The Sound Exchange has developed over a period of several years and it seen as an ongoing web project that will continue to evolve for years to come. Facilities such as The Forum or the Sample Libraies will become richer over time with the accumulated contributions of site users. There are many other examples throughout the site where people are invited to contribute resources or participate in both online and offline events. We have devised an ongoing programme of interactive events and planned developments that will ensure The Sound Exchange remains at the cutting edge of music education, creation and discovery for years to come.
The Vision for The Sound Exchange came about from research originally carried out for the Philharmonia Orchestra by Olivia Lowson in 2000. She asessed the potential for the Orchestra to create an Education and Access Web Site. The possible new site would need to to provide opportunities for people to learn about the Orchestra, about music and at the same time to exploit the internet to help widen access to the Orchestra, which is something the Orchestra was very keen to do. Professor Andrew Hugill of De Montfort University proposed an innovative and exciting range of resources, interactive projects and approaches that could be developed for the Education and Access Site.
Construction
The Arts Council of England agreed that the plans for the new site were highly innovative and generously awarded a substantial grant towards the development of the site. This enabled us in 2002 to commission Professor Hugill to begin working on the core resources, key amongst them being an online orchestration manual and a sample library.
In 2003 as the core resources developed, the visual appearance for The Sound Exchange and its background technologies (the Content Management System) were produced by Glowmedia Ltd. Also during this time various user groups were consulted with regard to the kind of content that would be appropriate for them. Many people have helped in the development of this site, but an outstanding contribution has been made by Stuart James in getting the Sample Libraries up and running (Stuart also knows a thing or two about music - he plays in the First Violins of the Philharmonia Orchestra.)
Throughout 2004 The Sound Exchange Manager, Myles Jackson set up the site, put the content into place, created the graphics, produced new resources, wrote much of the text and prepared the site for launch to the public.
BT Sponsorship
During 2004, impressed at the range and sophistication of our plans for The Sound Exchange, BT agreed to become sponsors of the site and to support a range of exciting online projects. Their ongoing commitment has enabled us to produce live concert webcasts, online composer workshops, new music education videos and to take forward many other exciting plans.
Launch 27th January 2005
The Sound Exchange was launched at a press conference in The Royal Festival Hall, London on the 27th January 2005 as part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's 60th Anniversary concert celebrations. Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for Culture was present alongside many important figures from the music world.
Philharmonia Live and Online Event - April 2005
With support from both BT and Arts & Business, The Sound Exchange staged a unique series of linked online events, the last of which was an amazing live interactive video webcast of a Philharmonia Orchestra concert with a global online audience.
Find out more
Download Shop
Following our live webcast in April 2005 we also launched a download shop in order to sell recordings from the concert. Although not part of The Sound Exchange, which importantly is an educational site where everything is free, the Philharmonia Orchestra Shop is already enabling people to obtain their own copies of music originally broadcast on The Sound Exchange.
The Future
The future is full of exciting possibilities! We will continue to add new resources, run cutting-edge interactive projects and push the boundaries of what is possible.
We very much hope you will enjoy using The Sound Exchange and will share the site with others.
Myles Jackson 2005
