Sunday 11 November 2007

The Music Arcade - BBC Radiophonic Workshop Special [Educational film]

Prologue: Had I known pHinnWeb's amazing post on electronic music film earlier I could have saved myself a lot of research. Make sure to have a look at this post as it mentiones a few other essential movies, eg on Bruce Haack or the Finnish inventor/composer Erkki Kurenniemi (no online footage though).

Today our Electronic Music Cinema screens yet another silly Youtube finding: a special feature about the glorious BBC Radiophonic Workshop from the British children's programme The Music Arcade from the early 1980s (presumably). The first two parts were included for the completists, they are really silly (at least the second), so you can safely skip them. But do make sure to get Peter Howell's Fairlight demonstration with a bunch of vocal twists.

Excursus: My favourite Fairlight demonstration for kids is still Herbie Hancock's appearance at the Sesame Street, where Herbie gives the kids quite a horrorshow by manipulating their voices into Freddy Krueger-style sounds from outer space. This is a much funnier show than Peter Howell's one because he includes the children and makes sure they're having a good time, instead of just showing off some preconceived features. Download it here or watch it right now:



Back to the Music Arcade. Download the complete series here (requires an flv player). Or see a sample here (Peter Howell's Fairlight vs. a bunch of littleones):

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