All through this term I have been working on a marvellous project celebrating the wonder that is the Royal Festival Hall organ. In my last post I talked about a visit to the workshop where the organ was made and restored – and to complement that here are some brand new organs, all invented and hand-built from cereal packets by year 5 at Telferscot Primary School in Balham.
I set the class the challenge of creating an activity that families visiting the RFH could do at home, inspired by the organ – and they all immediately started to fizz with ideas and brilliantly creative solutions. These mini-organs feature all the elements of the real thing – a console and keyboard, many many pipes, pedals, a soundboard, blowers – and of course seats for the audience and in some cases a luxury box for VIP visitors! One of them even comes in its own carrying case – the perfect portable organ.
I’m going to be compiling all the children’s ideas into a takeaway activity sheet full of tips on how to make your own organ, ready for the Pull Out All the Stops organ festival in March 2014.