Musical Stones TV Channel launched on You Tube

Percussionist and composer Gav Bradshaw has created 'musicalstonestv'
for Keswick Museum. Keswick Museum will use the site to publish videos of people playing the instrument. There are already four videos posted there including a nifty pop video of Gav himself playing in the Museum cut with images of the Lake District, and a video of Chris Stones and myself plying Chris's new piece for the Stones based on Bach.

To go there click on the logo or visit www.youtube.com/musicalstonestv

Wayang ends in a Bazaar Twist

11/07/08

Long Running Cumbrian Show ends in a ‘Bazaar’ Twist


The Musical Stonemason – A Cumbrian Wayang




A unique theatrical show which tells the true Cumbrian story of how the unique instruments known as ‘The Musical Stones of Skiddaw’ were built has now come to the end of its successful 11 month tour.

The show has been performed 9 times in 7 different towns and cities right across England, including the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Sage Music Centre in Gateshead and twice in Keswick itself; where the story of the show originates. The final show was performed on Sunday 6th July to some of the 1,000 visitors at the Cultural Bazaar at Trinity School, Carlisle.

This exciting community arts project was a creative collaboration between the musicians of the Egremont Community Gamelan led by Chris Stones, puppeteers led by artist and master puppeteer Ali McCaw, and writer David Napthine and Jamie Barnes, Curator of Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. The show is presented as a Wayang. Wayang is an ancient Indonesian dramatic art bringing together shadow play and music from the gamelan – the famous Indonesian percussion orchestra. The idea behind The Cumbrian Wayang was to create a unique art work drawing inspiration from Indonesian traditions but with a distinctly Cumbrian flavour. The result was a Wayang like no other, combining puppets that play instruments, colourful shadow imagery and the amazing Musical Stones of Skiddaw, all tied together by the magical sound of the gamelan.

The inspiration for the story ‘The Musical Stonemason’ comes from the famous Musical Stones of Skiddaw – an extraordinary instrument known technically as a lithophone which is made from a rare ‘hornfels’ rock and is housed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. The instrument creates a striking musical parallel for the gamelan, and boasts an intriguing history which formed the basis of the story. The peculiar resonant properties of the rocks from which the instrument is made are something of geological mystery. They were first discovered in 1785 by Peter Crosthwaite, founder of the first Keswick Museum, who incorporated them into his new cabinet of curiosities. It was Joseph Richardson though, 55 years later, who fully exploited the musical potential of the Skiddaw stones. A local stonemason and amateur musician, Richardson toiled away for 13 years to create the massive instrument now housed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. When Joseph finished the instrument in 1840, with his three sons they became something of a musical sensation, touring the country and playing three times for Queen Victoria! The story of the Wayang tells of Richardson’s obsession with the Skiddaw stones, and imagines a fictional meeting of Richardson and Crosthwaite somewhere on the slopes of Cumbria’s musical mountain. You can learn more about this true story and download free Musical Stones music at www.myspace.com/musicalstones.

The Musical Stonemason – A Cumbrian Wayang was very well received in all the venues it was performed. A total of 800 people have seen the show. It is now hoped the Wayang will be produced as a professionally-made film, which will incorporate filming outside on the side of the Skiddaw itself. This would mean that this unique part of Keswick’s heritage will be preserved forever. It is also hoped that this unique collaboration between Chris Stones - Egremont Community Gamelan/Soundware, Ali McCaw – Changeling Productions and Jamie Barnes - Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, will continue in a new education project for schools using the life and work of Peter Crosthwaite for inspiration.

The story of the Stones comes back home

On Saturday 19th April 2008 Soundwave's community Gamelan group performed 'The Musical Stonemason - A Cumbrian Wayang' on the main stage at Keswick's Theatre by the Lake as part of the La'al Fest. It was a success and The Keswick Reminder reported the show as a highlight of the festival.

New Musical Stones book project

Last night I sent a series of e-mails and photographs to Andy Aliffe to help him with his book project. Andy is a Victorian expert and actor. He is putting together a superb book called 'Rolling Out the Stones - The Original Quarry Men: The Story of the
19th Century ‘Lakeland Rock Bands’' which draws together all the stories of the three 19th century Keswick families who played lithophones as a job; The Richardsons (pictured), The Tills and the Abrahams. It is shaping up into quite a read and should be ready for printing later this year. I'll keep you posted.

Professional Stones photos courtesy of Renaissance North West

Many thanks to Renaissance North West who took a whole host of photos of the Stones for us. They were using them to illustrate a story they were covering about a grant Renaissance gave us to buy some special travelling cases to transport the Stones safely when we go on tour. Here are four of the photos. Photo credit to: Adam Naylor-Whalley

'The Musical Stonemason' plays Dean School

We perfomed our first Wayang of 2008 last night to an audience of 75 at Dean CofE School, near Cockermouth. The show went well and it was great to be in the company of the cast again after a 5 month break. The next show will be on April 19th at Theatre by the Lake.

Famous Keswick Stones perform in London after 150-year break

'The Musical Stonemason' – A Cumbrian Wayang

Keswick Museum and Art Gallery's popular stone xylophone – 'The Musical Stones of Skiddaw' have once more been delighting audiences with their unique sound, but this time in the capital city. The Musical Stones are the basis of a new theatrical show which was the result of a unique three-way collaboration. This exciting community arts project is a creative collaboration between the musicians of the Egremont Community Gamelan led by Chris Stones from Soundwave, puppeteers led by artist and master puppeteer Ali McCaw, writer David Napthine (Changeling Productions), and Jamie Barnes of the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. Wayang is an ancient Indonesian dramatic art bringing together shadow play and music from the gamelan – the famous Indonesian percussion orchestra. The idea behind this Cumbrian Wayang was to create a unique art work drawing inspiration from Indonesian traditions but with a distinctly Cumbrian flavour. The result is a Wayang like no other, combining puppets that play instruments, colourful shadow imagery, amazing Musical Stones, and all tied together by the magical sound of the gamelan. The inspiration for the story 'The Musical Stonemason' comes from the famous Musical Stones of Skiddaw – an extraordinary instrument known technically as a lithophone and housed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. The instrument creates a striking musical parallel for the gamelan, and boasts an intriguing history which forms the basis of the story. The peculiar resonant properties of the rocks from which the instrument is made are something of geological mystery. They were first discovered in 1785 by Peter Crosthwaite, founder of the first museum in Keswick, who incorporated them into his cabinet of curiosities. It was Joseph Richardson (pictured above) however, 55 years later, who fully exploited the musical potential of the Skiddaw stones. A local stonemason and amateur musician, Richardson toiled away for 13 years to create the massive instrument now housed in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. With his sons they became something of a musical sensation, touring the country and playing three times for Queen Victoria! The story of 'The Musical Stonemason' tells of Richardson's obsession with the Skiddaw stones, and imagines a fictional meeting of Richardson and Crosthwaite somewhere on the slopes of Cumbria's musical mountain. The 13-strong cast of 'The Musical Stonemason' went on tour with the show throughout September, beginning with a world premiere to a capacity crowd in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, then on to the prestigious Royal Festival Hall in London's South Bank for two dates as part of an international Wayang Festival. The first leg of the tour then finished up with a performance in the futuristic Sage music centre in Gateshead. It is believed that the last time the Musical Stones of Skiddaw were played in London was in 1865 by the Richardson sons themselves. Jamie Barnes, the manager of Keswick Museum and Art Gallery said 'It was a great thrill to bring the Musical Stones down to London, knowing how much they had delighted audiences in the capital in the mid-nineteenth century'.