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What a great idea!  

If you are worried about off-target mirrors being a nuisance, you could ask
each school to build their own solar collector.  That way you have 50 or so
solar collectors focusing light onto a central solar panel, instead of 1000
individual students to monitor.  I would try prototyping the idea with a
high school class to get an idea of how it would work large-scale: testing
things like distance to solar panels, focusing without a background, how hot
the panel gets, crystalline vs. flexible roofing panels.

Linking solar energy to the amplifier volume might be tricky.  But I second
resisting the urge to fake it.  The solar panels could be hooked up to an
inverter and a small battery that would die out quickly.  This alone would
provide an ON-OFF response with that dying-out sound of unplugging an
amplifier while it's on.  You could use a microcontroller to vary the volume
of the amps according to the battery level (sort of like an efficiency
measure). You would still be driving the amps using solar power, but you
would get a more fulfilling feedback for the audience.

Would this be slated for a few songs?  If so, it might be fun to have other
things that the audience can control, such as lighting effects and disco
balls, kinetic sculptures, cooling fans, and of course a big gauge showing
battery level.  

You should also check out bicycle-powered concerts that have been held.  
http://tinyurl.com/5fctn9  
"Entitled "Power by the People," the concert featured participants pedaling
on six bikes generating power for the concert's lights, instruments and
sound equipment."

Having created a bike-powered exhibit where kids can barely run a blender, I
wonder how much the six bikes are really contributing.

Let us know how it works out!

-Eric

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Eric Yuan
Exhibit Developer
Children's Museum of New Hampshire
6 Washington St
Dover, NH 03820
(603) 742-2002
www.childrens-museum.org
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