Acoustic Arts was originally established in 1990 as a community arts organisation aiming to promote outdoor learning and creative play and to improve access to music-making for people of all abilities.
Since that time, our team of musicians, artists and teachers has created award-winning musical installations and provided workshops for educational, arts and environmental organisations throughout the UK.
In 2010 Acoustic Arts registered as a limited company allowing us to support aspects of our educational work by selling a range of outdoor musical instruments and workshop packages.
The founder and manager of Acoustic Arts is John Walls, a musician and former teacher with 20 years' experience in early years and special needs education. Inspired by his work with deaf and blind children, John has specialised in musical instruments that celebrate the melodic and sensory qualities of everyday products and natural materials.
Head of production is Adam Wherly, a talented carpenter, problem-solver and professional drummer who has taken immense pride in crafting and road-testing our outdoor percussion instruments for over 10 years.
Managerial and artistic support is provided by Moniek Koster, whose experience in setting up and running pre-schools ensures that the needs of the children remain at the heart of any new designs or projects.
Commissions
Sounds of Scrap
Theatre and Green Fields, Glastonbury Festival, 1987-91
Muscal installations constructed from recycled musical instruments and bicycle parts. Instruments included salvaged pianos, drums and musical horns.
Sound and Sense Trail
Woodside Centre, South Gloucestershire, 1994
A multi-sensory installation for pre-school blind children. Received the annual BT Environment Week Special Award from the Civic Trust for its “imaginative and innovative approach”
Elmfield Sound Garden
Elmfield House, Bristol, 1997-98
A trail of interactive, oak-framed sound sculptures for young deaf children.
NomadVerkstan
Stockholm, 1997
Construction of a percussion station on the roof of a bus converted for use by a youth project.
Ghost Ship
Bath Arts Festival, 2000
Ghostly musical sculptures on a ‘haunted’ vessel..."A large ship glided up the river Avon making mysterious musical noises; I have never seen a ship get several rounds of applause in a concert before."
Miles Kington in The Independent
A Twist in the Tale
Malvern Spring Show, 2008
Acoustic Arts’ giant chimes feature in an award-winning children’s storytelling garden created by Lindsay Anglin of Green and Stone Garden Design.
Trolleyphones
Meadowbank Special School, Cardiff, 2010
A set of tuned instruments mounted on lockable wheels so they can be shared between playgrounds.
Music Station
London, Oxford, Bristol. Collaboration with Touchwood Enterprises, 2009
Freestanding musical installations with frames built using unprocessed timber from the Forest of Avon.
Walls of Sound
Bristol Playhouse Nursery, 2010
Wall-mounted musical designs created to make the best use of limited space.
Horniman Museum Music Garden
Forest Hill, London. Collaboration with Metal Media, 2011-2012
Outdoor musical sculptures inspired by the museum’s collection of instruments from around the world.
National Museum of Scotland
Edinburgh, 2013-2014
Radial Tongue Drum, Wall Xylophone and Paddle Pipes. Permanent interactive exhibits.
Community Music Projects
With funding awards from the Arts Council and the National Lottery, Acoustic Arts has coordinated hands-on musical projects for children of all abilities. These range from making instruments from recycled materials to designing and planting musical gardens. Previous partners include Youth Music, Surestart, BBC 2, Radio 3, Oxfam, Friends of the Earth, Barnardos, Sense, RNIB, RNID, NatWest and Whitbread.
Blow Your Own Trumpet
with Bristol School of Samba, 2000
In a project designed and coordinated by Acoustic Arts, a group of 25 teenagers worked with professional craftsmen over ten weeks to build musical instruments from recycled materials. They then performed their own compositions at a BBC Music Live concert in front of 2000 people.
All Join In
with Children’s Playlink and South Gloucestershire Council, 2003-4
In this project, involving over 400 pre-school children, Acoustic Arts recruited local and international artists to showcase a wide variety of musical styles and instruments, and to provide specialist training for playgroup leaders.
5x5x5
with WOMAD and Youth Music, 2006
Inspired by the Reggio Emilia early years educational model in N. Italy, this research project brought together groups of young children, some with profound learning difficulties, to explore art and sound in a series of self-directed sessions.
Growing Music: Rhythms for Life
with WOMAD and RIO, 2008–9
Acoustic Arts played a central role in designing and delivering this pioneering project which explored the global links between music, culture, plants and climate. Working with a number of primary schools in Cornwall, the international team helped children to grow, and perform on, their own musical instruments.
'The mix of fun and creativity never fails to captivate the children'
Bath Area Play Project
