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We'll be updating you with all the news from the orchestra here - send us your stories and pictures from the PLAY.orchestra. Saturday 9 September This morning we unveiled a fantastic new piece from Duncan Ward, together with an extract from Beethoven's 7th Symphony - a real contrast. The Beethoven is great fun, but doesn't use the full orchestra - there are no trombones, no percussion except timpani, only two horns and no piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet or contrabasson- so you have to think about where you're sitting! You can find out more about why pieces have different instruments here
Another sunny day (I reckon it will hold until 10:59 tomorrow) and the orchestra is joined by a new first violinist. Normally he'd play Bach, but today he was content with Dvorak... Tomorrow: we'll be playing live at 11am - joined by Natasha Hughes on the double bass and Jane Calderbank on the clarinet - hope to see you there.
A nice sunny day on the South Bank and we're joined in the orchestra by two Metropolitan Police Constables (thanks for agreeing to have a picture taken guys!). Gives a whole new meaning to plodding along in the bass section... Meanwhile back in the office it's all go creating Beethoven 7 and planning the next few weeks of events - we hope to see you there!
Saturday 2 September - celebrity endorsement After our morning workshop we spotted actress Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, Harry Potter) exploring the PLAY.orchestra. Emma kindly agreed to have her photo taken and said she thought the orchestra was "wonderful". If you've seen a celebrity or have any photos from the PLAY.orchestra then let us know by emailing play@philharmonia.co.uk
and some miming another workshop from the irrepressible / insane Luke Crookes, which today involved lots of miming... as well as the usual singing, clapping, face pulling, breathing excercises, feet stamping and generally learning how to be in an orchestra!
From L-R: Adam Mackenzie (bassoon) realises no one else has an instrument, Alice and Sam play the oboe, and Paul Sharp (trumpet) is kept dry as he performs a 'concerto'. Below: Some cello and double bass miming...
Friday 1 September - Late night destination A photo from the PLAY.orchestra taken on Friday at about 10pm. Says it all really. Fantastic. this blog has been incredibly sparce of the past 10 days or so, due to the fact that a) we're all exhausted and b) we've been getting rather over familiar with the small shed behind the hoardings, where all the technology is kept. The reaction to the PLAY.orchestra has been constantly amazing - the music has barely stopped in the past 10 days, except when the computers have failed (more on that later). But the best part has been seeing people's reactions to the installation and the music, watching their faces light up. People mime, they sing, they conduct, they chat, they phone friends "hello, I'm on a trombone" and most of all they listen to classical music. "See", we cry,"it is fun!". Unfortunately I think we'd kind of underestimated the popularity of the orchestra which is giving our all powerful mac a few headaches and causing hotspots to stop working. However, this has been sorted out now (touch wood) and the guys from Central St Martins (who designed and built the orchestra) won't have to live on site any more. Spotted / overheard so far one 13 year old boy to another "Dude, you're on my triangle" cocktail party in the double basses / back desk of cellos small child to mother "no mummy, it's a bass clarinet NOT a saxophone" we've also heard about a first date trip to the orchestra..... hope it went well! Monday 21 August - Day 3 Ok, back to work (being there for the weekend doesn't really count does it?) and time to do some much needed maintenance.... I don't think we fully realised how much use the installation would get in the first couple of days! Sunday 20 August - Day 2 Some remarks on the pyschology on the play orchestra..... There are three main types of 'players'. 1. The enthusiast: tries every seat in quick succession, before settling for the loudest. 2. The contemplative: takes a seat in the back desk of one of the string instruments and looks thoughtful 3. The egomaniac: stands in the conductors spot and directs proceedings Also we're loving the 'team applause' at the end of each performance. Especially when it's in 'footballer applauding fans above the head style' (you know who you are!) Saturday 19 August - Day 1
Today - the first workshop. In the rain. But that doesn't faze us. And it really doesn't faze Luke Crookes who has more energy than the entire orchestra put together as he leads them in a workshop, gets them to sing along, wave their arms and generally behave like musicians. It's exhausting to watch let alone take part in but it appears to be going down well - how often do the general public, when faced with a heavy shower, simply put up their umbrellas and stay in their seats? What's really amazing though is the fact that the installation has been almost full since we launched. That and the amazing smiles from people who've taken a seat after a couple of minutes of watching cynically. Friday 18 August - Official launch to Press Today was veerrry long. After a few hours sleep we met at the PLAY.orchestra at 7am to start on our press launch. By doing a pre-recorded interview yesterday there was coverage on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio London's news this morning which was a great start. We were also blessed by the weather, which seemed to be maintaining mostly blue skies over the orchestra, whilst being grey and miserable everywhere else. By 10am we'd had live interviews (and a PLAY.orchestra performance) on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Wales and BBC 3 counties Radio. Then it was time for photographers, reporters and TV, including CBBC's Newsround and BBC London news. To try out the installation we had a group from Coin Street Community group who were the first people to PLAY for real. And you know what? the orchestra actually worked! (this was quite a suprising yet nice realisation). By this stage we were all flagging, but it was time for some more radio interviews (BBC Radio Scotland, Forces FM) before making sure everything was set for tomorrow. What a day. Thanks SO much to everyone who made it possible.
