2 . Rave-on!

How about learning new skills on the guitar, drums and keyboard by video? Follow the touch-screen instructions to find lessons on each instrument, or search for a song to practise playing along to. Try our Professional Selection, with video clips of band members who will explain the techniques that make their recordings so individual.

Show-in-a-day!

Be a star singer or dancer for the day in a one-time-only special performance! Experts in international music and dance styles will train you, and costumes provided for the performance help create a really special, individual show. Get your friends and family to come and see you perform, as no videoing or photography is allowed.

Archived Images

Want to find out about a new band, or just want more information about an old favourite? Visit our collection to find out facts and figures, or see the actual possessions of famous bands and musicians you are interested in. You can actually get to touch things worn on stage at major rock and pop events, and there are plenty of other concert souvenirs.

Rhythm-studio

Get your body moving in the studio and learn to move to rhythms and sounds from the past to now, including Soul and Disco. Learn your steps from our professional onscreen dance instructor, then watch your performance and become the star in your own video recording which you can take away!

3 . Researchers at Georgia Tech have been working to improve a musical robot called Shimon. Shimon is a four-armed robot with a ball-like head. He holds small mallets (tools like hammers) in his “hands” to play a kind of xylophone. As Shimon plays, his head moves around in time to the music.

Shimon has been around for quite a while as a musical robot. Even back in 2015, he played with other musicians at the Kennedy Center in New York. What Shimon could do back then was already pretty cool.

Shimon was taught to write his own music by using “deep learning”. Deep learning, also known as Artificial Intelligence (AI), means that computer programs sort deeply through huge amounts of information. This allows them to find patterns humans may not have noticed. The programs can then use those patterns in new and surprising ways. For Shimon, that meant he could not only make up his own music, but also do it in real time while playing with other musicians. This is called “improvising”.

Now Shimon is back with a whole bunch of new tricks. He can write the words to his own songs, and sing them. Shimon learned to write the words for the songs in the same way he learned to write music.

Professor Gil Weinberg in Georgia Tech, who leads the Shimon project, gets Shimon going with a starting idea. Shimon then writes the lyrics based around that idea.

To give Shimon a voice, the Georgia Tech team worked with experts at Pompeu Fabra University in Spain. The voice was created by AI and sounds like a man very much. Shimon’s face has also gotten new features. Shimon’s mouth now moves smoothly in time as he sings. He also has eyebrows, which allow his face to show more emotions. For Mr. Weinberg, that’s the main goal behind the Shimon project — not to have robots take over, but to have robots and humans make something beautiful together.

4 . Outside， it's a cold winter's day． Inside a large shopping center， people are hanging around． But then， without warning， a pop song starts to play loudly． A teenager boy walks lazily to the center of the open space， and dances crazily to the music． He's joined by two of his friends， then some of the old people． Within the space of a few seconds， more than sixty people are dancing to the music - all in time and all in step． At first， onlookers are baffled， then they start smiling and clapping． They now know what they're seeing： a flash mob （快闪）．

According to Wikipedia， the term "flash mob" was created by Bill Wasik， an editor at Harper's Magazine， in 2003． Within a year， the phrase had entered the Concise Oxford English Dictionary． Since then， hundreds - possibly thousands - of flash mobs have been carried out around the world， in almost every kind of public space imaginable!

Each flash mob has its own style， but most flash mobs follow a similar formula （方案）． Often， the organizers search for willing participants using social media． Instructions and dance moves are given through email or video download． There are usually several rehearsals （排练） before the big day．

While it's happening， a few lucky passers-by watch it live． Most people who watch it， however， will see it later online． Some of the most popular flash mobs on YouTube have been watched more than 10million times． A famous example is MP3Experiment Eight， a flash mob that took place in New York City in July 2011 with over 3，500 participants． This event differed from normal flash mobs in that much of it was completely silent - and there were no rehearsals．

Flash mobs provide the participants， onlookers and online viewers with a lot of enjoyment and pleasure． For this reason alone， they're a modern， popular art form that should be celebrated．