Junk Orchestra workshops coming

Perhaps you think there is not a musical bone in your body?
But what if you could play music and no musical talent or experience was required?
The Peace Festival has the answer with their upcoming Junk Orchestra workshops, to be held on April 28 and 29.
Organiser Ruth Power is keen for the community to embrace making their own funky instruments from recycled and found objects and then play them as part of a ‘Junk Orchestra’.
“It’s about making music with objects that didn’t know they had it in them,” Ms Power said.
“Music is lurking in many everyday objects and this discovery can change the way we view the world.
“When we use rhythm as a language to communicate with, in a group, we may well find that we are freed from the restraints which our spoken language imposes upon us. This can create an atmosphere of harmony, both musically and socially.”
Ms Power laughed when adding, “It’s hard not to have fun when you’re banging out a rhythm on a wheelie bin or discovering funky bass riffs on a thongaphone.”
The Junk Orchestra workshops will be facilitated by Rob Davies, who has been developing Junk Orchestra as a medium for group development for the past 14 years.
Rob has coordinated workshops in creative arts at festivals and conferences in Queensland and the UK. He has used junk music with a wide range of groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, people with disabilities, at risk youth, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, refugees, community workers and school teachers.
In recent years Rob has worked on five major community theatre productions using the medium of ‘Junk Orchestra’ to involve groups of young people in public performance.
In 2006 he took a group of 13 young people to Woodford Folk Festival where their street theatre production ‘The Dumplings’ was a great hit. ‘The Dumplings’ played funky music on improvised instruments constructed from recycled and found objects.
The Peace Festival’s Junk Orchestra workshops will be held at the Slade School Art Room, Warwick at a cost of $5 per session, with all materials provided.
Sessions will be held on Thursday, April 28, from 4pm to 6pm, and on Friday, April 29, from 4pm to 6pm and 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
For bookings and enquiries, contact Ruth Power on 4661 5420 or email info@peacefestival.org.au
The Junk Orchestra workshops are being supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF).