Delia Derbyshire Day 2019 honours the 50th anniversary of “An Electric Storm” by White Noise. This seminal album is cited as the first electronic pop album in the UK, released on Island Records with Chris Blackwell’s personal support. Delia Derbyshire was a key figure in the White Noise trio, with this work being an excellent example of her tape manipulation skills and compositional creativity. We feel “electric storm” is an evocative and accessible concept, both sonically and visually so we are looking forward to enabling music and media students to create their own electric storm with modern music production tools and techniques.
Over 6 workshops sessions, the students (music tech, acoustic instruments and media) will collaborate to create an audio visual performance on 12 November to be held at Loreto College. This is also a rare opportunity for dedicated students to work with professional artists who will support and guide the students through the creative process. This project is funded by Manchester Youth Music Hub and The Matthew Nicholls Foundation, with support from One Education Music and Ableton providing software and Push controllers.
“The Matthew Nicholls Foundation is excited to be supporting this important music project in Manchester. Celebrating the musical heritage of Delia Derbyshire, this electronic music project gives young people the opportunity to develop music creativity using the very latest technology and helps to establish confidence in young people by the performance of their work.” Rob Nicholls, The Matthew Nicholls Foundation.
We want to offer Loreto College music students an inspiring learning opportunity as Delia’s work consistently inspires. We want to know what their electric storm sounds, looks and feels like. We will share the progress and music as the project progresses so keep an eye and ear out for what the next gen has to say!
“The music education hub for the city of Manchester is passionate about electronic music and music technology. Through the “Electric Storm 50″ project, it is exciting to have the opportunity to be working with key stage 5 pupils from Loreto Sixth Form College.” Lindsay Thomas, One Education Music.