Big G Conducts is a new Australian children’s musical entertainment company introducing children to orchestral music through fun stories, songs and great tunes.

The innovative concept uses interactive and engaging stories and characters to teach children about the orchestral instruments and the sounds they make, while introducing them to some of the most popular classical (and classic pop) music ever written.

After our popular Animal Tracks @ the Zoo staged last year, where we introduced lovable new characters Bertie Bott and Sugarplum, Big G Conducts is about to announce a brand new venture to take orchestral music for children even further than before.

Keep watching for the latest news. Meanwhile there are still copies of our much-loved "Sounds Like Fun" CD for sale at our online shop.

“Your show is beautifully structured and performed with just the right energetic tone for little ones.” Libbi Gore (ABC)

LEFT: Sugarplum (Pippa Grandison) and Bertie Bott (Hayden Tee) join Big G in The Kookaburra Laughs in a peformance of Animal Tracks @ The Zoo, in early 2008.





BIOGRAPHIES

Our musical director

We can't say too much at this stage - it's a big secret - but we are very excited about soon being able to announce an new musical director. After a year of twiddling and tweaking and thinking about how big Big G could be, we are ready to take on the world. Our original MD George Ellis has gone on to other projects but Big G is alive and well and ready to bring more music to children and children to music, than ever before. The rest of the Bg G team is still firmly in place and raring to go with big ideas that will knock your socks off. As they say ... watch this space.

Jimmy Thomson

Our Head Writer Jimmy Thomson is an award-nominated television comedy and drama writer, journalist and author. Born in Scotland but now proudly Australian, Jimmy has been nominated three timesfor the Australian Writers’ Guild award (AWGIE) in comedy writing.

Jimmy created the characters Sugarplum and Bertie Bott for Big G, wrote most of the lyrics on the "Sounds Like Fun" CD and scripted the highly popular Animal Tracks @ The Zoo, Sounds Like Fun, and Darling Harbour Christmas Show (2007) as well as programming the music for the shows.

In his "other life", Jimmy is also a popular children’s author with his book, ‘The Koala Who Bounced' in print for over ten years, translated into Korean and about to be re-published in its origina;l large format hard cover edition. His other successful book ‘Apartment Living’ with ABC Books has led to Jimmy becoming a regular columnist on flat-dwelling for the Sydney Morning Herald's Domain section.

Jimmy co-created and co-wrote the ABC television drama Rain Shadow and previously created the TV series Crash Palace (Foxtel and Sky UK) and Breakers (Channel 10 and BBC). His production “Song for the Socceroos” (SBS 2006) hit a chord with many Australians, as the country enjoyed the unexpected success of the Socceroos at the 2006 Football World Cup. His television writing for Dags, Darling and Ally & Doc were nominated for the AWGIE awards.

Ask Big G

What is a conductor? A conductor is a musician who keeps the orchestra players in time and playing together when they perform on stage. The conductor also gets all the music together so that musicians have some music to play. In rehearsal, the conductor instructs the musicians what order the music will be played then rehearses the music so that all the music for the concert sounds correct and beautiful. In performance, the conductor also can direct the music to be played louder and softer or faster and slower at different times. The conductor starts the music and also shows the musicians where the music stops.

How do you become a conductor? After high school, a conductor enrols in a music college like a conservatorium or university and learns the art of conducting just like a violin student learns how to play the violin. A conducting student has individual lessons from a professional conductor and conducts the university orchestra in order to learn how to do it. You have to audition to get into music college – they usually ask you to sing or play the piano and they test how well you can read music – these are things you learn as a child and then work on at school.

What is the baton for? The baton helps keep the musicians in time together. A conductor can use just hands for this purpose but the baton (which means stick in French) is clearer for all the musicians to see – especially the ones further away from the conductor. It acts as an extension of the arm.

Why do you wave your arms around in such big motions? As well as keeping the musicians in time together, it is also important to enthuse the musicians and help them play as energetically as possible. Good music deserves and warrants it. This is the reason for big arm motions. Sometimes, you can’t help it, the music gets inside you and you get carried away with its beauty and energy and your arms just naturally flow.

What is the hardest thing about leading an orchestra? In rehearsal, a conductor must concentrate on hearing that every note from every musician is correct and accurate -that’s a lot of notes! In performance, striking a balance between accuracy and the energetic enthusiasm I mentioned before from both the orchestral players and the conductor is the important thing.