Success Story: Voyage Home

Tom Harrold was commissioned by the Lancashire Sinfonietta in association with the Lancashire Music Service to write a new work for 200 performers, called Voyage Home.

The piece drew on the diverse range of instrumental groups Lancashire has to offer. One of the groups selected to perform was Pear Tree Specialist School in Kirkham, who had six Skoogs and a Soundbeam.

Alongside David Ashworth and Helen Quayle, Tom facilitated several workshops for the students in the months leading up to the final performance, during which time they taught the students how to use the instruments.

They quickly discovered that the Skoogs could be used by students of a wide-range of abilities, were exceptionally tactile and had an intuitive interface, all of which gave gratifying results. This ease-of-use was echoed by the staff at Pear Tree, who were able to rehearse with the students without the support of workshop leaders. Similar results were found with the Soundbeam.