The Violympics

THE VIOLYMPICS is the outrageously funny concert where classical musicians turn into elite athletes… but the only medal they’re chasing is your uncontrollable laughter.

Picture this: elite string players locked in head-to-head battles while performing beautiful music. It has many rounds that Will Newbery and Charlie McCarthy, and some other surprise guests, (accompanied by Aaron Powell on piano) will be competing in such as:

Weight lifting: They play 'My Way' (my weight...) with bags on our bow arm/wrist, and keep adding water bottles to the bags to increase weight, the first person unable to play smoothly loses.

Iron-manuscript: Extreme Sight Reading where they have to sight read melodies written by audience members, bonus points for writing illegible notation on crumpled paper or with unusual/extended techniques and instructions. The accompaniment is the song 'I Can See Clearly Now' let us know if you would like to submit some wild sight reading for us.

Discus: Player has to discuss and describe what they are playing, in real time whilst playing, in as much detail as possible. Name the notes, describe all activities, bow direction, dynamics, fingering and techniques in real-time whilst playing the tune 'Have I Told You Lately that I Love You'. This one is really funny.

Javiolin (The Javelin round). Whilst playing the player has to throw the bow as far as possible across the stage onto a target with a vigorous up bow. The distances increase throughout the tune. We will be using old/used and warped bows, no real bows will be harmed :)

There are many more sporting themed musical activities. There will also be some excellent music between events so it is a nice concert too.

There is also a group activity for players, the Relay or REELAY as it is called. It works like this:

All players form a ring around the room, with instruments, but no bows. They will be issued 4 bows from Charlie, spaced around the cohort and everyone plays a Reel all together, like at an Irish music session. The player passes the bow to the next player on the right every 8 bars OR whenever they want to, and is also ready to receive a bow from the player to the left. The piece will gradually get faster, if you fumble the bow or stumble the notes you are out and we keep going until there are only 4 people left as the piece gets faster and faster and faster woohoo! The piece is Cooley's Reel, PDF attached. No need to memorise the tune or to bring a music stand, a friend or stranger nearby can be your human music stand whilst you play. Bring a friend and bring some of your students for a fun and interactive night of musical shenanigans and have a blast!

Please feel free to forward this to other string players/students in the community. These concerts are genuinely funny, this is the fourth one, and it is great for the younger kids to see the lighter side of musical performance. 

There’s a full Youth Round for the next generation of string stars, a Mental Decathlon Trivia showdown, a completely unhelpful “conductor” giving increasingly ridiculous gestures, and yes, someone will attempt the Southpaw Challenge playing left-handed.

It’s part concert, part comedy sports spectacular, and 100% guaranteed to have you crying with laughter. Whether you’re a classical die-hard, a casual music fan, or just love watching highly skilled people do ridiculously stupid things with their instrum,ents, The Violympics is the funniest night out you’ll have all year.

Bring your friends. Bring tissues for the giggles.

The Violympics: because classical music was always meant to be this much fun.