If you have ever wanted to be in a band, this is the workshop for you.! During the Music Box Orchestra Salon, participants will create their own melodies, using  a 15 note, C major scale, hand cranked music box. We will record and playback our melodies by punching holes into strips of paper . The paper strip is punched, and then inserted into, and played by the music box - just like the paper rolls used by an antique player piano.

Using this method, you can make your own individual melody. Together with other participants you can play your melodies in a variety of combinations, to create duets, trios, and quartettes. Working with a scalable number of participants, you can even create your own orchestra.

This a super fun activity for team building with coworkers, arts/craft workshop participants, or a fun thing to do just among friends.
Does not require any special music skills, drawing experience, or talent to participate. Music boxes can be purchased for $25 using amazon.com and are also available from many different sources but more elsewhere.

The unique scoring process (defining the notes in the melody) is what makes Music Box Orchestra so accessible. Rather than use traditional musical notation, we will create and score our compositions  by drawing simple pictures, shapes, and words on the paper rolls.  We will punch the paper, following the outlines of the shapes to create and arrange the notes of our melodies. Artists can hear what squares, circles and other shape “sounds like”.