Over the last three years, I have had the privilege of working with Birmingham primary school pupils, orchestral musicians, and climate scientists on Climate Funk!, a unique schools’ programme exploring climate change through music.
Delivered by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) in partnership with the Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) at the University of Birmingham, and kindly funded by the JABBS Foundation, this project bridged the gap between complex science and creative composition.
The Three-Year Journey
- Year 1 (2024): Year 4 pupils from Water Mill, Cotteridge, and St Jude’s schools explored their relationship with nature. They wrote independent pieces dedicated to their favourite green spaces in Birmingham.
- Year 2 (2025): The children dug deeper into environmental biology. Working alongside scientists, they created a collaborative piece about how trees adapt to survive extreme climate conditions.
- Year 3 (2026): Now in Year 6, the pupils pushed creative boundaries. I joined them at the start of the year to collaborate on musical structure. We built an experimental climate-themed cantata (or “climitata”), using minimalist processes, subtraction, and asymmetrical metres like 5/4 and 7/4.
The Grand Finale
I worked hard to ensure the final music was truly magical for the children, that their ideas were audible and they felt ownership of the piece. On Friday 12 June 2026, the pupils took the stage at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall. Performing alongside a 10-piece CBSO ensemble who they had worked with across the three years, the children delivered an absolute triumph of a performance to an audience of families and teachers, earning standing ovations and moving many to tears.
This unforgettable journey was made possible by an incredible team. Huge thanks to:
- The CBSO Education team: Tom Spurgin, Carolyn Barton, Georgia Wells, and Katie Lucas (previous head of Head of Learning & Engagement) for masterfully putting this project together.
- Workshop leader Claire Henry for being an incredible collaborator and bringing amazing energy to the workshops. We had a workshop leading short hand and it was a joy to work together!
- Choir master David Lawrence for hilarious singing workshops, warm energy and incredible vocal writing insights .
- Professor Jerry Pritchard, and Dr Samantha Dobbie for making science fun.
- The 10 brilliant CBSO musicians for inspiring the young people with the brilliant instrumental skills and creative ideas.
- Most importantly, the 120 inspiring young people of south Birmingham who found their voices to sing about the possibility of a climate-friendly future with the planet.