Bandstands

8 locations of bandstand soundspaces across Edinburgh and Musselburgh, with immersive sound, archival imagery and commissioned music by Ross Whyte, a Glasgow based composer and sound artist.

This project invites us to once again find music as we stroll our public parks, to search out the music we hear, focussing on places where bandstands once stood, and a few that still do.

Each location contains a marker representing as near as possible the location of the original bandstand. By visiting each of these, you can unlock the melody relating to that site, along with archive imagery and historical info. Visit 3 locations and you can access the complete composition.

Ross’s composition, The Great Exhibition, is inspired by the early 1900s era of seaside entertainment and end-of-the-pier entertainers such as Harry Lauder.

Using sound recordings of both archival and newly composed material, the work performed by Portobello Community Choir, presents an abstract reimagining of the kinds of sounds and music that might have been heard at the various bandstands around Edinburgh.