Musical Beasts - are you ready for a beastly adventure?
107
bespoke live performances to date in schools and venues, tailored to each audiences’ specific needs
21
special schools engaged so far — every special school in Leicestershire and Derbyshire
4000+
children aged 3-19 engaged with moderate to profound and multiple learning difficulties (MLD, SLD and PLMD)
0
children excluded from accessing or participating
The story so far
Carrot Productions are world leaders at performing live orchestral music to film.
Our Musical Beasts, More Musical Beasts and Fantastic Fairy Tales concerts were created to break down barriers in accessing world-class classical music.
With experience of hosting over 100 school and relaxed performances for children with additional needs, it was clear that there were still thousands of children not accessing our shows, nor likely any live music at all.
The severity and complexity of these children's needs, as well as uncertainty about how they might react to live music on location in a strange environment, was clearly a barrier too far for many.
We soon realised that instead of these children coming to the show, we would have to take the show to them. So in 2022 we created Musical Beasts, shortly followed by More Musical Beasts in 2023 and Fantastic Fairy Tales the following year.
These performances put the needs and enjoyment of our audiences at the centre of what we do, challenging expectations to prove that performances for SEND audiences can and should be of the highest artistic quality.
We now aim to consolidate what we’ve learned so far in order to develop an innovative approach to exceptional and meaningful live classical music opportunities for underserved audiences, and to share our knowledge widely to improve access for SEND audiences across England and further afield.
Watch
Practical engagement
The Musical Beasts programme includes:
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A performance of Peter and the Wolf and screening of The Bear and The Piano with live original music by CBeebies ‘Musical Storyland’ composer Daniel Whibley, performed by six professional musicians.
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Peter and the Wolf performed from memory and in costume, allowing the musicians to engage freely with the audience.
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A specially created Makaton-signed song for children to learn beforehand and join in with the performance. The videos feature children from a Derbyshire special school to ensure peer-to-peer knowledge sharing
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A collection of online resources for schools to access before and after the event to enrich the experience.
More Musical Beasts and Fantastic Fairy Tales build in further opportunities for engagement and audience interaction by including a professional dancer and actor in the performance.
Unique, immersive and interactive
Our musicians are chosen not only for their superb talent, skill and experience, but also their empathy and willingness to go above and beyond in adapting their performances to the unique needs and responses of the audience at any moment.
Performances finish with the musicians and dancer engaging directly with the audience, providing an up-close opportunity for children to interact directly and request songs or touch or play the instruments. At the end of the session, children are led back to classrooms with musicians playing either an upbeat or tranquil melody depending on the mood of the moment.
“The musicians (as well as being extremely talented) were deeply respectful and showed incredible awareness of the young people’s individual needs”
“Those that got up and moved among the performers were made to feel relaxed and part of the performance itself”
Empowerment
The interactivity and connection fostered by the musicians allows for an authentic and personal response to the concert experience. Staff were often amazed by the children's eagerness to try instruments. Some have been inspired to find neglected school instruments for use in class, empowered to encourage the children in their music-making explorations.
Children are capable of responding to live classical music no matter the complexity of their needs, and our performances have given schools the confidence to offer this to all their pupils, in a way the whole community can experience together.
“A wow moment for the staff: students showing their piano skills and being proud of their talents”
Musicians
The experience has not only had a positive and lasting effect on children and schools, but on our musicians too. All have commented on how the experience has helped them grow and appreciate the impact of live music in new ways.
“I can honestly say that it is, in the 35 years as a professional musician, the most rewarding and uplifting experience of my career.”
Leicestershire: a case study in impact
Summary of feedback from Leicestershire special schools for Musical Beasts.
ENGAGEMENT | Schools Engaged: 7 | Children Engaged: 652
LIVE PERFORMANCE | Quality of experience: 5/5 | How engaging was the content: 5/5
SUPPORTING RESOURCES | Quality of resources: 4.8/5 | How engaging 4.5/5
Leicestershire Music booked More Musical Beasts to tour all special schools again in 2023-24. Some schools that only booked for a small number of children for our first visit expanded the access to their entire school community for our second visit, as they had gained confidence in the performances being suitable for ALL children. We will return again to the Leicestershire special schools with Fantastic Fairy Tales in spring 2025.
“Some of the most difficult to engage young people with extremely complex needs were captivated!”
Sharing our vision
Our interactive concert programmes for SEND children are without a doubt the most impactful and empowering performances we have created to date and have enabled us to begin achieving our vision that the highest quality music be accessible to all audiences with SEND regardless of their needs. We are excited to further develop our performances and share our expertise and experiences more widely with other orchestras.
