Music Events

We run music events for children, sometimes with their families, often in collaboration with other musical organisations. This page contains details of upcoming events. You can also see and hear highlights from some of our past music events below.

To find out more about any of the events listed, please

• Email: mas@rnib.org.uk
• Telephone: 020 7391 2273.

Untold Stories video

In 2012, RNIB's partnership with the Handel House Museum was the subject of a short film, created by Mediatrust as part of their Untold Stories series. The film describes how staff at the Handel House have brought the museum alive through touch tours and music workshops for blind and partially sighted musicians of all ages. RNIB would like to thank the Handel House Museum and Mediatrust for the opportunity to tell this story.

Music Events

Events for children and young people

Let’s Make a Song Of It

Song-writing workshop for blind and partially sighted musicians aged between 13 and 19.

Date: Friday 20 February 2015 from 11:00 until 5:00

Venue: Rooms 5&6, RNIB, 105 Judd Street, London, WC1H 9NE

Join us to compose, perform and record original songs, in a day, in a workshop led by Sam guitar player, song-writer and recording engineer Beer.

For further details, please see the attached flyer.

• Let's make a song of it information, (Word, 108KB)

Music Revision workshop

Our annual Easter revision course covering music GCSE, A level and music theory examinations.

Date: Tuesday 7 April 2015 from 11:00 until 4:00

Venue: Rooms 5&6, RNIB, 105 Judd Street, London, WC1H 9NE

This workshop is open to blind and partially sighted musicians working on music GCSE, A level or music theory exams. Please get in touch to discuss in more detail what you would like to cover.

You can contact us on mas@rnib.org.uk or by telephone on 020 7391 2273.

Employment Workshops for blind and partially sighted musicians

MAS also runs professional development days for blind adult musicians who are working, or hope to work, in a wide range of areas in the music business. Please email mas@rnib.org.uk or telephone 020 7391 2273 to find out more.

Our most recent professional development workshop saw five blind and partially sighted musicians developing their skills directing members of the London Youth Choir in a master class given by Esther Jones. The day was covered by BBC Ouch! And the BBC In Touch programme. 

Past music events

Rhythm workshop (October 2012)

This day was led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Baluji Shrivastav who introduced participants to the joys and intricacies of classical Indian rhythms. the day was attended by composers, teachers, drummers and instrumentalists. One participant wrote afterwards
"Ever since I left the workshop, I've been parsing every piece of music I hear in terms of 'ta takita takita'... What a fantastic day, thanks so much for organising this."

Open Spaces (October 2010 and 2011)

A day for blind and partially sighted adult musicians exploring the Royal Opera House, its spaces and acoustics and creating music inspired by listening to an open rehearsal.

An audio report of the 2010 day was produced for Vision, the bi-monthly magazine for RNIB members.

Close Encounters (January and June 2013)

An afternoon for blind and partially sighted adult musicians and music-lovers at the Royal Opera House experiencing an orchestral rehearsal in amongst the orchestra. RNIB member Garry Denton offers his thoughts on the day below.

• Close encounters of a musical kind - June 2013, (Word, 29 KB)

The Music Party (September 2011)

Inspired by a painting of the same name, the Handel House Museum welcomed blind and partially sighted musicians to discover the house, learn more about the instruments Handel played and create their own music.

Comments from participants included:

"I thought we got one step closer to the composer through the unique opportunity of feeling the history and creating our own live work and hope this series can develop."

"It is immensely valuable to have taylor-made days such as this, when hands-on approach is definitely allowed, and you don't feel like an exhibit yourself if you want to look at the design of the furniture or even the windows. There are so many things in museums you can't get anywhere near … but special permission to touch when the public are trying to look can lead to a certain feeling of self-consciousness. I learned more about Georgian architecture by just getting more hands-on than I could anywhere else. … The small group size is also a bonus. The descriptions of artwork and the décor of the house also helped to build up a picture of the life of Handel (applicable to anybody else) and understand the context of the music we all know… A much valued opportunity to learn. Thank you."

