The music plays on...

A slightly emptier control rack

It was a very sad today today as we were called in to rip out the interactive light and sound room at the Gordon Parry Centre in Leeds. Unfortunately the building has been condemned and the Centre, along with all the other arts tenants of the West Park Centre, were given just a few days to clear the site.

The room incorporated a lighting rig with various lighting effects; fixed sockets for wired sensors and switches; an effects unit and microphone; speakers; a PC with Apollo Ensemble; a large touch-screen monitor; black-out curtains; and a whole range of musical instruments.

Although the room equipment is now in storage, the Gordon Parry Centre's activities will continue.

• Music Therapy will be held at HEART, the Headingley community centre, until further notice.
• All three after school clubs will be rehoused at different venues, to be announced soon.
• Instruments from the instrument library will still be available by request.
• Bespoke projects will still be available to run in schools or other venues.

It is hoped that a new venue will be found in the new year and the equipment can be reinstalled. Until then the music keeps on playing with a more mobile offering.

Equipment awaiting shipping

You can read about the Gordon Parry Centre and see what the room looked like in our Customer Stories section of the Apollo Ensemble website. 

News: Technology helps student to tune in

A student’s investigation into the effects of interactive sound displays has been given a helping hand from technology supplied by a Knaresborough company.

Marie Tueje used equipment provided by Apollo Creative as part of her final project for her MA in sound design at the University of York, looking into how people interact with displays in museums.

Young visitors get to grips with Apollo Ensemble, creating 
“soundscapes” by sitting on a bench at the National Railway Museum in York

Marie created an interactive bench which emitted sound effects and clips depending on how many people were sitting on it.

“The project was called Immovable Transition, so the idea was that users would take a journey without moving,” she said.

“We had recorded soundscapes of trains, engines, announcements and things like that.

“We also used some voiceover recording snippets – broken up and disrupted texts that would come in every so often. They were drawn from users’ experiences.”

The equipment Marie used was Apollo Ensemble, a piece of technology which is more frequently used in schools to help children with special needs to interact with their environment. It can pick up on a range of different movements allowing the children to create light, sound, video and other effects.

In this case, the technology was installed on a bench at the National Railway Museum in York, where trigger pads on the seat meant visitors could interact with the sounds. Marie said it particularly appealed to older people who needed a rest during their trip to the museum, but who could stay with their families as they played on the bench, rather than being left behind.

Initially, Marie had not planned to carry out any practical work. When her tutor suggested she should, Apollo stepped in to make sure Marie could get the results she needed to complete her work.

“I got real feedback on my ideas and it was really interesting in terms of user experience and how that influences their relationship to what they were hearing,” she said.

“Just being able to take something that was theoretical and realise it in a practical setting and test it and get feedback was really useful.”

Apollo’s creative director Mark Hildred said: “Ensemble has been used in museums before, but it was great to be involved in a research project this time. 

“When Marie got in touch to ask if we could help her, I was keen to do whatever I could to bring her theories to life and I’m pleased it has paid off.”

To see Marie’s work in action, visit http://vimeo.com/49753540.

News: Bubble stream bursts onto gym scene

Yorkshire’s newest sport and fitness centre could be setting a trend when the state-of-the-art premises open next week.

Bubble tubes supplied by Knaresborough-based Apollo Creative have been incorporated into the cycling area at the £9m York Sport Village, designed by The Ideas Group of York, called in to develop innovative concepts inside the new building.

An artist's impression of the cycling area

The company has already used Apollo Creative’s interactive water features in other projects around the UK, including retail environments and exhibitions.

However, the floor-to-ceiling bubble tubes in the new sport village are thought to be a first in the region’s gyms, giving users of the cycling machines something inspiring to look at as they try to emulate the feats of Britain’s world-beating cycling greats.

“We thought bubble tubes would work well in this case – and we will be developing the idea further by connecting them to technology which will reward users of the cycling machines by changing the bubbles’ behaviour to reflect their level of effort,” said The Ideas Group MD, Nick Townend.

“If that works well, who knows; we could be onto a concept which other fitness centres would like to consider.”

Apollo Creative’s Mark Hildred added: “Bubble tubes are mainly seen in sensory settings, but they always prove a popular attraction to people of all ages.

