Book Show

8,000 years of Music

Curriculum Relevance: STEM based - Technology - Music - Culture - History.

A hands on Music and Cultural experience.

Built upon STEM concepts and driven by audience participation, 'Sample This' immerses students into a world of music and looks at the technology, science and history behind it. Using an ancient Chinese stringed-instrument, the ‘ruan’, together with fascinating, cutting-edge technology, Benji weaves together a narrative on the role of music in Chinese culture, both ancient and modern.

In 1986, thirty musical flutes were unearthed in Jia Hu, China. Made from bone, these flutes date back 8,000 years making them the oldest wind instruments ever discovered. Using its recorded sounds and sampling technology, Benji has created a virtual instrument that when played, transports students back to China in 6,000 BC.

Instruments from ancient China are integrated with digitally produced and enhanced sounds and these are blended with musical elements from around the world producing a single, unified experience. Throughout the performance Benji also shows the role technology, electrical conductivity and creative-thinking play in his music.

Some students get to play electronic drum pads, each slightly larger than a 50c piece. Tapped with your fingers, they are pressure-sensitive, lit by multi-coloured LED lights and can be hooked up to any sound or special effect one could possibly imagine!

Benji Miu

Benji Miu was born in Australia and grew up on the Mornington Peninsula but his ancestral roots trace back to South China and Benji is a proud and fluent Cantonese speaker. In 2002, he won the Frankston International Guitar Festival’s Young Guitarist of the Year Award. Within a few short years, he became a reputable educator and session-musician, touring Australia and overseas. Then one day, Benji picked up a ruan and had an epiphany. The five notes used in all blues and rock music were the same five notes used in traditional Chinese music! The rest, as they say, is history.

Price: $6.00 per student (No GST applies).

Suitable: Years 7 to 10.

Minimum Audience Size: 130 students.

Times: Show: 50 minutes. Set up: 45 minutes. Pack up: 30 minutes.

Requires: an indoor performing area 5m deep x 5m wide.

Benji Miu ABN: 38 856 011 797.