Writing, Recording, Performing

Every Thursday the Young Roots Team met at Penrith Music Centre and, working in small groups, we devised our own response to the Stone Age and stone circles. We thought about what music a Stone Age person may have made, what instruments would they use? We experimented with traditional and non-traditional instruments.

“The museum and stone circle visits helped us think of the elements idea for our music video”
– Jack

One group wrote a story based on traditional myths surrounding Long Meg and Her Daughters. They made shadow puppets and filmed their animation with Richie Johnston. They also wrote and recorded the backing soundtrack with Tom Leah.

“Playing the big stones at the museum (the lithophone) was the inspiration for a piece that me and Rachel wrote” – Anya

“I liked experimenting on how to get different sounds out of instruments rather than just playing them” – Rachel

Some of the group focused more on visuals and made return visits to Long Meg so they could film the circle, capturing images and video depicting different times of day and weather conditions.

Most of the Young Roots team took part in the various workshops run throughout the project.

Richie Johnston, photographer, worked with the young people, showing them how to capture carefully composed images of the stone circle. Some of the older girls already had good photography skills so Richie helped them acquire new techniques in filming, stills and editing, and encouraged them to become more confident in exploring their own ideas and creativity.

Tom Leah, known professionally as Werkha, is an exciting and alternative new electronic musician. Tom inspired the Young Roots team to experiment with sound, record and edit their pieces.