The Opus Pocus

14/10/2022

06/09/2020

Looking (listening?) forward to hearing Rory Bremner talk about our kids classical music project on Scala Radio with presenters Chris Rogers & Emma Kenny this very morning! Tune in for some very in tune chat & music...

https://planetradio.co.uk/scala-radio/

28/07/2020

Tuesday Reviews Day! Thank you Ollie for this review of our 1001 Arabian Nights audiobook! Check it out here ~ www.theopuspocus.com

28/07/2020

Tuesday Reviews Day... thanks loads to Ollie for his review of our 1001 Arabian Nights audiobook! Ollie is 11, he plays violin & drums and he obviously has good taste in music since he thought it was amazing...!😅

Thanks Ollie!

PS checkout the audiobook here: www.theopuspocus.com

27/07/2020

Stories are fundamental to humans, so they must be used in creating new audiences for classical music. Here’s my guest blog about this for the excellent Music Workshop Company...

https://musicworkshopcompany.wordpress.com/

Experience Through Music

24/07/2020

Great to speak to our chums at Vigilant360 about the 1001 Arabian Nights audiobook. Any other audio & book creators out there should get in touch with them! India's fastest growing review site...

https://vigilant360.in/the-opus-pocus-1001-arabian-nights-audiobook/

23/07/2020

Thursday Thought... on music, the mind and FEAR!

(I used to do a Daily Thought, managing one per day, but this has now gone down to one per week. Yes, times are tough…)

Why does instrumental music ‘speak’ to us? By that I mean why do we respond emotionally to what is essentially abstract sound? It doesn’t actually say anything to us, since there are no words, and yet we definitely feel some sort of meaning behind these sounds and usually we can agree on what that meaning is. There might be infinite nuances to these meanings, but in a general sense we can all agree that a section of music sounds scary, or happy, or sad. Hence one reason why music is the 'universal language': precisely because it doesn’t have any words restricting it to one language, but with no words conveys similar emotions to all. It's ruddy clever is music.

So why/how does instrumental music achieve this? Firstly it’s important to note the sound isn’t really abstract: it’s typically very highly organised. Melodies are derived from set pitches (scales), harmonies from set groupings of pitches (chords), rhythm from regular intervals of time, etc. But the combination of all this is still abstract sound: no words. So why do we feel so strongly that it is saying something to us?

I’m not going to go into detail here on all the neuroscience about the effects of certain pitch intervals on the brain, but want to mention a more general point, and my own pet theory…. The Intentional Stance. This is a phrased coined by Daniel Dennett (my favourite philosopher and to my mind (ha, wait for it…) someone who has fundamentally solved what consciousness is - wow, yes, check him out…) which refers to how we see agency in external objects (crucially this includes human objects) and then try to predict what they might do. It’s a very, very useful survival mechanism.

So here’s my pet theory: when we hear the abstract sound of instrumental music, it is precisely because it is so organised that we assign it some sort of intentional stance. Consider an example of some scary sounding music. The neuroscience (which I won’t go into now remember) says that these certain intervals and chords are scary sounding, but I think there’s something else going on. The sound has intent behind it. A full orchestra blasting their way through The Rite of Spring creates an organised massed sound that doesn’t just have scary intervals, but also sounds like there is some enormous beast creating these scary intervals: it’s very powerful and it is intending to scare you. To our primal response mechanisms, this is terrifying!

What about other emotions? Well I will expand on those next week but wanted to start with fear since it demonstrates my pet theory so well, perhaps because it is the most fundamental of emotions…

But enough deep, terrifying thoughts for one week.

Thanks for reading and do stay safe until my next weekly, Thursday Thought.

Matt Parry ~ The Opus Pocus

www.TheOpusPocus.com

21/07/2020

Great review here from Dan of our Opus Pocus: 1001 Arabian Nights! Dan is 8 years old and plays the cornet, so he's into music already... and glad he liked the jokes, especially the ones about baboons! Our favourite too... Thanks Dan!

Find out more here ~ www.TheOpusPocus.com

20/07/2020

Holidays are here which means only one thing: long car journeys with bored children... or maybe not? The Opus Pocus: 1001 Arabian Nights starring Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner!

Discover the magic of long car journeys (and classical music): www.TheOpusPocus.com

Aimed at ages 7-11.

