More about the Show

When presenting a Reed All About It show, we (John Gough and Heather Williams) will arrive at the venue about an hour before the start time, allowing plenty of time to unpack and set up the many instruments, props, costumes and other visual aids that we will be using.

We would appreciate a short introduction from a member of staff, but from then on you can leave everything to us.

The main focus of the show is for the children to discover the great diversity of sounds that can be produced from different musical instruments that all have one thing in common; they are either made completely from bamboo, or the sound piece is made of bamboo.

They will hear the familiar sounds of the oboe and cor anglais, the haunting sound of the Turkish Duduk, the brilliant sound of the Chinese Shawm, the comic sound of the Indian Snake Charming Been and many more.

The instruments we play are from distant corners of the world and are often used for particular occasions. At certain stages our presentation is enhanced by costumes, as we help the children to imagine themselves in the atmosphere and environment appropriate to each instrument. This is especially effective in our demonstrations of the Chinese vertical flute (often used by priests for meditation), and the ever popular Mexican pan-pipes.

As well as experiencing the thrill of hearing these instruments in a live performance, the children will also find out how each one makes its sound, and learn something of the science involved. In some instances they will be shown simple home-made alternatives that they can try out for themselves.

During the course of the show, the children will learn about dynamics and have the chance to follow some Italian words and symbols as we all create a tropical rain storm with the help of some Indonesian rain sticks. The children will find out how the Pan-pipes got their name, what a Moszmat is, how a musical drone works and much much more. There will be opportunities to join in with percussion instruments, some familiar, some rather less so, and there will even be a chance for someone to try to charm the snake from it’s basket with a little help from an Indian snake charming Been.

We know that we can promise your school a unique and entertaining show that will be remembered for a long long time.

It's fun, it's informative, it's different! For further information, see the Contact Info page.