“We were really excited when Nick first approached us about the Sports Village concept, especially as I've spent many an hour pedalling away on a bike in the gym. I can see this being a popular feature and can't wait to work on developing it further."

The York Sport Village has been developed in partnership between the University of York, Sport England and the City of York Council with the stated aim of inspiring everyone to embrace active lifestyles and encourage exercise and participation in sport at every level by providing first-class facilities, services and development programmes designed to aid improvement.

News: Sound investment opens doors for York charity

More children with serious illnesses and disabilities will be able to express themselves through music thanks to a partnership between a York-based charity and a technology company based in Knaresborough.

Apollo Creative specialises in developing systems which transform body movements into sound, light, image and video, maximising the users’ abilities by detecting a wide range of gestures, allowing the system to be used for music making, sensory environments and interactive stories.

The Wakefield Music Service in West Yorkshire has now invested in Apollo’s latest equipment but, rather than disposing of their older accessible music technology kit, managers agreed to donate it to York-based Jessie’s Fund, which works with children’s hospices all over the UK.

Set up in memory of nine-year-old Jessica George - who died of a brain tumour in 1994 - the charity will choose a hospice to benefit from the donation after circulating details of the equipment to those who may be interested in giving it a new home.

Lesley & Mark with some of the donated kit

“Many of us take interacting with others for granted but, for some with speech problems or with physical disabilities, it can be extremely difficult,” said Jessie’s mum and charity founder, Lesley Schatzberger.

“For them, the world is not about doing but about having things done for them which can be massively frustrating. Having control over sound or music is extremely therapeutic as it gives them a chance to communicate and participate.”

The Apollo Ensemble equipment heading for Wakefield includes wireless games console handsets, adapted so they can be “played” as musical instruments, used to trigger sound effects or change images on display screens.

But whole orchestras, more simple sounds and even lights and images can also be conjured up by the wave or squeeze of a hand or the use of pressure pads, giving Ensemble users with limited movement similar levels of control.

Wakefield Music Services has invested in Ensemble as a powerful tool to engage young people with special needs in high-quality, accessible music making.

“We had a demonstration of the system in March and were impressed by how easy the Ensemble system is to use,” said Senior Officer for Music for Wakefield, Geraldine Gaunt. “It’s a brilliant way to make music lessons more inclusive and we’re certain it will be a valuable addition to our resources.”

Apollo’s creative director Mark Hildred added he was delighted to see Jessie’s Fund benefit from the investment in Wakefield.

“It's great when we can help two groups of children in one go. The older equipment will really benefit a hospice that has not previously had access to this kind of technology. It's a programme were hoping to extend to other organisations.”

Recycling old music technology kit for Jessie's Fund

Jessie's Fund Lesley Schatzberger (left) with Apollo's Mark Hildred

With the Apollo Ensemble equipment being used to update many locations accessible music technology equipment, the question arises of what to do with the old gear? Apollo have solved that issue by teaming up with York-based charity Jessie's Fund to pass the equipment on to children's hospices in the UK.

Recent donations by the National Centre for Early Music, iMATA and Wakefield Music Service mean that five hospices have now been kitted out with a range of equipment.

Please contact us if you have any equipment that requires a new home.

Level Playing Field in London

Today I've made the long journey down to London to display at the Level Playing Field conference in the fabulous surroundings of the Guildhall. This is an accessible music conference with talks from Share Music Sweden and Drake Music, and performances by Clarence Adoo and John Kenny, among others.

The Ensemble, and other technology, will be on display for everyone to come and use.

I've also bought down some of the work that Holly, our most recent work experience student, has done. She's been looking at accessible music all week and has produced some posters about why you would want to use a gamepad to play music.

The Big Bang Fair Yorkshire & Humber

Today we went to the Big Bang Fair at the Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington. The event showcases the Science and Engineering projects of local secondary schools, with prizes awarded for the best in a number of categories.

Holly, on work experience with us from a school in Knaresborough, had worked with the Ensemble all week and came along to create an accessible music demo using a gamepad, sounds and lights.

The pupils picked it up really quickly and were making music with a gamepad in seconds!