Our OrchLab resources explore the music and instruments of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and wider OrchLab project, using this as inspiration for musical activities, information and games.
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Each year on OrchLab, we create brand new accessible instruments with participants, inspired by the instruments of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. These instruments are designed to be accessible, make a great sound and are really fun to play! We have now created several Touch instruments: the Touch Oboe, Violin, Trombone, Harp and Timpani. These instruments
Posted in Resources
Edward Elgar Edward Elgar (1857–1934) is one of the most well-known British composers. You have probably heard some of his music even if you don’t know it! Every year, at the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, his ‘Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1’ is played, which includes ‘Land of Hope
Posted in Listen & Discover, Resources
We believe in the power of using technology to make music more accessible for all. Part of the OrchLab programme involves co-designing new, bespoke accessible musical instruments with disabled people, but we also use a variety of off-the-shelf accessible instruments in our workshops. Here is a list of some of our favourite off-the-shelf accessible musical instruments. Read on to find out more about what makes them accessible, and if they could be a good fit for you or the setting you work in. Soundbeam Soundbeam is a ‘touch-free’ assistive
Posted in Resources, Staff guidance & training
We’ve hidden some of our favourite accessible instruments and apps in the wordsearch below. Can you find all 11 of them? If you want to learn more about some of the accessible instruments we’ve featured, have a look at our Top 10 Accessible Instruments resource.
Posted in Games & Quizzes, Resources
We are excited to share some thoughts from two OrchLab participants from Bramley Hill Day Centre in Croydon, one of our Community Partners from 2025. In these 3 short videos, we are introduced to two of our OrchLab participants, Mellinie and Philip, who tell us more about their experience of taking part in OrchLab workshops
Posted in Listen & Discover, Resources
Play and sing along to this classic soul song, originally recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell in 1967, and released on the legendary Detroit-based record label, Motown Records. ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and is surely one of the most uplifting love songs ever
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources
In Autumn 2025, OrchLab worked with groups from Bramley Hill Day Centre (Garwood Foundation) and Brookside House (Shaftesbury) on a project inspired by a piece called En Saga by Jean Sibelius Sibelius (1865-1957) was a Finnish composer who often wrote music inspired by the beautiful scenery in Finland! One of his most famous pieces of music is
Posted in Listen & Discover, Resources
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) and tone poems Richard Strauss was a brilliant composer of music for stories. These pieces (called tone poems) don’t have a narrator, or pictures, they simply describe the story in the music. He wrote quite a lot of them. Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is about a German peasant who played lots of
Posted in Listen & Discover
Can you imagine a film without background music? What would it be like? There are examples (for instance Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds), but they’re very rare – and often the lack of music creates a weird tension, leaving the viewer on edge, not quite knowing what to make of a scene. Film music helps the
Posted in Create & Compose, Resources