Barcodes project
23 of our musicians from Years 8 to 11, together with children from Shelford, Stapleford and Icknield schools, took part in this Cambridge Music Festival project which brought composer Cameron Sinclair into school to run a series of composition workshops exploring the links between the structures of DNA and the structures of music. In an introductory Science session, students extracted DNA and inserted it into gels. Using electrophoresis, they were then able to draw out the short and long chromosomes and find the genetic ‘barcode’ of the sample. It became evident that great diversity can be created from a relatively small number of genetic building blocks. The students then worked with Cameron to explore how these ideas could be interpreted through music. The project culminated in an exciting presentation of new pieces created by the pupils in the Henry Morris Hall.