I had a lovely day with a young group associated with the RNIB last month. It's the first time I've worked with a whole group of visually-impaired participants, and was masses of fun. I tried out a new workshop idea: using the street sounds of Handel's London as inspiration for musical material, which I've used since then with other school groups as it seems to be a good starting point.. It's most amusing hearing kids' ideas for what they might have heard on the streets 270 (or so) years ago: from the evocative sounds of church bells, horses' hooves, rattling cartwheels to market cries, callers selling boar, pigeon, and apparently pineapples, at least according to King's College Junior School... it does make me realise I should probably do a bit more research on Handel's London, so I can answer with confidence a) how much a pound of apples would have cost and b) what the London newspaper was then. However, it made for a rich musical seam to mine for group composition, and the RNIB group performed their version at the end of the day to parents, complete with cantering horses, busking folk singers, groaning and pushing barrels down a hill and overlaid cries... here's a sample!
Handel House RNIB Music Day - Streets of Handel's London by Kerry Andrew Composer
