South Downs Songbook

Contemporary songbook for voice and mixed classical/electric ensemble to celebrate the South Downs as a place that inspires poetry and writing about the people who live there

How to hire us/put it on yourselves

Package can include related performance and composition projects for schools and colleges responding to themes of landscape, poetry, sea and sky

Liz Webb Management via the contact page

Acclaim/Testimonials/Media

Videos

South Downs Songbook

Original project ran in 2022

  • tour of newly commissioned songs and compositions by four leading UK composers and student composers 20-30 June 2022 

  • composition workshops and performances in Sussex schools and colleges Feb-June 2022

  • we developed a FREE digital resources pack including downloadable sound samples, photos, poems, paintings & prints, all inspired by the South Downs

  • 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 (available in the FREE digital resources pack)

  • live performances of new works by GCSE and A level music students


Composer interviews to help young and beginner composers get started

Duncan Mackrill interviewed the four professional composers commissioned by the South Downs Songbook. 

He asked them all the same questions: 

  1. Composer backgrounds, influences and setting the scene for their piece

  2. Getting started and choosing a stimulus

  3. Particular music techniques and ideas (including how technology is used)

  4. Structure in the compositions

  5. a) Developing b) Finishing c) Getting unstuck! 

​Watch the interviews:

Evelyn FicarraEd HughesRowland SutherlandShirley J Thompson