Thank you Stylophone and Dubreq!

Earlier this year we were given 8 Stylophones by Dubreq.The stylophones have since been given to our music leaders to use in their sessions and have been used across lots of settings. We would like to thank Dubreq for their generosity which has helped us reach people with music in a new way and be creative!

The iconic Dubreq Stylophone was invented in the UK in 1967 by Brian Jarvis after carrying out a repair job on his niece's electric piano. It was initially marketed as a children’s toy but has since been used by the likes of Kraftwerk, Pulp, and even David Bowie on his hit Space Oddity. The Stylophone, which is approximately the size of a paperback book, comprises a metal keyboard that is played by touching it with a stylus. Each note is connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator via a different-value resistor, so when the stylus touches the keyboard this closes a circuit.

Rhythmix Music Leader Anna Dolphin told us how the stylophone was used by one young person at an after school club for children and young people with disabilities

“One of the young people really enjoyed exploring the sounds on the Stylophone GEN X-1, adjusting the various parameters and listening to how this affected the sound. With each sound she played, she laughed, sometimes stating “Listen to this!” and “That’s a really funny sound!”. When her mum arrived to pick her up, the young person was keen to share the sounds with her mum, as she enthusiastically played the stylophone for her mum. This was a fun filled shared experience between mum and young person and they both left smiling and laughing about the musical experience.”

Thanks again to Dubreq for helping the young people we work with be creative make connections through music. We are looking forward to hearing new tracks made by our young people!

For more information on the Stylophone, visit Dubreq here.