AS I WALK. I GLIMPSE. I HEAR.

8 bandstand soundspaces across Edinburgh & Musselburgh
with immersive sound app
performances &
exhibition

COMPOSITION: ROSS WHYTE
PERFORMERS: PORTOBELLO COMMUNITY CHOIR
CURATION+LYRICS: ROSY NAYLOR
APP DEVELOPMENT: STEVEN PARK
SOUNDPOSTS: COURTESY OF OROCCO JOINERY
COMMISSIONED BY: ART WALK PROJECTS

The bandstand has long served as the public site for community music occupying many of our parks and promenades. This project invites us to once again find music as we stroll our public parks, to search out the music we hear, focussing on places where bandstands once stood, and a few that still do.

Popularity for the bandstand grew alongside the association of music as having an important moral influence. Coupled with this was the value laid on the social importance of parks to improve local communities and well being. In the 1830s recreational parks were seen to “lead to a better use of Sundays and the replacement of the debasing pleasures”1

1 Paul Rabbitts: ‘Bandstands: Pavilions for music, entertainment and leisure’ 2018





Image: Leith Links

'THE GREAT EXHIBITION'
Ross Whyte

Ross Whyte is a Glasgow-based composer, sound artist, and arranger. His composition, titled ‘The Great Exhibition’, is inspired by the early 1900s era of seaside entertainment and end-of-the-pier entertainers such as Harry Lauder.

‘The Great Exhibition’ combines recent sound recording with both archival and newly-composed material to present an abstract reimagining of the kinds of sounds and music that might have been heard at the various bandstands around Edinburgh.

The work contains 8 melodic lines performed by the Portobello Community Choir, with lyrics by Rosy Naylor. For the Bandstand App, the melodies can be ‘unlocked’ by visiting each of the 8 bandstand locations. They can be listened to individually or layered on top of each other, as each new melody is discovered. Together they form a complete song: ‘The Great Exhibition’.

‘The Great Exhibition’ is romantic, sentimental, light-hearted, and hopeful, and aims to evoke an atmosphere of a more innocent time.

'ABOUT THE APP'

First download the app using the links below. Both Android & iPhone versions are now available.

After you have downloaded the app, go to one of the locations, and put on your headphones, following the instructions on the screen. The sound will help guide you to each bandstand space, with the music getting louder as you get closer. Look out for the marker.

If your phone doesnt automatically pick up your location, you may need to scan the QR code on the marker to access the archive footage.

Visit 3 locations and you will gain access to the full length composition. You can then play each track individually or at the same time within the playlist area of the app.

LIVE PERFORMANCES

with Portobello Community Choir

SAT 1ST SEPT, 3PM - Portobello Prom, by John St
SAT 8TH SEPT, 3PM - Ross Theatre Bandstand, Princes St Gardens

FUNDED BY

The BandStand Project is supported by funding from the Culture Fund: The Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo and the City of Edinburgh Council.

With support from Orocco Joinery for the building and installing of location soundpost markers.