14/07/2020

Join The Opus Pocus Club FOR FREE and your child will receive this welcome message from Brian Blessed!

Plus the 1st Chapter of our 1001 Arabian Nights musical audiobook and fun stuff to do with classical music every fortnight, absolutely free... Aimed at ages 7-11.

Sign up here: www.TheOpusPocus.com/club

Discover the magic of classical music with The Opus Pocus!

14/07/2020

Taking the kids on holiday? Then you'll need our musical audiobook for the journey! Starring Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner, 1001 Arabian Nights is available here: www.TheOpusPocus.com

Discover the magic of classical music ~ in the car or on a train. Aimed at kids aged 7-11 and adults who haven't grown up yet.

10/07/2020

Another lovely review of our Opus Pocus: 1001 Arabian Nights here from Morris who is only six years old and enjoyed the recording, the classical music, and the first chapter comic too... it all got the thumbs up!! Thanks Morris (and Mum & Dad, Marian Baker & Simon Baker)!

Checkout 1001 Arabian Nights here ~ www.TheOpusPocus.com !

10/07/2020

Had the first review of our 1001 Arabian Nights story from Florence, who is 8 years old and learning the recorder and guitar, as well as ballet, so is already a bit of a classical music aficionado, and generally quite busy by the sounds of things!

Thanks for the lovely review Florence and for correcting us about slug's toes... Also for your great rendition of.... BABOOOOOOOOOOON!! 😄😄

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPaVKOwc_8A&feature=youtu.be

Buy the 1001 Arabian Nights story for your child to discover the magic of classical music here ~ www.theopuspocus.com !

07/07/2020

I read ‘huge spike in children’ and feared for the worst but this is actually a Good News Story... https://twitter.com/musicteachermag/status/1280559957872607232?s=21

“Huge spike in children learning an instrument during lockdown: https://t.co/2sNV5Ms3BY”

06/07/2020

Daily Thought (I only manage one per day)…

I wanted to say a bit more about how children discover & love classical music from films because it is first heard as part of a STORY. But it’s also worth noting that, through film, they would discover this music alongside IMAGES too.

I think that’s an important thing to remember when trying to introduce a child to classical music. It’s not always easy to retain their attention with an entirely audio experience but something with images can really help, which I think is the genius of Disney’s Fantasia film: there were only images with the classical music, no voices (pretty much), but it was a brilliant piece of storytelling and very successful in introducing a generation to classical music, as many adults will testify from their childhoods. So it’s worth exploring both audio and audiovisual stories to help children discover this music - don’t just give up if they’re not in the right mood for just listening to something!

But of course, depending on a child’s mood, just listening might be perfect: bedtime obviously, also car journey’s and some screen downtime spring to mind. We all need a bit of eye-resting audio time tbh - think podcasts with a nice cup of tea… not that I’m advocating giving children tea.

Final thing to say, on the subject of combining classical music with images, not many did this more powerfully and evocatively than Ennio Morricone. I was very sorry to hear of his passing today but just think we are so lucky to be left with his incredible legacy. I remember seeing/hearing this scene from Once Upon a Time in the West for the first time… just great musical & emotional storytelling despite very little being said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WPMoVtHSOs

Enjoy and do stay safe until the next Daily Thought!

Matt Parry ~ The Opus Pocus

www.TheOpusPocus.com

Jill arrives in Once Upon a Time in the West

03/07/2020

Daily Thought (I only manage one per day)…

A slightly shorter Daily Thought today carrying on from yesterday’s Daily Thought… why do kids love the classical music they hear as part of film scores like Star Wars and Harry Potter etc? Sure the music is great in itself but I would suggest the key thing here is how it is presented: as part of a STORY. Humans LOVE stories, whether it’s a bit of local gossip or the multi-multi-billion dollar film industry, we humans can’t get enough of them... I would suggest because they are so key to our evolution as a social animal, providing so much ‘useful information’ about how to survive and thrive, or indeed warnings of how to avoid the opposite: death and decay…argh!

So the connection this music has to a STORY that the child is captivated by - and the associated emotions they experience - I would suggest is why children are so captivated by the classical music score too. It certainly also helps that the story is presented as images alongside the audio...

