeling of voice, a very appropriate introduction to bird song.

After that we took our ears for a stroll around the gardens, recording bird song as we went. Here's a recording of the walk, mixed by Sound Art Radio's Chris Booth ...

A short soundwalk through Dartington Gardens with Tony Whitehead. Various mics used. Badly mixed :) by Soundart_Radio on Mixcloud

We then retreated for the evening to the studios as the rain set in, with lots of talk of recording, bird song (and speculation as to why people don't whistle anymore?)

After a few hours sleep we were up at 4:30am to broadcast our dawn chorus for REVEIL 2015 ... which you can hear here:

Dawn and Dawn Chorus _ Dartington Hall Gardens in the rain. 03052015_0500-0600hrs by Soundart_Radio on Mixcloud

As the dawn chorus, and at last the rain, died down, we strolled to the River Dart and enjoyed some quiet in the company of blackbirds and wood pigeons to finish off the weekend.

Many thanks to Tzara Grey and Chris Booth for making sure everything ran smoothly, and to our intrepid group of listeners.

soundCamp 2015

On 3/4 May I'll be helping SoundArtRadio in Totnes run soundCamp, a weekend of activities about listening and birdsong based on the Dartington Estate.

Find out more at http://soundtent.org/

Songlines: Thelma Hulbert Gallery, 9 April 2105

On Thursday I ran a family sound recording workshop for the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in East Devon. The children recorded the sounds, particularly the birdsong, of Dumpdon Hill, and old iron age hill fort, then combined these with sounds from the Michael Fairfax installation in the gallery space - a series of strung wires on walls. We used Audacity to mix the sounds.

Listen to the childrens work on soundcloud ...

Songlines - Thelma Hulbert Gallery Workshop

On Thursday 9th April I'm running a family birdsong workshop at the Thelma Hulbert Gallery in Honiton, Devon. Places limited to twelve, booking here.

In the morning we'll visit a local nature reserve to enjoy, learn about and record birdsong. After lunch we'll work in the gallery space with the current exhibition by Michael Fairfax to record the sounds of his installation. We'll then combine the two using laptops to produce our own compositions.

Ebb and Flow at RAMM, Exeter, opens today

Chris Watson (L) and Tony Whitehead (R) on the Exe Estuary, Devon

Over the past twelve months I've been helping wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson with locations in Devon for the recordings that were today installed in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum's new Ebb and Flow exhibition.

Full details of the exhibition can be found here.

Kinterbury Creek Sound Post

Thanks to the 10th St Budeaux Cubs and Scouts the recordings for the new "sound-post" at Kinterbury Creek in Plymouth are complete. You can listen to the sounds below.

This project has been supported by Plymouth City Council and community arts company Take-a-Part.