The Alice Sound: Immerse yourself in Wonderland

Today, Queen Mary University of London and the London Symphony Orchestra– are proud to unveil The Alice Sound, a captivating collection of cross-curricular learning resources designed for young people, schools, and educators. This exciting collaboration invites audiences to embark on a remarkable journey through the mesmerising soundscapes of Lewis Carroll's beloved books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. The comprehensive resources are now available on the dedicated website, The Alice Sound (www.thealicesound.com).

The Alice Sound website offers a wealth of free downloadable resources, specially designed for use in schools or at home. Most of the downloads can be used by children with little to no adult assistance, with the creative music projects aimed primarily at teachers. You'll discover a range of materials that will ignite your creativity, from music, drama, art, to writing prompts, all inspired by the magical worlds of Lewis Carroll. Create your own masterpieces and let your imagination run wild.

Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children’s Literature & Childhood Culture at Queen Mary University of London, and Project Director said, “This website makes this wonderful music freely available to more audiences, in fact to anyone, anywhere in the world, and deepens engagement with the music and the books thanks to a range of learning resources and other materials. The range of resources and activities inspired by Lewis Carroll’s books and Paul Rissmann’s music are particularly designed for use in schools by pupils and their teachers. There are music and drama projects, art and design activities, and writing worksheets and prompts which help you to explore the books and get creative!" 

Inspired by the Lewis Carroll books and by early musical adaptations of them, composer Paul Rissmann wrote two musical suites which were premiered live at the Barbican by the LSO in 2015 (Alice in Wonderland) and 2022 (Through the Looking Glass) as part of the LSO Family Concert Series. The success of these concerts and enthusiastic response to the material precipitated the extension of the partnership between the LSO and Queen Mary University of London to develop further interactive learning content.

Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the LSO added; “In order to deliver our engagement programme to schools and colleges during the pandemic and to satisfy the demand for educational material from some of our overseas partnerships during this time, we stepped up the development and distribution of our digital learning resources. The success and demand for this work post-pandemic is undiminished and so the LSO is now committed to continuing this valuable addition to our offering for the classroom and beyond.  I am delighted that this special project has come to fruition giving users unique access to a multidisciplinary creative process brought together by a peerless team of musicians, singers and creative artists, all leaders in their fields of music, literature, composition and animation.”