A Tale of Two Bridges produced a unique musical work inspired by the local Shaldon and Teign estuary environment, taking its inspiration from the fascinating links between the Shaldon Bridge and the quarrying of granite from nearby Dartmoor and the building of London Bridge, which was bought by an American and ended up in Havasu, Arizona where it is now positioned between a residential retirement home and a theme park!
A Tale of Two Bridges is a work in five movements. The instruments used include: electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard, percussion, violins, woodwind and "Sound Beam" equipment and the human voice. Students from the three schools composed this piece in 5 days in conjunction with Jason Thornton, two representatives from Bath Phil - Charlie Groves and Julie Payne - and music staff from the three schools. The Dawlish students composed the basic music score on an all day workshop on Sunday 13th June and then built on this throughout the week with Jason and his team adding the work from Ratcliffe and Oaklands Schools.
The completed work was performed in a lunchtime concert in St Peter's Church on Friday 18th June. The concert began with two songs from Shaldon School Choir followed by, A Tale of Two Bridges, which lasted approximately 25 minutes. The work was executed with great power and verve. Typical American themes and sounds - like the hooting of a steam train - punctuated the piece and it drew widely on musical traditions like folk music, the big band sound, jazz and rock. The students clearly believed in the value of what they were doing and produced a compelling performance that enthralled the audience and had those fortunate to have heard it talking long afterwards.
