Eyemouth High School

Composers, Players and Singers

The CD of Eyemouth High School compositions for Echoes – Berwickshire Coast. Cover photo is from “Wave” by Jill Watson; photo by Benjamin Tindall

  • CLASS Our class was made up of both Higher and National pupils, we worked together on the project as part of our compositional skills that we had to develop for our exam.
  • SCHOOL Eyemouth High School, Eyemouth, Berwickshire, Scotland.
  • HONOURS Expressive Arts Champion awarded for services given to the faculty
  • MINERVA SCIENTIFICA PROJECT Echoes Berwickshire Coast – Stormsong 1881, October 2017 – July 2018

Scientific Connections

We composed a minimalist suite of music using the data Marjory Roy collected from the Eyemouth Disaster.

Some of us take science based subjects such as Physics, Chemistry and Biology and would like to go into further education with these subjects.

Compositions


This video is an exhibit at St Abbs visitor centre, Eyemouth

Title: “Stormsong 1881”
Scientist: Marjory Roy 
Written in: October 2017
For: Mixed Voices, Brass, Woodwind, Guitars, Bass Guitar,
Performed by:
Eyemouth High School

Eyemouth High School Brass Students Rehearsing with Frances

Brass – Micah Chapman – French Horn, Anna Marsh – Trumpet, Lita Murray – Baritone
Woodwind – Sophie Donkin and Midnight Adams – Flute, Jessica Kirkhope and Toby Mahon – Clarinet
Guitar & Bass Aubrey Sanderson

Some of the S3 singers rehearsing

Singers – (S3): Sophie Arnott, Ying Chen, Rachael Dawson, Lily Ferrier, Lilly Fox, Evie-Lloyd Jones, Logan McBean, Jack Murray, James Sanderson, Carly Walsh, Eden Dougal, Taylor Hemmings, Jemima Herriott, Nancy Keay-Wilson, Anna Marsh, Duncan Crowe, Warren Davison, Connor Honeyman, Amanda Silience, Micah Chapman, Harry Renton, KetijaSaulite, Oliver Mace, Rebekah McAllister, Douglas Moscrop, Abbey Watkinson, Quentin Strang

Eyemouth Primary School
Caroline Lesemann-Elliott (Edinburgh University) Choir Leader
Speakers: Aimee Robb, Ben Truman- McNeil, Eilidh Oliver, Jessica Henderson, Lily Duncan,
Kasey Barnett, Emma McEwan, Holly Windram
Singers:
P6 (Mr Blattman) Jayda Affleck, Jamie Alexander, Kasey Barnett, Mack Blackie, Martha Cromarty, Cleo Crowe, Casey Dougal, Lily Duncan, Luke Elliott, Jessica Henderson, Sandy Hogg, Marcus Honeyman, Harry Jackson, Holly McKenna, Benjamin McNaught, Abi O’Neill, Ruby Parker, Veronika Poplavska, Logan Pringle, Daisy Ritchie, Aimee Robb, Lauren Scott, Mason Skene, Joshua Thompson, Evie-Ellen Virtue, Ethan White, Holly Windram, Rhys Young
P6/7B (Miss Bell) P6’s – Kayla Aitchison, Diana Catlakss, Thomas Mark, Ben Truman- McNeil, Millie Truman-McNeill, Isla Simpson, Lois Young
P7’s – Oliver Brunton, Dale Butler, Jemma Craig, Katie Fowler, Carly Hamilton, Saskia Hindhaugh, Ainars Kocegarovs, Nathan McCraw, Robbie McNaught, Monty McNeil, Veronika Morgunova, Aiden Nash, Johnathon Norris, Isaac Oliver, Alicia Rankin, Ebony Rigby, Brett Sanderson
P7C (Mrs Craig) Charlie Alexander, Logan Craig, Bella Craig, Spencer Cromarty, Laura Cunningham, Livi Hamilton, Zyche Hindhaugh, Zak Ivanov, Alan Laing, Deon Mark, Evie Marshall, Demi McCallum, Emma McEwan, Eilidh Oliver, Dani Peakman, Abby Pringle, Alex Ritchie, Robbie Ritchie, Cody Robinson, Tyler Runciman, Ben Sanderson, Scott Simpson, Morgan Smith, Daniel Turnbull, Skye Waite, Aiden White, Ellie White, Lauren Windsor, Shannon Windsor

3 pupils from Eyemouth Primary joined in the performance at Ebba Centre with the Herring Queen, electric voice theatre, and students from Eyemouth High School

First Performed: Ebba Centre, St Abbs, Berwickshire, 18th June 2018
Funded by: The Institute of Physics Scotland, The Ambache Charitable Trust, Performing Rights Society Foundation.

Storm by Hannah Combe
Dark Skies by Graeme Thomson
Sea Salt by Duncan Horsburgh
Rough C’s by Dion Trafford
Soft Waves Crashing by Mirren McTavish
Bad Weather by Freya Herriot
Wave by Katie Walker
Widowed Women by Lois Atkinson
Tragic Days by James Oliver
The Eyemouth Disaster by Rhys White
Raingirl by Katherine Marsh

Frances came into our class to work on the project with us and to also help us with our compositions for our exam.

Anything like this was totally new to our class due to being in such a rural and isolated area, so the idea of composing our own music and performing it to the public was something we had never thought of.

We wrote our music based on the data collected by Marjory Roy from the Eyemouth Disaster. This made all of our compositions very different as we each interpreted the data differently.

Rehearsals for Ebba Centre Performance with the Instrumentalists, overseen by BSL signer, Jenny Mercer, Frances M Lynch & Margaret Cameron (BBC Singers)

We then learnt how to sing our pieces, again in a style none of us had used before. We found this both challenging and enjoyable. In order to perform these pieces some parts were put on guitar and bass.

Education

Our music teacher believes in each individual of the class and knows their strengths and weaknesses. He is very driven and wants us all to feel comfortable and happy with what we are doing. He strives to help us achieve the best work of our capabilities and will do whatever he can to help us reach our goals.

In class we have worked on music theory, individual performances, group performances, improving our knowledge of music and its surrounding topics and we have developed musicianship skills. As class members we are encouraged to try new things (even if they are out of our comfort zone) in order to push us forward and progress our skills.

Last year our class did very well in their exams with a mixture of A’s and B’s in the results. We are still waiting on this year’s results.

Occupations

A number of us want to move onto further study/education in both Music and Science.

Working on the project has shown us how there can be a definite link between music and science.

Musical Highlights

Eyemouth High School Recording Session with Sound Engineers Herbie Clarke and Katherine Marsh

The highlight for our class would be our lessons. Due to us all getting along so well it made every lesson enjoyable and we were pleased to be there.
Of course, we recorded a CD for Echoes – Berwickshire Coast of our own compositions.

Did You Know?

As a class we all came from different areas with different ideas and working styles yet we all got along really well, and by the end of the year we developed a really good relationship with one another and came out of the class as friends. This enabled us to have a pleasant atmosphere in all our lessons.

Ebba Centre Performance underway

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