Bangers and Crash Percussion Sextet featuring composer Brian Irvine
Galway, Co. Galway - Ireland
SoundWaves Music Space invites 50 young musicians - any instrumentation / all skill levels - to join Ireland’s Bangers and Crash Percussion Sextet, featuring the music of composer Brian Irvine, in a spectacular surround-sound concert experience at the Black Box Theatre.
Over three days, participants will workshop, practise and rehearse with six master percussionists.
These distinguished musicians will lead participants on an inspiring journey of auditory immersion and percussive exploration, culminating in a public performance on Day 3.
This unique project offers young participant musicians the opportunity to:
- Be immersed in the connective power of percussion music, and explore its rich diversity and vibrant colours across various genres and cultures.
- Work collaboratively with the Bangers and Crash Percussion on creating arrangements for the new compositions to be performed.
- Perform with the Bangers and Crash Percussion Sextet at the Black Box Theatre, showcasing the collaborative work created in the workshops.
- Explore percussive techniques and non-traditional instrumentation to discover innovative ways to create rhythm and texture.
- Discover innovative concepts of immersive and surround-sound performance that transcend traditional stage boundaries.
This programme is designed to provide an exciting educational experience, enhancing the participants’ skills, creativity, understanding of professional performance, and innovative music creation.
About Bangers and Crash Percussion Sextet ›What You Will Learn
This unique and innovative music experience is a one-time opportunity to unleash your creativity through fun workshops and dynamic rehearsals. By joining the Bangers and Crash project you'll be part of a high-energy performance alongside Ireland’s top orchestral percussionists and performing a specially commissioned piece of music written by the renowned composer Brian Irvine. The key takeaways for participants include:
Musical Exploration
- Be immersed in the connective power of percussion music as you delve into rhythms, genres, and instrumentation such as African marimbas, Asian gongs, and European classical percussion.
- Learn about the complexity and wide spectrum of percussion music.
- Experiment with non-traditional instruments and a range of found objects to create unexpected sounds.
Creative Collaboration
- Develop new elements for the composition by brainstorming, arranging musical parts, and experimenting with sound selections.
- Actively shape the musical outcome and feel a sense of ownership and achievement.
Sound Design
- Understand the principles of creating immersive sound by exploring instrument positioning, types, and volume to achieve a 360-degree auditory experience.
- Perform throughout the auditorium to create an atmospheric surround-sound environment.
Professional Performance
- Gain valuable performance experience with a large ensemble in a professional setting.
- Take part in the debut performance of a brand new composition written by Brian Irvine especially for this project.
Personal Development
- Share experiences with peers to build self-confidence and form new connections in the local music community.
Fees & Additional Information
Fees
- Participation Fee: €20 (a special discounted rate, thanks to the support of our partners)
- Participation includes three days of activities, including the concert.
- Fees are payable separately after receiving your reservation form.
- There is a limited capacity of 50 participant places. Once full, a cancellation list will be opened.
Lunch
- Participants will be required to bring their own packed lunch, refreshments, and drinks.
Consent Forms
- The workshops and concert will be documented through photography and video. Media consent forms will be made available prior to any documentation.
Schedules and Materials
- Participants will receive pre-workshop preparation notes and a timetable.
How To Apply
Who can apply:
- Young musicians from 12 years to 18 years ~ musicians will be grouped according to their ages.
- Any instrumentation.
- Any skill level.
- Good listening and concentration skills.
- Confidence to participate and meet new people.
This project is ideal for any young musician who is:
- wanting to take part in something musically adventurous.
- eager to meet with other young musicians and learn from master musicians.
- happy to work as part of a team in a collaborative way.
- interested in percussion music and/or creating soundscapes.
- keen to be part of actively shaping the musical outcome.
- excited to be part of a live performance.
Registration Procedure
- Below is the online registration form.
- SoundWaves Music Space will be in contact with all applicants upon receiving registration forms.
- You can open the registration form without registering to read the questions ahead of completing the form.
- If you are under the age of 18, you will need your parent or guardian to give their consent.
- If for any reason you are unable to complete the online application form, please email: info@soundwavesmusicspace.com
This event is proudly supported by
Bangers and Crash Percussion Sextet
Bangers and Crash Percussion is Ireland's premier percussion ensemble, led by some of Ireland's leading percussionists: Alex Petcu-Colan, Emma King, Caitríona Frost, Brian Dungan, Patrick Lynch, and John Rousseau-Parlane.
Bangers and Crash Percussion explores a diverse repertoire that spans Western contemporary percussion, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Japanese taiko, Spanish flamenco, and Javanese gamelan.
