Tinderbox SPARKS is an alternative youth orchestra for young people aged S1- S6 who are Grade 1 and above on ANY instrument.
Last term, Tinderbox SPARKS teamed up with Dynamic Earth to improvise, compose and perform a piece of music for Dynamic Earth’s new Summer Show at the Planetarium!
It was a 6 week long project that ran on Monday nights throughout May and June and besides from being SO MUCH fun also gave us the chance to play together as a big band and create our own piece of music- something a lot of the group had never done before!
We kicked off the project with everyone coming together and having a tour of dynamic earth. WHICH WAS SO COOL(!) We went into the planetarium and were shown the Spring planetarium show along with the video that we would be writing our piece of music for. (Created by the amazing Ali from Dynamic Earth)
The theme of our composition was the Sun and pictures taken from a telescope that showed the sun in different states with different colourings.
It truly was an AMAZING 6 weeks and we can’t wait to be back at Dynamic Earth again for Tinderbox SPARKS round two of making more original music together!
We couldn’t have chosen a more atmospheric morning for our recent Music for Film collaboration with the Edinburgh Youth Theatre. Arriving into the space at St John’s Church on the corner of Prince’s Street we were greeted by friendly staff and stunning sights.
The views from each window perfectly set the scene for the creation of the soundtrack to the film ‘Zombified’ which was written by one of their young participants. On one side of the room, we overlooked a misty courtyard with ruined tombstones, and on the other a gothic clocktower – all ideal visual prompts for the immersive, musical experience to follow. Everyone present contributed their ideas to the music and performed together using a variety of Instruments including, Ukulele, Guitar, Percussion and the church’s piano to create the final piece.
In just under two hours, Mike led the group in composing, performing and recording the score for the short film. What a brilliant and inspiring morning!
During the lockdown in 2020 the Tinderbox Orchestra met online every week to rehearse and record music remotely, and decided to open these sessions up to anyone who wanted to join in the summer of 2020.
Course Outline In these sessions we did a bit of reading music, improvisation & recording. We rehearsed several pieces together in zoom calls each week, and the focus of these sessions was around making audio and video recordings that we then shared online.
Orchestra & Electronics Online We also tried out a brand new online orchestral and electronics experiment with award-winning sonic artist Yann Seznec! Playing together in real time online is sadly not possible in any normal kind of way due to internet latency, but we tried some ways to improvise and play together on using electronic to create strange and interesting soundscapes together.
“And so we’ve reached the end of Tinderbox Sparks for this year. It’s been a group who have lived up to the name. Full of ideas and creativity. Wild improvisations and a very unusual group composition about a flying pig who saves us all. Check out this video of the ensemble playing ‘Rather Be’.” – Jed (Tinderbox Manager)
What a time we had at the EIFF and it’s mind-blowing that a whole year has passed since then – we thought we’d take proud little look at one of the brilliant films we composed music for and performed live to film at the festival.
Please enjoy our live score for Looking for Lucey🙂!
Applications are open for Tinderbox Sparks our entry level Alternative Orchestra course for 10 – 18 year olds. Grade 1 (or equivalent ability) upwards. Improvise, Compose and perform.
Join Edinburgh’s Alternative Orchestra!
Sundays 11am – 1pm. at North Edinburgh Arts.
5th May – 23rd June
Course fee £100 (subsidised places available).
Send us a message or email to book a place admin@tinderboxcollective.org.
We will be working with the amazing Mike Kearney and members of the Tinderbox Orchestra to learn some new compositions that have been written this year by the Tinderbox Collective. We will explore the world of improvisation using a kung fu based conducting technique called ‘Suggesture’. We’ll compose a brand new piece of music.
The course will culminate in a performance alongside the Tinderbox Orchestra and our other projects, Tuesday Hub, Rock Trust Hub and Digital Lab.
What a fantastic start to our Tinderbox Orchestra sessions at the Jazz Bar yesterday! We tried out some new music from the orchestra as well as an older piece from our album, and it was sounding brilliant! Thank you to everyone who came along and got involved, was lovely to see some new faces as well as some familiar ones too. Hope to see you all again next week for some more orchestral jams!
If you would like to come along to the sessions just pop us an email to <admin@tinderboxcollective.org> and let us know!
Dates: Sundays, 2 – 5pm, 10th February – 31st March
Performance: Sunday 7th April, 6 – 8:30pm
Venue: Jazz Bar, Chambers Street, Edinburgh
Fees: Pay what you can afford (Suggested donation, £5/week)
About Tinderbox Orchestra Sessions
The idea is a bit like an orchestral jam session. There will be a core orchestra each week who will be rehearsing and developing an exciting set of original orchestral music across different styles. People can come and watch the sessions / rehearsals, and if you play an instrument or if you sing or rap, we’d love you to come and join in and play with the orchestra too. You can join for the full course, or come week to week and join in at your own pace.
Who is the project for?
Musicians of any age and any instrument (including orchestral instruments, back-line instruments, singers and rappers) can join the orchestra, but the project has a focus on involving young musicians aged 14 – 25.
