As part of our educational work, the Orchestra took part in the launch of Oxfordshire Science Festival on Saturday 6 March.
The Festival was kick-started by a performance called Mathemusica fusing Mathematics and music. Professor Marcus du Sautoy and Maths Students both from Oxford University produced a lively presentation with demonstrations from Oxford Philomusica’s Brass Section. The captivated audience turned Morse Code into music, learnt about sound waves with the aid of a slinky and had fun distinguishing between ‘nice’ and ‘nasty’ sounds.
The orchestra ran a stall exploring the Science of Music. Through whacky instruments children discovered how and why different sounds are produced.
Theremins
Creating sounds with no contact! The eerie sounds attracted both children and adults alike to the stall where they created a multitude of sounds by just moving their hands up and down over a red light laser beam.
Boomwhackers
Discovering why a long tube will produce a low sound while a short tube a high sound. However, these educational tools also turned into a form of weaponry among some!
Water Bottle Xylophone
Exploring the different sounds a water bottle can create. Which bottle creates the lowest sound: the bottle with more or less water?
Missed Out? Come along instead to the pre-concert activities at our Family Concert on 21 March at Oxford Town Hall, 2pm.
Tags: education, Education & Community, music, science, The Orchestra