SINGER Billy Bragg has been working with teenagers and musicians and sharing his expertise for two new music projects in West Dorset.

He joined composer John K Miles and the B Sharp youth music group to help with the lyrical content of their latest commission, Coastal Voices.

This is a vocal piece for mass choir, reflecting the local perspective on the Jurassic Coast, while also drawing on influences from different musical traditions from around the world.

It also closely links with B Sharp’s other project, Hear Here, a series of sound installations in Lyme Regis, funded by Youth Music and West Dorset District Council.

The Burton Bradstock singer songwriter, pictured, was invited by B Sharp to work with young people from St Michael’s Primary School, Woodroffe School and a core group of B Sharpers to inspire and develop starting points for both projects.

The singer songwriter said: “If you want to rea-ch a lot of people rather than writing a bland song that doesn’t touch any emotions, you need to dig out something personal to you.”

The working title of the B Sharp commission is Golden Cap.

Each commissioned piece offers choirs the chance to explore new music and the World Heritage Site coastline, which will form the backdrop to the Olympic sailing events at Weymouth and Portland in 2012. Performances of the commissioned work are being planned for Lyme Regis, Weymouth, Poole and Greenwich next year.

For more information on the project go online and visit the website bsharp.uk.com