All photos © Callum Sadler Thursday 17 August - 2 days to go
Wednesday 16 August - 3 days to go
Then it was back to the boring task of covering the seats with plastic bags (made up for by the fact that this was the last time* we'll have to do this). More tomorrow! At least there better be or we'll be in trouble. *allegedly
Tuesday 15 August - 4 days to go
Graphics are tricky things though. What looks like just some nice lettering on the wall takes a lot of concentration and most of all patience. Not a job for me then.
Monday 14 August - some days to go A weekend playing with sound files was followed by the first full orchestra test. In the rain. But it was very cool. And quite loud too! Then came the slightly more tedious job of checking every seat worked and balancing the sound levels of each seat. I'm on seat 42 now, 3rd horn can you turn it up? Repeat 58 times.
Thursday 10 August - 9 days to go Why no production blog yesterday? Well, mostly because everyone was busy putting seats and speakers onto the stage:
See? Otherwise we've been busy in the office trying to make samples sound like Tchaikovsky... which is easier said than done... but we're quite happy with the results. So this afternoon we heard the first sounds on the virtual orchestra - the horn section and the triangle (why? don't ask). It was a touching moment - I almost had tears in my eyes. It was probably the icy cold wind. So tomorrow - full orchestra, sound balancing, bluetooth, seat switches, and more samples!
After a frantic day yesterday (hence the frantic entry below including exclamation marks!!!!!) today has been a little calmer (and more productive). Down on the South Bank the seats have been going in very fast and the first violins and cellos are now in place. We've covered the seats in cardboard boxes to protect them until they're all wired up, so it looks a bit like some cardboard boxes on a stage, but they are real, I promise.
Friday 4 August - 15 days to go
Also this afternoon we've taken delivery of the shiniest mobile phones ever (courtesy of our friends at Samsung and BT mobile). We've managed to be quite restrained though, following the proper methods of charging them and setting them up rather than using the normal technique: turn phone on, press all the buttons, try to take a photo, fail miserably, try to consult manual, find have lost manual. Typical British weather. We work in stifling hot offices in a heatwave for a month, and then on the day that we come to make off cable outdoors...
Update: it got sunnier. Woo-hoo.
Today is the start of the cabling! This part of the project is pretty crucial, as we have to make sure all the speakers and seats are connected up properly. Also the scale of this project means it's a huge task. To give you an idea, here's the cabling diagram ....
Painting of the hoardings and the building of the stage starts today which is the first public indication that something's going on at the South Bank Centre. The pace behind the scenes has been fairly relentless for weeks, but this is the first 'proper' week of construction and the excitement's growing. We should be cabling by the end of the week and in the PLAY.office there's solder in the air as the connection of electronics grows ever more complicated.
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Friday 8 September 
Thursday 7 September 
It's the official press launch tomorrow so we're gearing up for TV crews and radio reporters who are coming down to the South Bank. Key to this is actually making the thing work.... so it's time to re-balance the sounds, find out why there's a rogue piccolo in the viola section [no jokes please] and generally tidy up. Oh, and stick all the graphics to the cubes. Needless to say this took a while (and thanks to everyone who worked SO hard today). However, it did mean we got to see the thing all lit up and pretty, so it was worth it. Now for an early night... and an early start... hope to see you tomorrow! 
Graphics coming along... if a little slowly. Again, the British weather has cursed us with the promise of regular thundery showers for the next three days. But it's all slowly happening, even if it is a bit frustrating at times. Anyway the long day didn't end until about 10pm for the team but we did have the pleasure of hearing Anthony Bailey's new piece which is absolutely brilliant (and makes a change from Tchaikovsky!!) We managed to emulate our players by using stage weights on each seat which worked but started to attract odd looks from passers-by. 
Graphics time.... The world will at last have a better idea of whart these white boxes are as we put up a large sign saying orchestra.
This involved a walkie-talkie and conversations like this:
Tuesday 8 August - 11 days to go 
The cabling is (almost) done! Hurrah! It's so exciting seeing the project coming together like this, but it's also getting worryingly close to the launch now and we're hoping very hard that everything's been wired up correctly. I guess we'll find out soon. Meanwhile the scores are being converted into samples and we're doing lots of bluetooth planning. But the main work is going on at the installation itself as the seats are fixed to the stage (more difficult than it sounds) and the speakers start being wired up (again, a bit fiddly). So here it is, the first seat on the stage.....
Another day of cabling only this time in the slightly confined rack room. However progress is being made. Meanwhile much experimentation with bolts, springs and spanners is helping to finalise the seat fixing solution.
..still, it hasn't held back the hardy production staff too much, mostly because they've been working in the rack room setting up crucial things such as power, amplifiers, network connections and a fridge. No, not really. 
Tuesday 1 August- 18 days to go
