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Stainless Mirror

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• 75cm x 50cm
• Polished stainless steel mirror
• All welded stainless construction
• Slightly distorted reflection (the reflection shown is of a 45 degree corner in the fence which makes it look more distorted than it is)

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Outdoor chalkboard

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• 75cm x 50cm
• 6mm exterior board
• exterior blackboard paint
• Welded stainless steel frame or
• Welded Aluminium Powdercoated Frame
• Supplied with tamperproof fixing kit

Bingbangbong is a registered trademark.

The bing bang bong logo refers to the concept of stepping stones, intermediate points that lie between one part of a journey and another.

In the logo the 'stones' appear to lift from the surface to indicate that there is upward as well as forward progress.

It is a simple concept that is full of symbolism.

The original design, colouration and concept are from Paul but the final logo was designed by Level 7 as a benefit from participation in the Small Business programme. Many thanks to Ruairi and everyone at Level 7.

A selection of images from Bingbangbong instruments and spaces

At Bingbangbong we are driven to be constantly creative by our clients...colleagues in the sensory industry... by our own desire to improve, innovate and delight.

We love what we do and we hope that comes through!

This creativity generates lots of new ideas very quickly; from thousands come the few that are developed as items made available.

Because of the generative nature of our processes, pretty much everything with the bingbangbong name is unique or has unique features - from design through to manufacture.

Some instrument types are not new of course, but we have chosen to innovate rather than imitate - we are ground breaking in our approach and our output. This is why we copyright all our designs.

These are images of the latest items on which we have been working.

Rocky and Orpheus Conversation Stations

• We don't mess around with our windchimes!,
• we can go much bigger and lower for indoor use -
• This one is C2

The Explorative journey

There is a range of additional possibilities beyond the 'musical' or 'rhythmical' elements of a B3 garden.

Sound texture and sound timbre are elusive qualities of sounds to describe yet they are those by which we separate or define sounds.

Sound is described in many ways, high and low, loud and quiet are the common descriptors but what about sounds that are spiky, round, flowing, jangling... sounds that people perceive as colours or as specific resonances within their bodies, what about sounds that you can't hear but can feel or see?

For many sounds even description is a challenge, onomatopoeic sounds are examples where the sound becomes the description, yet if we struck two differently composed items side by side, our ears can make the discrimination and in many cases, even the untrained ear can identify material, shape, size and striking implement.

With particular emphasis for schools, consideration should be given over to explorative artifacts, items that can be investigated sonically to a greater or lesser degree. This can be as simple as differently-textured panels for rubbing & tapping or can be as multi-function as the Udu drum seat, it can be chains to clank or notches on a panel that play a rhythm when crossed, grooves cut or ridges raised in the playing area that sound rhythmically when a stick is dragged across them A fence that has rhythmical positioning of gaps or added features such as chime bars.

In many cases you don't need special equipment to provide many of these functions, a look around you will provide many items that can be used for sound exploration as you can see from the image above left which was Paul's 'kit' for a junkmusic workshop. You will see that it does include the kitchen sink. The image on the right shows one possible use of a kitchen sink where I attached a vacuum hose to a diver's face mask strap and played it like a didjeridu.

Learning through Experiencing

The quotation from Carl Orff draws attention to the mode of facilitation impacting on the degree of learning. The difference between knowledge and understanding is key.

The melodic and other artifacts from Bing Bang Bong as well as the range of activities supplied and suggested are designed to facilitate sound play. Such curious interaction whilst delivering a creative and educational by-product will bring a wide range personal, social and community benefits. Where learning is a key client objective, the B3 'instruments' provide a musically useful canvas for a child's introduction to the creative and expressive use of sound, to learn by filling in their own gaps rather than being given filler - "involve me - I understand"

Musical improvisation and ad-hoc composition starts clients on a lifetime of exploration and pleasure through personal musical experience. Learner satisfaction arises from the ability to use accumulated understanding for the purpose of creation and innovation.

"Children like to sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later. This is the way we learn language." Orff Schulwerk

B3 is keen to keep its focus on user engagement and facilitation, that is the reason for the statement "to facilitate smiles and achievements", B3 is not about selling instruments, it is about developing YOUR client group collectively and individually through creative musical exploration.

There is now a body of theory which indicates that engagement and the encouragement of exploration in the learning process is critical to the development of the individual beyond goal-oriented study such as provided by many education systems worldwide. The work of Kodaly (solfa), Dalcroze (eurythmics) & Reggio Emilia (experiential socio-constructivist based learning - Piaget & Vygotsky) are all increasingly impacting on the formal and musical and creative development of our children and our adults also. Whilst I do not claim to be a studied expert on any of these theorists, I have utilised and witnessed aspects of their work and have first hand experience of benefit particularly with young children

A word on Reggio Emilia

The word education derives from the Latin "ex-ducere" that means to bring out. Children's knowledge needs to be brought out using their natural curiosity and not filled in. The Reggio Emilia approach espouses that each person constructs their own intelligence from direct interaction with the environment and in social groups. Jerome Bruner's idea that young children are capable of intuitively grasping basic concepts of science at an early age is also embraced. The approach is not a specific cognitive approach, it is a way of perceiving children, a way of working with them taking in consideration their own differences and beliefs. This demands a high level of teacher understanding, involvement and commitment