The performance explores the origins of music and the many ways of making sound through play and hands-on experience. Together, students discover what the earliest instruments might have been made from, how humans began making music, and the relationship with sound that we all share. Can anyone learn to make music, or must we be born with the ability? Do we need musical notation, ear training or expensive instruments to experience music—or does music emerge from experience itself? Any sound can become music when listeners and the community take an active part in the process.

Throughout the performance, the audience does more than watch: they take part. At times, they become a choir; at others, a body percussion section, creating soundscapes and musical textures together with the ensemble. This exploration is supported by our handmade instruments crafted from recycled materials: the bicycle drum, ghetto marimbula, teknóteknő, hosepipe saxophone, bikeophone, fakutya, papírkutya, hordonka and many other distinctive creations. Three of these instruments are the only ones of their kind in the world.

The approach of A Brief History of Music is rarely found in music education today. Reaching beyond the boundaries of the traditional Kodály method, the programme opens up limitless possibilities for musical experience, with an emphasis on active participation, cooperation and creative experimentation. Students discover that music is not only something to listen to, but something we create and experience together—and that it is accessible to everyone.