A day in the life of a sound engineer: IOP launches new activity for schools

A new school-based activity, Ashfield Music Festival, gives students the chance to find out more about the practical applications of physics by trying out life as a sound or lighting engineer working at a music festival.

 Developed by the Institute of Physics  and the Career Development Organisation (CRAC), Ashfield Music Festival is a full-day event, in which students set up a music festival company and take on one of six roles – project manager, health and safety advisor, construction manager, electrical engineer, sound engineer or lighting engineer

 Designed to help students develop skills in work-related learning and inspire more of them to study physics post-16, the activity is based on the fictitious scenario that Ashfield council would like to create a new music festival.

 The students are supported by real-life scientists and work in teams that compete against each other. To be successful they must use a mixture of physics-based knowledge, creativity and enterprise skills in order to win the contract to build the festival’s main stage.

Taj Bhutta, Careers Officer for Schools and Colleges at the IOP, said, “We have run the activity in a number of schools, and the students really engage with the theme of a music festival. By getting a taste of what engineers do, students come away with a much better appreciation of how important physics is to so many careers, including those in the music industry.”