Note: if there are several of the same back-line instruments or several rappers on any week, you may have to take turns on different tunes. There will also be choruses and singing in a number of pieces, and people can join in with this group too.
What level do I need to be to join in?
Some music will be easy to play and some will be difficult, and you can join in at the level that suits you. We would like the sessions to feel accessible, exciting and challenging for both ‘intermediate’ musicians (grade 3-5 as a rough guide) and ‘advanced’ musicians (around grade 5-8 and above). We will have a number of flexible scores, with basic and advanced parts, so you can join in where you feel comfortable.
Note: the grades are just a guide and you do not need to have had formal training on your instrument.It will help if you can read music a bit, though this is not essential.
About Tinderbox Orchestra
Tinderbox Orchestra is a fusion of instruments, styles and people. An orchestra with the approach of a band, we write and perform original compositions and collaborate with exciting, contemporary bands & artists. We love to experiment with ideas, collaborate, and try to do something new and inspiring with an orchestra.
“A trip on a grand, ambitious and stimulating scale”
Please contact admin@tinderboxproject.co.uk with any questions, or to register your interest in joining the orchestra sessions.
Please let us know your instrument, age and roughly what standard you are on your instrument (e.g. how long you have been playing, any grades or other musical experience).
We kicked off our orchestra courses in April, with two groups scoring a total of five films! Both orchestras have been working hard to come up with really exciting & creative film music that enhances the stories & atmospheres in the films. In particular our Advanced Orchestra started off by composing really beautiful experimental musical ideas to accompany a compilation of animated & filmed work by Eric Lucey. We’ve been playing with minimalist musical motifs to create different levels of tension, and we made a timed “graph” that matches the scenes in the film to plot the shape & dynamics in the music. Oh, and we’ve also been playing some fun musical games together! 🙂
We’ll be playing our film music live to screen as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival – catch us on Fri 29th June 7pm at Central Hall, Tollcross!
Join Edinburgh’s famous Tinderbox Orchestra and perform at one of the most exciting festivals and unusual venues in Edinburgh. Hidden Door Electric City will transform an incredible disused street lighting depot into a mecca of art, music, theatre, poetry and creativity. Hidden door is a nine day festival in the heart of Edinburgh, where an abandoned space is transformed and filled with art and music!
The Tinderbox Orchestra will unleash an explosive mix of orchestral music – in this five week course you will discover how Jazz, Electronic, Folk and Funk can all combine and be performed by an orchestra. The course will feature brand new compositions and collaborations with bands and poets, as well as working with an exciting new project called Room to Play – an interactive and multidisciplinary music project bringing together musicians, artists & game developers!
“Rave Culture meets last night of the Proms” The Herald
“An Orchestral Revolution” Edinburgh Evening News
**** The Guardian, **** The Scotsman, **** The List
Dates and Audition Details
Auditions will be held on the 23rd and 24th of April.
You must be aged between 14-25 and grade 5+ Standard as a guide (although it is not necessary to have taken an exam).
‘Colour of Conflict’ was the name of the last Frontiers project in 2012. This included an orchestra composed of Tinderbox members and choir, young hip-hop collective G-Code and James Gillespies High School Choir. Together they composed a piece over the 10 week course and were led by Prof. Nigel Osborne.
The project was a multi-faith project working with different groups of young people across Edinburgh. It involved the following workshop series across music & different art-forms which were all brought together into an animated film and live orchestral performance. The piece was performed at a concert in the Queens Hall in Edinburgh and at the Usher Hall for the Dalai Lama’s visit to Edinburgh in 2012. The project was put together as a partnership between Tinderbox Project and the Edinburgh Inter-faith Association, and it was funded by the Pump House Trust.
VJ Veils – VJing Workshop with young people from Blackhall Mosque
Battle of the Kites – Kites & stories workshop with young women from Sikh Sanjog
Book-making workshop with Holyrood Roman Catholic High-School
Street Art workshop with Muirhouse Youth Development Group.
Orchestral hip-hop and composition – Tinderbox Orchestra & G-Code – Collaboration between G-Code young hip-hop artists and singers with young musicians from the Tinderbox Orchestra, to compose new music that accompanied the films.
Below you can watch a video from the Street Art Workshop. Through discussions about conflict, the group came up with a number of statements, cut out giant letters from sheets of wood, spray painted them in vibrant colours and then took the statements to the streets of Edinburgh.
“I love the mixed instrumentation and the variety of level of players here, it pushed me to improve my sight reading.”
“Crackin’ music. Crackin’ folk.”
“Really enjoyed the whole week. People are welcoming it’s very easy going. Best group I’ve been part [of].”
“It’s ace, full on crazy intense course. … Learnt a lot and its made me more confident with my own ability and a better musician overall. Awesome.”
“My first experience playing with Tinderbox so I have nothing to compare it to… but on the basis of this course alone, I have had a really fun time.”
If you’re a musician aged 13-25 and would be interested in taking part in a future Tinderbox course, please email us at admin@tinderboxproject.co.uk. We’d love to hear from you!
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