Ms Cross and her class had spent Tuesday afternoon outside gathering natural materials, I was interested to find out if these materials had voices and could make sounds.

I had also collected three different materials. The balloon made the funniest noises and got everyone giggling, its rude sounds were a clear winner. When it made a huge bang it was very quiet after that.  The feathers made quiet soft noises, so quiet we could hardly hear them. And the grass surprised us, this delicate material didn’t make a sound when we shook it. Someone suggested if its windy it might make a noise, and when I blew it, its voice sounded like an elephants.

Exploring the trays of gathered materials the children started to come up to the mic and camera to demonstrate how these different materials made sound. Rubbing, tapping and dragging the materials produced lots of different voices.

After a short break we decided to try some shaking. The children placed their materials into different containers and vessels, until they found a sound or voice for their materials that they liked. I had fun trying to guess what was in the containers, some of the smallest shakers made the biggest noises and larger instruments rustled softly. Ryan made a very special shaker that whispered a message to him when he listened really carefully, no one else could hear these magic sounds causing lots of curiosity and wonder.

We finished with a performance the children using a sound drawing I had created in the studio to direct them. Clapping and shaking we finished for today.