''The Magical Music Box'', more commonly known as ''The Music Box'' was a British children's

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

. It ran from 1994 to 1996 in a series of 52 fortnightly serialisations. The aim of the magazine was to introduce children into classical music and to popularise this form of music among the younger generations. The stories followed the fictional adventures of two siblings, Sarah and Jamie who find a magical music box through which they are able to enter other worlds, most commonly as spectators. The stories were generally related to other children's tales or fables, including issue 38 ( King Arthur & The Knights of the Round Table), issue 2 (

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed ''Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on wh ...

, issue 11 (

Sinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor (; ar, سندباد البحري, Sindibādu al-Bahriyy; fa, سُنباد بحری, Sonbād-e Bahri or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Persian origin. He is described as hailing from Baghdad ...

), and issue 27 ( The Imperial Robes). The

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

tisations were produced b
IRDP
Independent Radio Drama Productions on request o
Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd

Features

''The magazine cost £3.99 (with a tape) or £4.99 (with a CD) per issue.'' * A different fortnightly story involving the

siblings A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separat ...

Sarah and Jamie * A CD or tape with each issue * The story in

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

with an accompaniment of classical music * The classical music on its own * History behind the stories and the music * Facts about the relevant composer and instruments *The formula for the magazine was simple. It followed the adventures of Jamie and Sarah, siblings who seemed to be magnets for danger. The stories had no sense of realism and were pure fantasy. The children seemed to be running around having adventures with no money, food or supervision. It is a pure fantasy which excited the youths imagination at the time. The music was used to construct the narrative through the adventurers and to the conclusions. That is why the magazine came with a tape or CD so you could listen to the story and the music. The magazine also had a strong educational element after each story. The narrator introduced the learner to each part of the music that had been played, and explained which instruments were used.

Issues

Awards

The magazine won a

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

and a Grand Award Trophy for Entertainment Programming at the International Radio Festival 1994 held in New York. These were for the drama in issue four, ''The Wizard's Spell''.

References

External links

Marshall Cavendish Magazine Catalogue

The New York Radio Programming Festival Online
* Copies of CDs, tapes and books can be found a

* Audio downloads and scans of the magazines can be found a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magical Music Box 1993 establishments in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Classical music magazines Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1993 Magazines disestablished in 1997 Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom