The rehearsal room at the Local Heroes’ Association in Salzwedel has been an orphan since March of last year. Children no longer come here to make music. Until then, the non-profit association had supported young bands and solo musicians of all popular music styles along with its nationwide partners. Communication of young musicians with organizers, reservations and mentors is sure to continue. There will also be again competitions, studio recordings, club concerts, and support from sponsors and celebrities. Until then, however, the Union at Salzwedel should also be limited to the digital display. Although “restrict” might be the wrong word in this case, because the association is planning great things with projects like “Virtual Music Lab” – an idea that could spread.
Bringing machines closer to children
The “virtual music lab” has been around for a long time. The idea arose when the Children and Youth Association presented its exhibition “Grenzsaiten”, which deals with pop music after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While we were showing lessons at the school through this exhibition, we noticed that children and youth are finding it increasingly difficult to customize the tools. Then we thought, What possibilities do we have of developing proximity to machines again? In the wide range of possibilities for digitization, we came across a 3D printer and thought it would be very cool to be able to print your own tools, ”says Julia Wartmann, project manager.
Send tech handicraft kits to your home
Virtual Music Lab – “Virtual Music Lab” was born. Together with Proto-Haus, an open, high-tech workshop, club members dealt with 3D printing. Musicologist Julia Wartmann explains that we are currently at the point where three sets of 3D printer have already been developed. For example, there is a speaker set: “You get a body from a 3D printer with different electronic components that you pull together and then play your music. You simply plug your mobile phone via a jack, and a mini jack. You already have your own little box.”
The loudspeaker is printed and sent to children and teens. Mainz’s Lilli Rubin ‘band also got a amplifier from a printer. She recorded her song “Tauziehn” with her. Lilli Rubin was named “Best Newcomer Band in Germany” in December 2020 – thanks to Local Hero and a box measuring 8 x 10 cm. But more is printed on Salzwedel: for example, a manual drum for children 4 to 6 years old or a USB stick. All of the groups bear the names of the children with whom the machines were made.
Now the small association in Salzwedel has received a financial grant from the “Neustart Kultur” program – the money goes to the virtual music project, which will now be expanded. The entire project consists of two parts: one part – a toolkit with which completely new tools can be developed – aimed at children and youth.
We also want to create machines that may not yet exist, which you can take to the classroom to combine electronics and music education.
Walk around the virtual training room together
The other part of the project is mainly aimed at young people aged 14 and over and is virtual: You can use virtual reality glasses to enter the virtual training room, as part of the workshops or at home.
It is important for the music world to emphasize that it is a future-oriented project. From the virtual world he might return to where everything usually starts: a real rehearsal room. Because for all the creativity that the current situation demands, local heroes never forget one thing: making music together and learning to respond to each other, bargaining and swinging to each other’s rhythm, works better in the real world – without any hypothetical.
