Collectively composed music by Borders based musicians. CD-rom includes manuscripts of the melodies.
The Borders Tunesmiths is the 6th volume in the Borders Traditions’ CD series, produced by the Scottish Borders Council. This offering differs slightly from the other CDs in the collection, as it focuses on the production of new music for the region, and is the only live concert recording.
Nine traditional musicians from all around the Scottish Borders were invited to collectively produce new instrumental music inspired by the region. Traditional and World Music Development Worker, Shona Mooney, coordinated the project which began in March 2008. The first stage of the project began with a residential weekend in the Houndridge Farm, near Kelso, which gave the musicians space to create and explore melodic themes connecting to the Borders. The musicians involved were: Iain Fraser (Jedburgh); Innes Watson (Birgham); Matt Seattle (Hawick); Lori Watson (Birgham); Elspeth Smellie (Kelso); Christopher Keatinge (St. Boswells); Shona Mooney (Hawick); Chris Waite (Chirnside) and Martin Marroni (Kelso).
A variety of tasks were prepared to spark off creativity within the group, including a musical pass-the-parcel exercise called “Write a Bar”. This required each tunesmith to write a musical phrase and pass it on until the tunes were considered complete. Over 20 tunes were composed using this technique. The tunes did not have to adhere to two parts of 8 bars repeated; each tunesmith was asked to respond to what had already been written, and were encouraged to take it wherever they desired. Archive photographs from the Heritage Hub, and, poetry from Borders writers, were also used to inspire music-making within the ensemble. Time was given to work in pairs, within the group, and also alone - every corner of the house was filled with music, it was quite amazing! By the end of the weekend the Borders Tunesmiths had written melodies for Gypsies, train stations, sweets, castles, landscapes and Border “sayings”. Quite a variety indeed.
The Heart of Hawick (a recently renovated building in Hawick that includes an auditorium) was chosen to record and showcase the Borders Tunesmiths music. The nine musicians rehearsed furiously between the 28th February and 1st of March to prepare the concert and subsequent live recording on the 7th March 2009. Sound Sense engineered CD, Steve Moffat engineered the concerts live sound, and the CD was produced by Shona Mooney.
You can find lots more information about the Borders Tunesmiths, access each notated tune from the performance, and view photographs on the CD-rom feature of this CD.
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