What if a garden could make music?
The Planted Symphony app is a new way to experience music in nature. Enjoy an interactive audio trail where melody, installations and stories take you on a journey and bring gardens to life.
The Planted Symphony audio trail toured through the summer of 2021 to 3 locations across the South of England:
- Milton Keynes International Festival – 14th – 18th July
(Download Easy Read info about Planted Symphony at Milton Keynes International Festival) - The Highams Park, Waltham Forest – 18th & 19th September
- Inside Out Dorset – 24th – 26th September
About Planted Symphony – The Audio Trail
This is the second Planted Symphony project, the first was an interactive musical garden created by Drake Music, in partnership with Arts & Gardens, for Liberty Festival in London.
This new iteration of Planted Symphony tells the tale of Lagether, a herbalist who calls upon the natural world to help her heal, grow and be transformed. Using headphones and your senses you meet her through spoken word and song lyrics, flowers and foliage.
As you move around, the music explores the magic and mystery of nature – at one moment wind and whispers, the next, full pomp and glory.
Planted Symphony features exciting new work made by Disabled and non-disabled musicians, poets, storytellers and artists working together.
The score for the audio trail was sketched by the talented Disabled composer Lucy Hale, who sadly passed away in January 2021. The team would like to dedicate this project to her memory.
Planted Symphony, the audio trail, features:
- Composer – Lucy Hale
- Musical Director – Ben Sellers
- Composer/Arranger – Cassandra Gurling
- Cello – Georgina Aasgaard
- Vocals – Miryam Solomon
- MiMu Gloves – Kris Halpin
- Clarinets – Sonia Allori
- Marimba – Jenni Parkinson
- Narrative and Lyrics – Dave Young
- Experience Director/Narrator – Nickie Miles Wildin
- Production Design – Jon Van Beek
- Music Production/ Mix Engineer – Alex O’Donovan
- Producer – Amy Sibley-Allen
- Production Manager – Crin Claxton
- Stage Manager – Dan Stewart
- Executive Producer – Tim Yates
- Comms & Audience Experience – Becky Morris Knight
- Illustrations – Kim Thompson
The R&D phase of this version of Planted Symphony was led by Daryl Beeton and Sofie Layton was the Creative Producer. Georgina Aasgaard performed in place of cellist Jo-anne Cox, who was excluded from this project by disabling barriers, which DM is in the process of reviewing and addressing.
About the app
The app is free to download and is available from the App Store/ Play Store. It is called Planted Symphony and works with iOS and Android devices. In it there are audio trails, where GPS is used to trigger sound and songs as you move about the location and discover the installations.
It works with your device’s standard access features and includes BSL videos and embedded audio descriptions.
If you are not at the Planted Symphony tour you can still listen to the experience by switching off the Autoplay feature on the app and playing the tracks individually.
The Planted Symphony app was developed for us by the team at Echoes, sound mapping and spatial audio experts.
About the live experience
Planted Symphony is best experienced on good headphones, so if you’re planning to visit, download the app and bring your headphones with you!
The audio trail lasts between 20-30 minutes and is suitable for adults and families with older children. The trails are all wheelchair accessible and there are places to stop and rest at each site. We invite visitors to take it at their own pace and recommend wearing suitable clothing for outdoor activity.
Audience members are also welcome to book to use a Subpac, wearable tech which translates sound into vibration.
Audience Feedback
“Every park should have this”
“It was wonderful to feel immersed, take a meditative break and contemplate nature”
“It’s a great experience from start to finish”
“Good for post-pandemic recovery!”
Press
Planted Symphony was commissioned and developed by Drake Music, in partnership with Arts & Gardens. It is produced and presented by Drake Music.
Planted Symphony is supported by Arts Council England, Sonos Foundation and Foyle Foundation. The wearable technology is kindly loaned by Subpac.
Additional support comes from Bruce Wake Charitable Trust, The Ironmongers’ Company, The Michael Tippett Musical Foundation, RVW Trust and kind donations made in memory of Lucy Hale and Charlie Williams.