Growing wilder
Between June and September we have had the most enjoyable couple of days working with high school students and exploring gardens. With the support of Grow Wild and Chamber Music Scotland we were able to create our ultimate combination in an educational experience.
Beginning the day with a concert featuring music from TRANSPLANTED to a large audience from the school we had an opportunity to share our plant conservation concerns alongside the music of James Oswald and our 8 contemporary composers. Before lunch we travelled with a smaller group to a local garden or wild space where we were lucky enough to have the most amazing guides take us through the greenery, explaining extraordinary details about the ecology and inspiring young minds to consider how they might transform this information into music. After lunch the composing began, groups would choose a plant and then follow some of our guidelines to create magnificently colourful graphic scores. The performances at the end of the day showed such character and variation. Quite amazingly Lemon Balm came out as the most popular plant as 3 groups across the 4 schools chose this fragrant herb. Others on the list included - Chocolate Mint, Oak, Knapweed, Lavender, Carrot, Purple Loosestrife and Gingko.
Many thanks to the schools and gardens involved.
Lochend High School and Seven Lochs
Shawlands Academy and the Hidden Gardens
Baldragon Academy and Ninewells Garden
Grangemouth High School and Jupiter Urban Wildlife Space
