There’s so much we want to do now we’re here. Kerry has ideas for soundscapes and composition workshops, Zack has ideas for bird-making and wild sculpting workshops. We gather at Kenaby to make a workshop plan for the week, then set off to explore the isle for sounds, birds and materials to use. (Claire has sent a parcel of wire and wire-sculpting tools ahead in the post - they would’ve bust the weight limits on the islander plane!)
“Half-island, Half-Bird” has spring out of CHROMA’s desire to spend more time with Messiaen’s Quartet For The End of Time, a piece CHROMA has played several times over the years. We ran a series of activities which included using the piece as stimulus for our annual project with composers at Oxford University, with a concert at St Anne’s, and also using material from the piece for our workshops at the University of Leicester.
It seemed very natural to take the birdsong element of the Messiaen and come back to Fair Isle to work with the Bird Observatory and the community of citizen scientists here - our friend Kerry leapt to mind as an amazing performer of bird-inspired folk music as well as an award-winning composer and animateur. We added Zack into the mix when the Head of Fair Isle School Ruth Stout saw a photo of a bird sculpture that Claire had made in one of Zack’s workshops and asked if they too could learn how to make his wire sculpted birds! Zack was delighted to join the team for the Fair Isle visit.