More on this in another Daily Thought but for now just a note that I tend not to have any thoughts over the weekend as my brain needs a good rest, so next daily thought will be on Monday!

Do stay safe until then & have a happy weekend.

Matt Parry ~ The Opus Pocus

www.TheOpusPocus.com

Grandma Dingley as Herself The Sultan Brian Blessed Sheherazade Jess Murphy Sinbad Rory Bremner Home The Opus Pocus Comics The Opus Pocus Live Behind The Scenes Parents & Teachers Shop   BUY NOW! 1001 Arabian Nights Starring Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner Double album MP3 & Bonus Comic PDF ~ Only £9...

02/07/2020

Daily Thought (I only manage one per day)…

Do kids like classical music? We know that some kids do, having been introduced to this music through learning an instrument, going to concerts, listening at home etc. But all of them..?

Here’s a bold claim: ALL KIDS DEFINITELY LOVE CLASSICAL MUSIC! (Unfortunately bold doesn’t work on Facebook posts but it was an even bolder claim when I wrote this on my word document.)

Anyway, how do we know this to be true? Just play them the main theme from Star Wars or Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings and you always get an excited response, both because they recognise the tune and love hearing it too. I’ve done this hundreds of times in primary schools and it never fails. In fact I’ve never seen a child DISLIKE these epic orchestral scores and brilliant tunes!

Okay but is this definitely CLASSICAL music or just some poor imitation? I’m sure there are some classical snobs out there who would argue that these film scores don’t qualify as real classical music for some reason, but I honestly can’t see why this is the case. The music of John Williams, Bernard Hermann, Ennio Morricone is as beautiful, powerful and deeply moving as a classic opera or ballet score (which is probably their nearest equivalent of 'traditional classical music genres') and indeed unquestionably established classical composers such as Shostakovitch, Prokofiev and Korngold themselves wrote film scores (The Gadfly, Alexander Nevsky and Robin Hood being my favourite respectively!).

So I think that’s settled: Great film scores qualify as real classical music, and kids love them… so yes kids love classical music - phew!

More on why films are so effective at introducing kids to classical music in my next Daily Thought... Do stay safe until then.

Matt Parry ~ The Opus Pocus

www.TheOpusPocus.com

01/07/2020

Daily Thought (I only manage one per day)…

What is out there to help kids discover classical music, especially at the moment with dedicated performances, workshops and group lessons so frustratingly put on hold?

Of course you can just play this music to children, but getting them to listen to an entire symphony, for example, can be a bit tricky given its length and complexity. So this was actually the driving motivation behind creating www.TheOpusPocus.com especially because I couldn’t identify a MODERN and FUN product to fill this need…

We have had Disney’s Fantasia (1940), Peter and the Wolf (1936), Carnival of the Animals (1886!), Fantasia 2000 (er, 2000...obviously, but yes 20 years old now!) and not forgetting Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (1945) but to my mind there isn’t a modern, fun series dedicated to helping children discover the magic of classical music… a bit like Horrible Histories has so brilliantly - and hilariously - done with history. (I should also mention BBC Ten Pieces - which is great - but I think falls more into the ‘education resource’ bracket rather than ‘fun series with a sneaky educational aim’ like Horrible Histories does.)

So that’s the reason why I created The Opus Pocus and if you would like to comment on my Daily Thought please do so below - it would be good to know of any other fun products out there to help kids discover the magic of classical music, if only to identify the competition…😉

Thanks for reading and hopefully I will have another thought for tomorrow! Do stay safe until then.

Matt Parry ~ The Opus Pocus

www.TheOpusPocus.com

30/06/2020

Visit www.TheOpusPocus.com to find out more about this first release from The Opus Pocus: 1001 Arabian Nights, starring Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner!

29/06/2020

UPDATE: Thanks for all the replies - we have enough young reviewers onboard now so please watch this space for their critical assessments of The Opus Pocus!

Dear Parents On Facebook... would your children like to review our 1001 Arabian Nights album? We'll send it to you FOR FREE plus a special message from BRIAN BLESSED and feature the MOST FLATTERING REVIEWS on our site... Haha, just kidding - please be honest! It's for kids aged 7-11 and we'd love a bit of feedback from some young reviewers... Comment below if you're interested and we'll get in touch! Thanks muchly x