Eequ · After school. In place of school. Beyond school.

Our Lyrical Planet

How to understand ecology through song.

Mentored by

Richard Robinson

Director of the Brighton Science Festival

Organisation links
Location address: Patcham, Brighton, BN1 8XR
Chosen age group:

For ages: 9 - 18+ years

Available tickets:
Lyrical child £2 per session
Next date: None - message Mentor to express interest
A summary
Of all the man-made catastrophes that surround us right now, it’s hardest to get a grip on the ecological one. While the direct effects of being baked and poisoned by climate change and rogue chemicals are easy enough to see, our effect on the complex web of animals and plants seem further away, more hidden and harder to understand. Our workshop shows the way the natural world is woven together, simply, by writing a song about the food chain, aka the carbon cycle. Just as the carbon goes round on its cycle, we will write a round - like London’s Burning - only it’ll be about microbes, plants and animals. The workshop has been tried out in schools, to impressive reviews - ....."What a fun lyrical workshop! It fitted in perfectly with our whole school learning journey – protecting our planet. We had a great time, combining our science learning with music. The children were keen to use their knowledge of ecology and food chains to create the lyrics to sing in a round, which they will be performing to the school. Thank you." Kerri Simmons, All Saints School: "...Really engaged in year six in making the song. Listening to the song duo drew them in." "...Amazing resonating voice...." "...Loved how you worked within smaller groups - lots of active learning in science and music. " "...Everyone stayed on task because the start was explicit and well presented." "...Great combo - team and theme." "...Even if they don't finish, the process was absorbing and worthwhile. " Catherine Lewis St Marks School John Hinton John is the Artistic Director of Ensonglopedia,a company who create educational shows, videos and audio albums, and run creative workshops about science.His shows include the multi-award- winning ‘Scientrilogy’ of musical comedies about Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Marie Curie, as well as several Ensonglopedias -alphabetical collections of songs on topics including science, animals, plants and space. “Hinton expertly makes the most complicated of concepts easily intelligible… Delightful.” ★★★★★ British Theatre Guide “It’s funny, but also mind-expanding – and there aren’t many shows that achieve both so well.” ★★★★ The Big Issue “Something close to brilliance” ★★★★★Libby Purves, The Times
About your mentor
Richard Robinson
Director of the Brighton Science Festival
Science is amazing, but sometimes the language of science is frustrating, often acting more as a barrier to understanding than as a help. My mission is to share the excitement, and simplify the language so we can all take part in it. My childhood was spent surrounded by my dad and brothers, who were all engineers. Naturally, I wanted to be an artiste when I grew up! I managed to do both, by making puppets, including mechanisms, then performing them on a children's TV show about science (The Riddlers: elf-like folks who try to 'riddle out' how the world works). There I practised speaking simple science, and found it was just as easy to be rigorous and accurate with clear English as with science-speak. I set up the Brighton Science Festival in 2005, because there is a great need to get kids engaged with science. It has been a great romp for me since then, to make things and learn things, and to pass on my learning to others, which makes my life richer, more useful, and heaps more fun. I've written 20 books about science, mostly for 7-11 year-olds. Over the past 15 years I have continued to encourage scientific thinking via the Brighton Science Festival, and the Pocket Science Funfair. There's plenty to be done: we need to understand a lot of things, from the huge (think climate change...) to the tiny (...and viruses). Let's keep on trying.
Pricing information
Ticket nameLyrical child
Price£2
InformationBook per child. Adult must accompany, and may join in
Where we'll be
Old London Road, Patcham, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 8XR
Safety

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Cancellation Policy
Cancel within 24 hours for a full refund.

My experience is an educational activity and the 14-day cooling-off period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 therefore applies. After the 14 day period my standard policy will apply.