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APRIL, 2024, MELBOURNE

MELBOURNE RECITAL MUSIC PLAY workshopS

I had so much fun sharing my passion for beatboxing with everyone at Music Play Festival held at Melbourne Recital Centre. Using the 'silent disco' headphones was a new experience for me, so it was a nice challenge and I enjoyed the intimate live feel.

After doing a few workshops, I found it hard to hear which sounds the participants were actually doing as they weren't always using a microphone. I used a nodding or thumbs up gesture to make sure everyone was following along with me. I ended up incorporating physical/ visual  elements with each of the new sounds / exercises ( things such as waving hands side to side). This allowed the participants to participate without feeling too much pressure as a lot of the kids were quite shy to make sounds on the microphones. One physical exercise that worked really well for this was the 'chika chee / chika choo train' focusing on the shaker/ maraka sound. I'd start off with the shaker rhythm, loop it on my pedal. Each of the kids formed a line behind me, put their hands up, waved them side to side and marched down the hallway and back. I'd give the microphone to a kid behind me who would continue with the rhythm and pass the microphone down the line. This was so much fun and it was a great use of the level 2 space. Once I got into the groove of the 'silence disco' workshops, I was completely energized!! 

I'd love to come back again next year!