Music

A party isn’t complete without music and making sure you have some tunes playing will really boost the atmosphere at your Big Lunch.

Ask around to find out who your musically talented neighbours are and encourage them to play or sing on the day! Or perhaps there’s a local band or DJ you could get to perform. You might just be surprised by the talent on your doorstep!

If neighbours are too shy to go solo, one way to get everyone involved is a street sing-song! We even have a Big Lunch song, ‘Celebration’, written by Hollywood composer John Ashton Thomas thanks to our friends at DaCapo Music Foundation who commissioned the piece. Its lively melody and fun lyrics will be especially popular with kids so get them roped in to provide some entertainment- just like the school children in this video who recently performed the song for Big Lunch Ambassador, Barbara Windsor MBE at the Eden Project!

Download the sheet music and ‘Celebration’Mp3 here.

Some Big Lunchers have staged talent contests in the past, while others have found simpler ways to make noise that everyone can join in with. Here are few musical ideas:

Form a street choir

• Gather in a group of 10 or more neighbours.
  
• You don’t need to read music- play an instrument, sing or provide percussion by clapping along.
  
• Choose popular songs that everyone knows and practice outside.
  
• Nominate one person to be the ‘ear’.
  

Form a junk band

Why not follow in the steps of the Lost and Found Orchestra and make household items into musical instruments? You could use bowed saws for strings; bottle and kettles for woodwind and brass; and just about anything that you can tap without breaking for percussion.