Pupils record song to celebrate Bass Rock birds

A School band has recorded a musical tribute to one of Scotland’s greatest wildlife attractions - letting people know that when it comes to seabirds it really is all about the Bass.
North Berwick High pupils perform the song. Picture: compNorth Berwick High pupils perform the song. Picture: comp
North Berwick High pupils perform the song. Picture: comp

This year saw the Bass Rock confirmed as the world’s largest northern gannet colony and to celebrate, the Scottish Seabird Centre asked North Berwick High School to record a special version of the hit single All About the Bass by Meghan Trainor.

And now the song – which references gannets, guga (young gannets) and of course North Berwick – has been put online and has been getting great feedback.

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The new lyrics were created by a second-year English class, led by teacher Seonaid Hudson, while three pupils from the S2 “Band Jam” class, with support from the Head of Performing Arts Julia Wilson, learnt the accompaniment to the song on keyboard, bass guitar and electric guitar for the live backing.

With the help of audio-visual technician, Paul Brignall, the soundtrack was recorded, and the class was then invited to the Seabird Centre to create a music video.

Ms Hudson said: “I thoroughly enjoyed working with my class on a different kind of project. We worked together, re-writing the lyrics and working out the best way to fit new words, like guga, into the music. I was so proud of everyone and the way they embraced this challenge.”

When asked about the All About the Bass project, musicians Kate Bunney, Esme Callander and Erin Mwembo, said: “We all thought it was a great experience and was seabird-tastic! It was really fun and it turned out better than we thought. We all hope that everyone enjoys our song and that it makes it an even better year for the gannets.”

Tom Brock OBE, chief executive of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said of the project: “When we came up with the idea of the song parody I don’t think we ever envisaged that we would get such a professional and brilliant result. The team at North Berwick High School did an amazing job helping us create this video.

“The Bass Rock is having an amazing year: we have recently seen gannet chicks on our interactive live cameras and look forward to them growing over the months ahead. As the world’s largest northern gannet colony, it really is all about the Bass!”

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