This term P5 have been learning two Shetland songs, both connected to the sea. The first is the oldest tune that Shetland has – The Unst Boat Song. The class have learned the song, singing in the ancient language of Norn and they have also use tuned percussion to add an instrumental section to the piece. We’ve learned about dynamics and timbre and in the last verse, they decided to add a thunder maker and a rain maker for extra depth to the dimension of the song.

We have also learned about the story of the whaling ship, The Diana. The late Ronnie Cooper, one of Shetland’s finest composers, wrote the waltz ‘Ronas Voe’ which tells the story of the ship coming into the Voe on her long voyage back to Shetland from a whaling expedition. We have learned the lyrics of the song and we are looking forward to performing both the Unst Boat Song and Ronas Voe at our Stories of the Sea exhibition at the end of the term.