The Winter House: VOCES8 Foundation

One Saturday night towards the end of February, my mum (a primary school music teacher) and I settled down to watch The Winter House, a Live From London event from the VOCES8 Foundation. Accompanied by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry and the playful narration of Timothy Vaughan, we met Flappy Derek (a Magical Beast) and the dastardly villain, visited a little red house by a frozen lake, gasped as a door handle moved on its own, and watched from behind our cushions as Flappy tried to rescue the sun from a locked box.

Illustration by Laura Gillham

Oh, and as well as all that, we sang some new songs, enjoyed live music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Paul Smith and Neil Valentine performed by the Academy of Ancient Music (AMM), learnt the differences between a violin and a viola, and joined in with Apollo5 soloist Clare Stewart and VOCES8 as they performed what we'd learnt in the introductory workshop.

The creator and director of this jam-packed hour is Paul Smith, co-founder of VOCES8 and CEO of the VOCES8 Foundation, who I spoke to alongside Ann Wright, director of education.

Fun and games

‘The Winter House project came about a couple of years ago because an orchestra in France asked Clare and I to go and do an interactive concert. It was in January in the middle of France and it was freezing cold, so I thought that doing a magical adventure around something like a winter house would be a fun place to start,’ says Smith.

‘We spend a lot of our lives trying to find ways to give students access to all sorts of different music. Whatever we do, we're angling it in that way but then using all sorts of fun and games and basically having a good time. Not to say that we have to make stuff that's specifically for kids, but thinking about how we can package things so that students can easily access the stuff that we love.’

The Winter House tale is narrated by Stephen Fry, who, like us, gets to stay warm on the other side of his computer screen, and Tim Vaughan, who braves the cold to show us inside the little red house. Smith says the plot is ‘very serious.’ He laughs, ‘I think it's best described as abstract – it's designed to be a magical adventure story.

‘Whoever you are, it's your story. You come on an adventure and we've got a guide who takes whoever's on the journey to a magical mysterious house where it's always winter. Then we get to explore a bit and meet some musicians. The storyline is a vehicle for us to give kids some live music and be as silly as possible in the process.’

Crayons at the ready

Alongside the concert, Wright and VOCES8 Foundation's education assistant Laura Gillham have created a 27-page resource pack illustrated by Gillham and filled with activities and crafts for children to enjoy.

‘It started as notes for teachers about the music, and suggestions of where to go for further listening. But now we've built it up more. For example, there are videos, one of which features string players the Carducci Quartet with Paul asking them questions,’ Wright says. Children can also build a model house using a supplied template and make their own paper version of an 18th-century outfit.

Paul Smith, Clare Stewart and the AAM (© LFL VOCES8 Studios)

‘Laura has a costume design background, so she got really excited and started looking at the clothing that would have been worn during Mozart and Vivaldi's times. The kids can learn about the different types of clothing and make model paper dolls and dress them.’

The pack also includes a make-your-own-string-instrument activity, which involves rubber bands and a box and decorating your instrument with carnival decorations. ‘Then for younger children or for children for whom that might be too much, Laura has done lots of illustrations to go with the show. They can just colour in Flappy Derek, for example.’

Wright adds, ‘To make it accessible, we didn't want to have activities where people would have to go out and buy lots. You should be able to find all the bits and pieces at home.’

Timothy Vaughan (© LFL VOCES8 Studios)

No experience required

The Winter House is now available for free for any school (see below). Although their interactive concerts are usually in person, Smith and Wright agree that the online nature of this concert means that more schools and families will be able to access it.

‘I think it's got a lot of mileage with all the fun things to do like creating sounds, singing, learning about instruments and all the cross-curricular stuff,’ adds Wright.

The buzzword ‘accessible’ may not immediately spring to mind when we think about a performance from a period-instrument orchestra. But Wright says, ‘I think [children] will be able to engage with it no matter what their musical experience. If there's a story, that's a win-win because that will just get them involved. The music is tuneful and accessible, so if they don't have experience, it's easy to join in.’

Smith adds, ‘Listening to the Academy of Ancient Music could, to some people, seem like quite a stuffy or “classical” thing, which can push them away. But actually, the way it's set up, it's just so beautiful and fun – it's not really explained, it just happens. You trick people into it – you can trick people into learning all sorts of things they didn't know before, including me.

‘I spend my days learning so much, all the time. We've done a lot of concerts in the Live From London series, but I haven't had more fun with any of them in the editing process than I have with this one.’

Curious mind

The VOCES8 Foundation's first lockdown project was #LiveFromHome, which saw one of the singers or team members broadcast a workshop on Facebook or YouTube every day at 2pm. Smith tells me, ‘We did about 100 of those, but as that had been going along, the pandemic had worsened, and we thought that maybe we were in this for the long haul.

‘We're lucky that we have a venue in London and the capacity to host things in a broadcast environment. So, we spoke to a bunch of our music friends from around the country and around the world and decided to put on Live From London for the first time.’

Now in its spring season, Live From London has expanded into a series of participatory events, including The Winter House.

In ‘normal’ times, if we can remember such a thing, the foundation's educational output is extensive, including an Academy; Young Leader programmes and training in schools and hubs; research (most recently, a Sing Every Day report); a Future Talent programme for young singers from low-income backgrounds; a Summer School; a Scholars programme; and more.

Most of this is continuing in one way or another, with the Digital Academy providing online courses and resources, some of which are free, for levels ranging from primary school to university students. Smith says, ‘Every week we're putting up these fun songs you can sing, but then alongside something like that you can also sing Bruckner or learn about Stanford – this is all in the same place.

‘The curious mind can have a great time digging around. You don't get a qualification at the end of it, but it's a space to learn and experience.’

Wright tells me how schools are using the Academy: ‘Teachers can use it when they're teaching online, and at primary level, non-specialist teachers can use the teaching videos either to teach the kids or to teach themselves how to teach it. We've also got secondary schools that have purchased access for rehearsals, so the kids can learn their parts and sing along with VOCES8.’

She adds: ‘I’m a little bit mad about ensuring that we help as many non-specialist primary teachers as we can.’ During the pandemic, this takes the form of 30-minute online music sessions each week with primary classes. ‘I think [the teachers] may even have a little bit more confi dence online because everyone makes mistakes, and everyone is having trouble.’

(l-r, clockwise) model winter houses by Lenny Störbrauck (Dortmund, Germany), Desireé and her son Jacob, the Locke family (New Jersey), and Isobel and Emily Winstone

Musical fun for free

There's also a ‘Free Fun Things’ section on the resources web page, which is updated with a new downloadable activity every Monday.

I ask Wright how she feels about the free educational content that has amazingly and necessarily surfaced during the pandemic, as some may argue that this provision isn't sustainable long-term for arts organisations.

She says, ‘It's actually a good marker that there are some charities who can afford to help support this, so it's a good way to get more of them thinking about the value of music. We also have to give Music Hubs credit for pivoting so quickly last lockdown, and again at the start of this one.

‘I think the challenge is to engage schools who are either a bit nervous or are feeling stressed about everything else they have to do. Once they see all this amazing stuff, they'll realise that it's great.’

By way of summarising the array of opportunities and resources offered by the VOCES8 Foundation, including The Winter House, Smith says: ‘Often, we're thinking about the impact of music and how you can teach so much about other things through music. That's kind of the approach we take with our learning.’

Read our interview with Stephen Fry here. 

For a private link to The Winter House performance and resource pack for your school, email ann@voces8.foundation. More information about VOCES8 Foundation's educational work can be found at voces8.foundation/education