Interview With Phil Potter About 'Northern Song'

On Tuesday the Blog team spoke to Phil Potter, co-ordinator of Northern Song, as well as writer of the lyrics to 'Northern Song', the name of which the event takes inspiration from.

M: What inspired you to write 'Northern Song'?

P: "I’m not sure it was inspiration exactly, as observing previous end of year shows, and trying to find a way to create a stronger identity for it, and one of those techniques was thinking about commissioning a strong piece of music that could act both as bedding music, introduction music for the television show [and] background music as part of the exhibition.

"So that’s what we did, and we asked Luke Kuppan, who’s one of our current third years to produce that music and so we spent a lot of time talking about particularly what it’s got to achieve, what modes and feelings it’s got to have running through it. As part of that, we thought, “Well actually it’d be really nice to have a lyric attached to it, something that captures what we’re trying to achieve”, which is why the song comes in in three stanzas really. It’s meant to map out the journey of a student who is arriving in an educational experience, looking forward to it - moving into the actual chores and challenges of doing their studies, through to the final bit which is that kind of confidence they begin to exude , leading through to completion.

"...it'd be really nice to have a lyric attached to it, something that captures what we’re trying to achieve...”

"[There is] also that bit of melancholy with it that comes at the end, when you know that you’re going to be leaving it all behind you. So throughout it there are a range of emotions, going from deep exhilaration and excite through to quite melancholic moments - in some respects the final bit is a little sad, because that is the bit where it has all been done, and now [you] move on."

M: How did you come up with the title 'Northern Song'?

P: "That was something that had played in my mind for quite a long time, I gave Luke the title. It’s a bit more that ‘Northern Song’, it’s ‘Northern Song (Sine Qua Non)’. ‘Northern Song’ was also to do with an article that I saw in a newspaper, quite some time ago.

It was just really talking about people who made music from the North, going back to a guy from Dallam, Warrington, who used to make fantastic music clocks, and his effect on the trade roots with the Ottoman Empire such a long time ago. The phrasing stuck in my mind.

"[There was] also this idea of a song being something that’s joyful, something that you sing out, when you are infused by something. I also thought of it as something which was us calling out from the North, particularly this bit of the North, about what we do here - our part in the story of the North from a creative point of view. That’s where the ‘Northern Song’ bit came from, that’s where the mood comes from. ‘Sine Qua Non’ is Latin for ‘that without which’ - I’m trying to suggest in there that we are a crucial part of the creative makeup of this world."

M: Can you tell us what the Northern Song event is about?

P: "Well, the Northern Song event is a celebration. That’s what it is. It’s a celebration of what we do here. It’s a celebration of the work that our students do, it’s a celebration of the work that our colleagues do assisting those students. It’s a celebration of the students who are working on the project itself. It’s meant to be a lively, enthusiastic celebration of all those things. People feeling proud of what they do, and the people that they work with and around."

Phil Potter is the Deputy Head of Media at the University of Chester. You can listen to 'Northern Song (Sine Qua Non)' here:

[MU]