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Sounds of the Stones

Lithophony - a soundscape activity

  • Participants: children of 6 years and up and their families
  • Venues: museums and schools
  • Space requirements: no stage necessary
  • Equipment: all instruments are provided

The interactive performance Sounds of the Stones was developed in 2007 for the “Zeittunnel” geohistorical museum in Wülfrath.

During the workshop, up to 100 children can explore and try out the sounds of the stones, learn how to play stone instruments and give a final concert. Short stories are employed to address all of the topics, and the entire audience is involved in the final performance, which recapitulates everything that was covered.

The following topics are explored in this workshop:

  • How the stones developed through the Big Bang, vulcanism, sea sedimentation and the petrification of plants, metamorphosis and stratification – soundscape depiction via acoustic instruments.
  • Erosion through wind and water, frost and the sun – the powers of nature are played out with music using instruments such as the Wind Pipe, the Gurgle Bottle and the Sun Gong.
  • The sound of humans hewing stones – grinding and hammering with tools.
  • The uniqueness of the sounds stones make – the Lithophone, made of stone floor plating, and the stone rattles, filled with variegated gradations of sand and small stones.