bugs came first

Bugs Came First is a children's musical about biodiversity. It is only a snapshot view as all the characters are animals except for a heroic slime mould. Footloose worked on a version of the piece with children from Bucknell School in Shropshire. Here are some pictures, recordings and notes about what we did including some short film extracts demonstrating the movements and recordings of music. Feel free to download these or adapt. There are also some general notes about biodiversity, specific animals and some games and exercises that we used.

Footloose are happy to come and facilitate Bugs came First with schools and youth groups, please contact us for details if you are interested. Alternatively, you can download the material from this website and create your own project.

Notes and description of the project.

Click here to download a full description of the project and notes for performance Click here to download a full script for performance

Scores, recording and video.

Click here to download the score of the introduction to the Web of Life and here to hear an extract

Mask of an Asian Tiger used for the Bucknell School performance

Click here to hear a recording of the Asian Tiger section.

Drawing of The Terrible Thing

Click here to hear a recording of the Collapse of the Thing section.

Drawing of Thinking

Click here to hear a recording of Thinking

Drawing of a Bumble Bee

Click here to hear a recording of the Swallows and Butterflies followed by the Bees

Other recordings:

Web of Life Song

Introduction to the Asian Vultures

Birdsong and stream

Creatures of the Planet

It's the Thing

Elephant

Far Away

Goldenfruit

Messaging Music

Spider

Snoopy the Seal

Pembrokeshire oystercatchers

Click here to download the score of the Metal Monsters section and here to hear a recording of the section

Click here to see extracts of the video made at Bucknell school

Bugs Came First at Newcastle-on-Clun Primary School
Bugs Came First at Newcastle-on-Clun Primary School
'It was remarkable how, in such a small amount of time, the children performed such a complex piece with such confidence and quality. All pupils thoroughly enjoyed the whole process, from initial introductions to the final performance, and learnt a tremendous amount about biodiversity and the role of man in determining its future. From a teacher's point of view, the project certainly was a great success. All pupils made progress; all pupils were thoroughly engaged; activities and songs were pitched perfectly for a whole key stage class and ensured that, although pupils found the days very challenging, all achieved success.

Initially staff thought the project may have been a significant challenge for the children yet, because of the quality of the materials and workshops, all pupils achieved success and thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. We have certainly learned never to underestimate the potential of our pupils!'
Andrew Langford, Headteacher