About
Jennifer Wrigley is an BBC award winning fiddle tutor, composer and recording artist from the Orkney Islands, Scotland and a 2021 ‘Sound and Music’ New Voices artist. Each year ‘Sound and Music’ (based in Oxford House, London) support eight composers and creative artists in their major artist development programme, lasting 18 months with coaching, mentoring and a financial grant to create a new piece of work and share it with new audiences.
Jenny’s plan was to create a new composition based on the traditional music of Orkney, highlighting the importance of the rhythm in the music not only in the playing styles but also in the local dialect and mannerisms of Orkney. The New Voices piece involved exploring a brand-new medium for her, using local audio samples to inspire percussive ideas within the composition. There are stories of people dancing to anything in Orkney! Jenny began looking for recordings of any ordinary Orkney sounds and voices e.g., cackling women, the auction mart, the buzz of the pre-concert audience, the bustle of the pier as the boat comes in, sport being played, children playing, gossips and laughing. Despite there being a large archive of this audio material in existence she really struggled to locate these sounds online. What she was looking for is seemingly difficult to find or has not yet been digitised. This got her thinking; could a special digital sound library, specific to a place and a time, created by artists be useful for others – she cannot be the first to search for these sounds?
Visit: www.jenniferwrigley.com
About The Project
The iiMap website, supported by Sound and Music Dimensions Award, aims to collect memories and ordinary familiar sounds specific to people and place, highlighting dialects and mannerisms that characterise roots and converting those creative influences into something digital that can be shared with others. The Identity Inspiration Memories Audio Platform iiMap is a carefully considered and authentically local ‘Favourites Selection’ including but not exclusively highlighting the Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland, UK.
Objectives
- Collect written memories of ordinary and familiar sounds relating to an individual place and its people. For example, industry, transport, markets, voices, sport being played, children playing, agriculture, street noise, wildlife etc
- Collect audio snippets (up to 60 seconds long) to accompany these stories both from those who complete the survey and have audio to submit, and from existing partner archives in the form of a link or a sound bite
- Create a special online digital sound and story archive, searchable in categories that can be shared by future creatives, and anyone interested in exploring these sounds
How can you get involved?
- Tell us any stories of familiar sounds, specific to place and a period in history it stems from
- Where possible (not essential) submit audio and/or suggest a link to where the sound may be found
- Help us by collecting sounds and stories from others
The brand new piece ‘Catch the Rhythmic Orkney Tide and Ride’ was premiered at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on 31st March 2023. Based on the traditional music of Orkney, it combined Jennifer’s RCS Associate Artist role and her Sound Music New Voices artist resulting in a magical and inspirational connection between students and world class professional artists.
The performance featured singer Alyth McCormack former singer with The Chieftains; multi-BBC award winning guitarist and accordionist Tim Edey; former BBC Folk on Two winner and past Riverdance band member accordionist Luke Daniels; Scottish Borders pianist Harris Playfair most recently known for his work with Blazin’ Fiddles’ Jenna Reid; fellow Orcadian and pianist Laurence Wilson who’s playing is strongly influenced by his rich Orcadian musical lineage. Jennifer and Laurence have been playing together as a duo for over 4 years. Internationally acclaimed championship dancer, teacher and choreographer Jane Douglas along with the Fèis Lochabaer Scottish Step Dancers brought an exciting rhythmic and energetic element to the new composition. The brand-new choreographed piece written specially by Jane Douglas aimed to reflect Orkney’s strong traditional dancing background alongside the ever present external cultural influences to be found in Orkney. Finally, Third year RCS student Lighting Designer Pippa Reilly led the partnering tech team and brought her own special creative accompanying luminary magic to the show.
Jennifer said: “I’m really excited to be bringing to fruition this brand-new medley/suite of music which tells a progressive story based on a journey from afar to a new place. Taking the listener to a time when life was simpler; where food, shelter, safety, company, and music are central and material goods are less so. Representing the struggle in life for material goods over a safe home/place to live and how we can live simply and within our means – musically this is represented by a simple traditional melody. The piece is in four sections and will highlight the influences in Orkney of the 1920s stride piano, Norse fiddle, soft spoken but powerful ‘island’ voices and the dance elements of Scott Skinner and Jimmy Shand – who made a special surprise appearance on the night!”
Professor Joshua Dickson, Head of Traditional Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “Working alongside and performing with acclaimed artists like Jennifer Wrigley offers our students invaluable insight into the life of a professional musician. As an Associate Artist in Traditional Music, Jenny is sharing her passion and experience with the next generation and creating exciting performance opportunities. This was Jenny’s first concert at RCS and we’re thrilled that our Traditional Music students shared the stage with her, and award-winning guest artists, for the premiere of this captivating new work.”