Ocarinas on the BBC: 3 times in 9 months
To appear live on the Radio 4 Today programme was exciting enough… to then chat with Chris Evans on Radio 2 and supply ocarinas to the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a Radio 3 UK premiere performance was quite amazing. How did it all happen?
Researchers have noticed that ocarinas are being played in schools all over the UK and that children are making great music with them. The BBC Radio 4 Today programme decided that this could be a threat to the traditional recorder and set up a debate in June 2007. Instead of 'rubbishing' the work of others, David demonstrated the value of ocarinas, and of other instruments played in primary school classrooms. His interview created an avalanche of teachers' emails to the BBC, saying that the ocarina is by far the best instrument they have ever found for whole-class music. We even received emails from educationalists in Japan and France extolling the virtues of our ocarinas. Thank you for listening and for your positive comments!
In February 2008, The BBC Symphony Orchestra contacted us with a problem. How could they find ocarinas for the UK premiere of Penderecki's 8th Symphony? Within days, we had worked from faxed extracts of Penderecki's newly revised score to supply 50 ocarinas to members of the BBC Symphony Chorus. The powerful performance at the Barbican (28/02/08) was broadcast on Radio 3 (03/03/08). The ocarinas looked stunningly colourful on stage against the singers' black tops!
Whilst this was all happening, and totally independently, the Chris Evans Show decided to feature unusual 'endangered' musical instruments. Within a day of receiving the call, David was down in London, at the Radio 2 Studio, having a laugh with the man himself. Collecting and playing musical instruments can indeed be a great hobby. As you can see, Chris and our ocarinas looked wonderfully colourful on the radio too (20/02/08)!
Date: 03/03/2008
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