Searching the Stave (April 2010)

An exhibition held at RNIB for partially sighted musicians and those supporting them with mini presentations given by producers of hardware and software, music lighting and RNIB's Music Advisory Service on producing modified stave notation.

Feeling Good about Goodfeel (January 2009)

Kicking off our year of celebrations for Louis Braille's bicentenary, Feeling Good about Goodfeel gave blind and partially sighted musicians of all ages the chance to find out how technology can enable independent access to music scores in Braille with guest presenter Bill McCann from Dancing Dots.

• Feeling good about Goodfeel, (Word, 34 KB)

Friday Afternoons (February 2013)

Friday afternoons was the name given to a set of twelve songs by Benjamin Britten whose centenary is being celebrated this year with a number of projects and events. He wrote the songs in 1935 for his brother's school where Friday afternoons were devoted to music lessons. Soprano Elizabeth Capener introduced two of the songs before setting the ten blind and partially sighted participants the task of creating their own Friday afternoon song. You can read about the day and hear highlights from the final performance below.

For more details about the national project, please visit the Friday Afternoons website.

• The Sound of Friday Afternoons, (Word, 32 KB) 
• Old Abram Brown, (MP3, 6.78MB) 
• There Was a Monkey, (MP3, 1.7MB)
• There's Music in my Blood, (MP3, 1.08 MB)
• Friday Afternoons music workshop transcript, (Word, 168 KB)

A Knight's Quest (June 2012 and May 2011)

A family workshop organised jointly between the Wallace Collection, the Wigmore Hall and RNIB.

Comments from parents included:
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank you both for such a great time and for organizing these events. S now feels that he is not the only one who can not see very well and that he can learn and share with other children with similar needs. As a mother, meeting other parents who are in similar circumstances, talking and sharing ideas is just fantastic."
"As a parent I would like to say that I consider these events invaluable, socially and educationally."

"We as parents had a great day, and found it really good. It gave a good opportunity for us to talk to the other parents as this is the only event where we mix with sight impaired children in an informal setting."

"This is the third Wigmore Hall event that we have been on and each has been as excellent as the last. The chance to make music in a group is quite rare and to be able to do so in such great surroundings with such brilliant musicians makes it all the more special. We can see the impact these days have on our children throughout the year, as they are able to remember being on stage or working in a group and can use the experience to grow their confidence in other areas. More than just a learning day though, the RNIB music events are also just jolly good fun and we always look forward to the next one."

Voices from the Street (April 2011)

A workshop exploring some of Handel's music and the sounds he may have heard from his windows, led by Kerry Andrew, Composer-in-Residence at the Handel House Museum.

• Feelin good about Goodfeel, (Word, 126 KB)

Hurley Burley with a Hurdy Gurdy (February 2010)

An instrumental workshop led by performer and instrument maker Nicholas Perry culminating in a very loud pair of bagpipes…

• Hurley Burley with a Hurdy Gurdy report, (Word, 27 KB)

Braille Music bonanza (April and October 2009)

As part of the Louis Braille bicentenary celebrations, the Music Advisory Service ran two workshops for young blind musicians using braille music. The second was held at the Salvation Army, Regent Hall and included a lunchtime concert given by the tutors and a concert given by the participants.

Comments from the participants included:

"When you first start out no matter how hard you find learning braille music keep on trying and trying. It has already begun to change my life in the way I look at music. Before I started learning braille music, I did not know a thing about music. When people talked about crotchets, quavers and minims, I had no clue what they were on about, but now I have started learning braille music, all that has become clear to me. I am on the way to a different life thanks to braille music. So keep on trying, keep on struggling until you can read braille music and sing at the same time!"

"This is just a note to say a big thank you for the Braille Music Day. I really enjoyed the day and meeting all the other participants. It was interesting listening to the others play and seeing what can be achieved. I was very impressed. It was great fun playing on a grand piano in such a lovely hall, but I have to admit it did make me feel quite nervous! I hope there will be more braille days to come."

Swoops and Loops (February 2009)

A creative music workshop using Optimusic led by its founder Guy Sigalov.

• Swoops and loops with Optimusic, (Word, 33 KB)