Stories from the Sonic City Museum

Sound and Music Expo Leeds

2009

Fourteen Gifted and Talented Year 6 pupils from primary schools across the Morley locality  have been involved in creating a piece of sonic art for the annual EXPO festival 2009.  The festival takes place each year in a different location and this year Leeds has the pleasure of hosting it. 

The group spent half a day exploring the City Museum in Leeds city centre and discovering objects which they found particularly interesting.  They then created a route around the museum, matching the objects with the sounds. 

During the six workshops sessions that followed, the children developed their own tracks for an alternative audio tour of the museum. This involved recreating sounds such as a growling leopards, groaning mummies and a vintage television using a mixture of instruments and household objects and composing with them using music editing software Garageband. The children also wrote and recorded surrealist-inspired stories, that explored the hidden connections between this seemingly random collection of objects.

As well as the object and spoken word sessions, each group performed several pieces of improvised music using a simple system using color-coded masks and hand signals. 

Glenn Boulter, a sonic artist, has led the group and has been assisted by Sarah Shaw, Head of Music at Bruntcliffe High School.  The sessions have taken place at the South Leeds City Learning Centre.  The project has been an excellent model for collaborative working and has been received well by pupils and staff. 

Click here for an excerpt from the tour