Would you like to know a little about us before we start? Well, we met at Trinity College of Music where we both studied classical percussion and now we are both professional musicians living in London. Between the two of us we have performed in the highly acclaimed West End show Stomp, played at The Globe and with The English National Ballet, performed internationally with various bands including at Glastonbury, been in a comedy cabaret act, worked with children’s entertainers Sharky and George and have one very successful music tutoring company under our belts! Phew.
Despite all that, we decided we didn’t have enough to be getting on with and so in 2013 we put on our entrepreneurial hats and so The Rig was born, a venture that could combine our love of percussion and music with our passion for education as well as being environmentally friendly.
The Rig is an interactive installation of musical curiosities combining percussion, musical exploration, creativity, visual stimulation and learning! Designed by us, The Rig is an impressive, original percussion rig with an exciting visual impact aimed at kids (of all ages!). We have built 6 individual percussion structures that can be hit, shaken, twisted - basically, play it in any way you can think of!
The Rig is made entirely from recycled objects to form our crazy inventions. Not only do they make all kinds of unusual sounds but they also help children to explore the science behind sound (such as with our oven tray headphones or our percussion bath - intrigued yet?) and to promote awareness about recycling and the creative reuse of everyday items!
Thanks to our innovative setup and educational approach we have had the luck to have been champions for the BBC Ten Pieces over the last 3 years which is a nationwide initiative to encourage primary and secondary school children to fall in love with classical music. We have even appeared on the CBBC show Show me, Show me where we played our homemade funnel horns!
We bring the Rig to you and travel all across the country in our lovely Rig Van (we call her “Bunty”) to host exciting workshops in primary schools, including SEN schools. We have extensive experience working with SEND children and have also held workshops at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Rig is fully accessible for wheelchair users and children with disabilities and can be enjoyed regardless of ability or physical restraints.
We are also perfect for fetes and family events. Not only do we bring a fun, free play musical installation fully hosted by our team of enthusiastic “Riggers” but we have designed every detail, from our white gazebo, decorated with flowers and branded bunting to each individual percussion structure lovingly hand covered with antique sheet music so that our Rig has a charming, vintage aesthetic. Our lovely little gazebo can also keep our Rig and it’s visitors nice and safe from that unreliable British weather.
We and the whole of “Team Rig” are, of course, fully DBS checked so are a perfect option for any schools, family friendly events or festivals. We have taken our van full of musical curiosities to the kids all over the country including WOMAD, Cornbury Festival, Yorkshire Wildlife Park and many more. Our “Riggers” are all, like ourselves, highly trained professional musicians so we take great pleasure in guiding our little guests around the different structures and even like to take a moment now and then to show what WE can do with The Rig.
We hope to see you soon!