Otley man's 24-carrot orchestra has pumpkin drums and butternut squash bongos (From Wharfedale Observer)

Otley man's 24-carrot orchestra has pumpkin drums and butternut squash bongos

8:34am Thursday 11th June 2009

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It’s hard to imagine a criminal lawyer giving up his career to make musical instruments out of vegetables.

In fact, the entire concept sounds bizarre. But that’s exactly what Otley man Richard Sabey did.

Fed up with the cut-throat world of the courtroom, Richard, 45, turned his back on his law career in a bid to find a more satisfying and creative outlet for his skills.

And, zany as it may sound, hollowing out carrots with primary schoolchildren and making them into recorders provided just the type of challenge Richard was looking for.

Richard, who is based in Otley, set up the Big Hoo Ha company ten years ago after feeling disillusioned with his work in the court room.

The company is aimed at disadvantaged and young people in the community, introducing them to a host of creative projects _ including the vegetable orchestra.

Such is its success, the Big Hoo Ha became a community association four years ago, responsible for boosting the skills and confidence of hundreds of young people through a combination of music, drama, film and visual arts.

The vegetable orchestra is just one of the innovative and fun projects youngsters can get involved in. It was inspired by the Vietnamese Vegetable Orchestra (VVO) who appeared at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival a couple of years ago.

Richard was commissioned by the organisers of the festival to emulate VVO’s work by running a school’s workshop in the same vein. The project was a resounding success.

Richard said: “The kids loved it. Since then we have linked it to other things like making musical instruments out of junk. If you know how a recorder works you can make a carrot recorder, or a bamboo flute.

“We make butternut squash bongos, pumpkin drums and aubergine castanets. We then use music technology to make recordings and alter the music on a laptop. It’s all great fun and the kids love it. When we run the workshops they are all very engaged and interested in what we were doing and we have run several similar workshops since.”

Richard came up with the idea for the the Big Hoo Ha project after taking part in the Otley community play – an amateur production in the 1990s run by the people of Otley about Otley.

He said: “I saw how much the Otley community play affected lives and that was when I knew I wanted to reinvent myself. Up until that time, all my work had been combative as a criminal lawyer. I wanted to do something more collaborative and the Big Hoo Ha was just what I needed.

“It’s not all chopping vegetables up and playing them. We do anything from rock musical recordings to live gigs, film-making and lots of music technology.

“Last year, for example, we worked with learning disabled children who made pop videos of songs that they had made up and then recorded. It was incredible and everyone really enjoyed it.

“We have also done samba drumming right through to making the vegetable orchestra and youngsters really respond to what we are trying to do.

“There are so many talented young people out there and what we aim to do is to reach them and make them think about what they could do.

“We work with young people from all sorts of backgrounds and people of all ages with learning or physical disability. It is very rewarding work.

“It’s an inspiration seeing the profound changes that music and other arts can bring to people, including me.”

Over the past ten years Richard has worked tirelessly to deliver a variety of interesting projects to youngsters involving dance, film, drama, music and visual arts.

The Big Hoo Ha –which takes its name from Richard’s desire to ‘make a noise and stir things up’ – became a non-profit-making community association in December 2005.

It currently has five trustees from a variety of backgrounds including; Steven Carter, of Leeds City Council, Richard Flint, director of Yorkshire Water, Jane Kaye, senior support worker of Artforms Education Leeds, Stephen Morris, director of finance with the British Library, and Alan Smith, an executive officer for the Department of Work and Pensions.

It is Richard’s job to plan, raise funds and deliver original projects to young people throughout the region in a bid to introduce them to new skills which could go on to transform lives.

He said: “I did an MA in community music and, as part of it, did a dissertation on people who were suffering from depression or who were socially isolated. At the Big Hoo Ha, we provide a variety of different art forms but often what we find is that the project is less about the actual art itself and more about raising confidence and self-esteem. People learn all sorts of things from the workshops whether it be interacting, concentrating, listening or basic eye contact. It's all important in everyday life.”

One example of the work the Big Hoo Ha undertakes is the ‘gig in a week’ due to take place this summer at Otley Courthouse.

Aimed at young people aged between 12 and 18, who like to play musical instruments or sing, the project will encourage a number of bands to form together under the guidance of experienced musicians. They will then be given the opportunity to create their own songs, which they can perform at a special gig at the end of the week complete with lighting and sound.

Richard, who himself plays saxophone and clarinet, said: “This is an annual event and is always really vibrant complete with a screaming adoring audience! Anyone is welcome to get involved and we are really looking forward to it.

“The inspiration for me is working with young people who don’t get the chance to do these sorts of things in their normal every day lives.

“More often than not, we are working with people who don’t have a lot of musical experience and who don't have the opportunity to do things like that.

“We tend to work more with secondary pupils and the work is always challenging. Getting kids engaged and interested – that’s the hardest bit if you get over that you’ll be okay.

“Surprisingly, my work as a lawyer has helped me with that. I worked with very vulnerable people and learned that it is not about what I want to do, it’s about what they want to do. If young people want to go in a particular direction with their music or art, then there is plenty of scope for that.”

The Big Hoo Ha has a number of core artists involved in various projects and Richard sources local talented people to help him in his work. Funding is always an issue but he has managed to get grants from the Lottery, local authorities and the Arts Council as well as various charitable trusts over the years.

He said: “That’s the most difficult aspect of the job, finding funding, especially in this climate but we manage somehow. I just love the work I do and what it brings to others and am always looking forward to the next project.”

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