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

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

. 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 (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

, issue 11 (

Sinbad the Sailor Sinbad the Sailor (; or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a Literary cycle, story-cycle. He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A.D.). In the course of seven voyages thr ...

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

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

tisations were produced by IRDP, Independent Radio Drama Productions on request of 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 other person. 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 ...

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

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

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 b ...

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 Magazines established in 1993 Magazines disestablished in 1997 Children's magazines published in the United Kingdom Defunct children's magazines published in the United Kingdom