Celebrating the sounds of summer
A SUMMER art project that challenged villagers to record the sounds of their surroundings has been compiled into a short film.
Dozens of residents from four Peak District villages, including Biggin-by-hartington and Calton, sent in recordings captured on their phones and sent them off to song and storytelling group Harp and a Monkey.
The group asked volunteers to close their eyes, listen to what is going on around them, and to press record on their phones to compile a huge file of sounds which have been knitted together for a short film called “Birdsong and Bells: The Peak Sound Project.”
The film features highlights of more than 300 recordings that were sent in by locals, who also came from Tideswell and Great Longstone, and the sounds are complemented by animated visuals put together by international award-winning animator and art photographer Simon J Jones.
Martin Purdy, Harp and a Monkey’s principal storyteller, said: “We have been amazed by the level of public engagement, and it has been really interesting to see people start to recognise just how great a role sound plays in their everyday lives.
“There is so much that goes on around us that we have stopped hearing, from birdsong to children playing.
“It can be hugely beneficial for our wellbeing to find the time to pause, listen, and live in the moment a bit more.”
Martin says the completed f lm provides a snapshot of life in the nationl park in the summer of 2021.
The array of recordings are aimed at taking the listener on a journey from daybreak to sunset, taking in schools, farms, towns, pubs, gardens, industry and more, along the way. The job of editing and curating
the material was completed by members of the folk song and storytelling group, and the villages that took part in the project were chosen by the project organiser, the Derbyshire and High Peaks arts provider, Live & Local.
They were chosen to show the diversity of local life, from small rural communities to tourist towns.
Support for the project also came from Arts Council England, The Peak District National Park Authority, Derbyshire County Council, and district councils of Derbyshire Dales and Staffordshire Moorlands, and the International Year of Sound project. The film can be viewed on Youtube by searching “Harp and a Monkey - Birdsong and Bells.”