With a mission to make percussion music accessible to all, their shows present a spectacular array of instruments, including marimbas, vibraphones, tubular bells, wind chimes, crotales, tambourines, and drums, as well as a fascinating array of ad hoc materials such as scrap metal, marbles, and smashed plates to create a fantasia of percussion sonorities.
The ensemble's past projects include large-scale productions for Cork Midsummer Festival and PIMA! Fest, a successful 8-date Music Network tour, collaborations with Irish National Opera, and performances at prestigious events like Body & Soul. Additionally, Bangers and Crash Percussion has conducted over 100 workshops in schools across Ireland, fostering a love for percussive music among young learners.
Alex Petcu-Colan - Bangers and Crash musician & musical director
An active freelance musician, Alex performs with a wide variety of ensembles and in a range of settings. In particular, he enjoys working with composers to create new works that push the boundaries of what music for percussion can be. He is a regular guest with The Hard Rain Ensemble and a member of Crash Ensemble. Their most recent works include the world premieres of large-scale compositions by Andrew Hamilton, Barry O’Halpin, and Donnacha Dennehy. He has also commissioned several new works for viola and percussion duo with Nathan Sherman, some of which have been released on CD by the Ergodos label. Additionally, he runs his own ensemble, the Bangers and Crash Percussion Group, who play everything from intimate concerts and workshops to massive projects featuring hundreds of instruments.
Brian Irvine - guest composer
Brian Irvine is a Belfast born composer whose unique musical world combines the known and the unknown, the free and the fixed, the schooled and the unschooled. He is driven by a single desire to connect, disrupt, reinvent and re-imagine all aspects of life, people, society, art and understanding in any and as many ways possible. His huge output includes operas, film scores, large scale oratorios, orchestral, ensemble, chamber, solo and dance works as well as games and installations. Often combining and layering diverse, experimental and opposing elements his music has been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world by a vast array of performers and organisations, including Irish National Opera, London Symphony Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Red Note Ensemble, Ulster Orchestra, Fidelio Trio to name but a few.
Emma King - Bangers and Crash musician
Emma King is a percussionist based between Brighton and Northern Ireland whose reputation has grown rapidly in the UK, particularly through her performances as a Cajónero at the Glasgow and London Drum Shows. Emma joined the West End/Broadway percussion show STOMP in 2014 and has toured extensively with them throughout the world. Her theatre credits include opening the 2018 Adelaide Festival with LFO and the Steven Sater London Showcase. In 2018, Emma performed in the Irish National Tour of a new opera by John O’Brien and The Everyman Theatre Cork, "The Nightingale and the Rose." In 2021, she was part of the creative team as Percussion Director for Rough Girls, produced by the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Her television appearances include Live at the London Palladium on ITV and The Late Late Show on RTÉ. In the studio, Emma's work as a body percussion artist can be found on the "Secret Life of Humans" soundtrack.
Brian Dungan - Bangers and Crash musician
Brian studied at Trinity College, the Royal Irish Academy of Music, and the Kodály Institute of the Liszt Academy in Budapest. As an orchestral percussionist, he works with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, and the Ulster Orchestra. He is also a timpanist and a founding member of Fishamble Sinfonia, as well as an assistant to the RIAM Percussion Ensemble. Brian loves to perform new music. For Northern Ireland Opera in Belfast, Brian played the frenetic percussion part—with its massive instrumental array extending to fishing reels and bags of broken crockery—in the Irish premiere (2017) of Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face. He is an assistant to Richard O’Donnell, Director of the RIAM Percussion Ensemble, with whom he has toured to New York many times since 2010.
Paddy Nolan - Bangers and Crash musician
Patrick Nolan enjoys an eclectic career as a freelance percussionist. Originally from Dublin, he moved to Glasgow in 2009 to study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was an ABRSM scholarship recipient and winner of the Governors' Recital Prize. Patrick regularly performs with orchestras across Ireland and the UK, including the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Irish National Opera, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Scottish Opera. Passionate about new music, Patrick performs with Crash Ensemble, Red Note Ensemble, and the Glasgow Percussion Collective. He has worked as a Lead Musician for Sistema Scotland, engaging with deaf children.
Patrick Lynch - Bangers and Crash musician
Patrick holds a BA in Music Performance from the CIT Cork School of Music. His versatility spans a range of genres, using both drum kit and percussion instrumentation. As an orchestral percussionist, he has played with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, and Cork Pops. As a jazz musician, he co-founded a new big band called the Cork City Jazz Orchestra and has had the opportunity to play with many greats such as Scott Hamilton, Dick Oatts, Grace Kelly, Bruce Barth, Ryan Quigley, and many more.