Mark Goddard

Gergask Songs

Gergask Songs is for childrens voices, mostly in unison but with some optional two part writing, with piano, optionally supported by violin and clarinet/bassoon if available (these optional instrumental parts free to download at https://cliftonedition.com/C994).

Music by Mark Goddard, for Mrs Dickson and the children of Gergask School, Laggan Bridge.

For the Highland Year of Culture in 2007, Gergask Primary School at Laggan Bridge organised a poetry competition, from which six poems were selected for composer Mark Goddard to set. Gergask School is situated in the beautiful and remote Scottish Highlands, within the Cairngorms National Park, and the themes of the poems reflect the pupils' unique surroundings and deep environmental awareness. The local sport is the beloved 'shinty', and the children take great pride in their award-winning public loo, whose interior is adorned with murals painted by the village's children.

Contents

1. Scenery
2. Gergask School
3. Sport
4. Don't Drop Litter!
5. Wildlife
6. Laggan Loo

The Poems

1. Scenery
Look around Laggan and you will see,
Mountains so immense.
Water falls flow steep and wild,
While neighbouring forests are dense

2. Gergask School
We come to school at nine o'clock,
We all love our Gergask School,
Where all the children totally rock,
And the teachers rule!

3. Sport
Football, badminton, and we are shinty mad.
Our family play them all — even dad.
When on holiday we play them too.
They never make us sad!

4. Don't Drop Litter!
People drop litter, "that" is litter...
So don't drop litter — who did it?
Don't drop litter, it hurts the environment.
Just don't drop it!
Litter, litter, why?
Why do you drop litter?
Don't!

5. Wildlife
Wildlife is cool,
Wildlife is fun,
Butterflies in the summer sun,
Wildlife is cool, wildlife is fun,
Now all the fun has just begun.
Wildlife, wildlife, wildlife is fun!

6. Laggan Loo
Laggan loo (Ooo..)
There for us all,
Where we enjoy the country side!
You blend with the hills.
You and nature do collide!