I undertook this educational music and technology project for Creative Partnerships in 2006-07, which we named Mobile Orchestra. With the initial theme of using mobile phones as tools for composition, I worked with a school group and some musicians from Milton Keynes City Orchestra to create a hybrid composition, combining strings, clarinet, guitars, mobile phones and laptop.

We spent a term experimenting with compositional strategies to combine melodies with improvised sections, and experiment with the sonic possibilities of the phones.

We performed a couple of concerts; one at the Venezualan Embassy for the launch of the Radio 3 season, and another at the students’ school. The final recorded performance was featured in a segment on “Listen Up”, Radio 3’s regional orchestra show. Despite the R3 producer deciding to overlay our music with his own cheesy “mobile phone” sound effects, it was worth it to hear my name mentioned by plummy presenter, Petroc Trelawney.

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