Music Boxes
A melodic adventure for children aged 6 months - 7 years
© Rude
Nick Ramage,The Art of Noise, Manchester© Duncan Elliott
Nick Ramage,The Art of Noise, Wigan© Haydn Rydings
Scottish Opera, Baby O, Oldham© Edward Brownrigg
Cornershop & Rude, Pop 'O' Motion, Castlehill, Bolton© Duncan Elliott
Scottish Opera, Baby O, Wythenshawe© Duncan Elliott
Scottish Opera, Baby O, Knutsford© Karen Hewitt
Nick Ramage, The Art of Noise, Manchester© Duncan Elliott
Cornershop & Rude, Pop 'O' Motion, Bolton© Duncan Elliott
JoNny* and Stephen Stockbridge, Aflutter, Tameside
JoNny* and Stephen Stockbridge, Aflutter, Tameside
Oily Cart, Gorgeous, Trafford © Karen Hewitt
Specially created for children aged 6 months to 7 years, Music Boxes landed at MediaCityUK on 1 July as a mini city of shipping containers kitted out as miniature performance spaces, specially adapted recording and animation studios or interactive installations allowing the very young to explore a fantasy world of sound and music
In the run up to this event, over 1000 children from across Greater Manchester were involved in hosting a range of artists making work for Music Boxes, as they took up residence in schools and nurseries across the city region. From a musical beauty salon to an opera for under 2’s via mechanical, musical sculptures and giant paper canons, the Music Boxes residencies allowed early years children from across the AGMA boroughs to experience, influence and shape the artists’ work.
To support a lasting legacy for the project, MIF Creative also commissioned Music Leader North West to deliver a bespoke training programme to 10 early years practitioners from across Greater Manchester, to develop new skills in music making and delivery within early years settings.
Find out more about the project below:
Oily Cart – Gorgeous
Hot on the heels of Something in the Air at MIF 2009, Oily Cart return to Manchester to deliver a new scent and music based residency in 4 special education schools across Greater Manchester. Pupils from Springwood Primary School (Salford), Delamere Special School (Trafford), Springside School (Rochdale) and Millwood Primary School (Bury) will play host to the Gorgeous company: a touring team of all-singing, all-dancing beauticians who at any moment may break into song about the pleasures of pampering and the delights of getting yourself all done up to look and feel your best!
Cornershop and Rude - Pop O’ Motion
Pupils from Castle Hill Primary School in Bolton will create a new song and music video. After writing and recording new lyrics and designing an accompanying pop video, pupils will see their work featured at Music Boxes where other children will be able to adapt the video and add sound effects to the song in order to make their own version.
Nik Ramage – The Art of Noise
Nik is a master creator of mechanical sculptures and intriguing machines which children can interact with by pressing buttons and pulling levers to make interesting and unexpected sounds. Throughout April, Nik will visit 4 local schools (Crossacres Primary School, (Manchester) Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, (Manchester) Lamberhead Green Primary School, (Wigan) Westfield Primary School (Wigan) ) to help pupils create their own straw flutes, ruler twangers, bottle-a-phones and musical saws, all noise-making instruments that can be made out of everyday materials.
JoNny* and Stephen Stockbridge - Aflutter
Brothers Jonny and Stephen Stockbridge are visual artists who find new uses for everyday objects by recycling them and using them in different ways. For children at the Fire Station Day Nursery, Tameside, JoNny* and Stephen will create a paper wonderland for children to immerse themselves in, using fans, paper canons and a giant paper mountain. They will be involved in a variety of paper games, including the opportunity to feed the hungry canon before the world becomes “Aflutter” with its contents. As research and development for their installation at the live event, JoNny* and Stephen will experiment with different sounds and musical instruments to compliment the movements that the children create with the paper.
Jake Rodrigues - Ukulele World
Musician, performer and composer Jake Rodrigues invites children to join him in his Ukelele World, where children from Tithe Barn Primary School, Fir Tree Primary School and North Reddish Infants School in Stockport will immerse themselves in all things ukelele. Children will learn to play a new song specially commissioned by MIF and written by Jake Rodrigues, get into costume, and perform their song at the end of the workshop.
Scottish Opera - Baby O
Mums and babies from Oldham will be amongst the first in Greater Manchester to experience BabyO as it takes residency in the borough for 3 days this May. This magical 30-minute show will be performing at Westwood Primary School, Glodwick Infant School and the Oldham Music Centre and will see the very youngest of audiences (children aged 6 to 24 months) enter into a secret garden full of busy bees, ducks and splashing fish. Through seamlessly combining recorded music with live singing and using sounds and words that babies can understand, BabyO helps stimulate the beginnings of language development and ensures that your baby’s first musical experience is unforgettable.
Training for Early Years Practitioners
To support a lasting legacy for the project, MIF Creative has commissioned Music Leader North West to deliver a bespoke training programme to 10 early years practitioners from across Greater Manchester, to develop new skills in music making and delivery within early years settings. Led by Music Leader North West, participants will receive training from a variety of schools of thought in this field (through the use of three different pedagogies; reggio, dalcroze and kodaly) and will observe the Music Boxes residencies as part of the network. The aim is for these individuals to pass their knowledge on to other practitioners in their borough, supporting development of a vibrant and active music education scene among children of this age.
