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info@heartbeats.org.uk


welcome to Heart Beats

welcome to Heart Beats

Tuesday 30 June 2015

Taster sessions - next session is on July 16th

Hi everyone.
Our taster sessions are going really well, plenty of people coming, and lots of good music.

We have a short break now. There is no session this week.

The next two dates are :

JULY 16TH
JULY 30TH

The regular sessions begin on September 17th. If you can't make any of the tasters but want to sign up for the autumn, email us for more information : info@heartbeats.org.uk


We have a feeling .....it is going to be great project. AllStars are go! come and play music with us....


Monday 22 June 2015

Fiveways School

Geoff, Jane, Russ and Alex had a brilliant day at Fiveways school in Yeovil today.
Fiveways are having their creative arts week at the moment.

Today it was music ...We ran a music session for every single class in the school! It is really rewarding being invited in as visiting artists.

And this is the card that the students made for us.

Thank you, Fiveways school.

They have given us some really nice feedback.
  • The pace of the session was appropriate for the different abilities for the group
  • All students actively participated – all levels
  • The students clearly enjoyed the whole session, were engaged and stimulated throughout
  • Signing alongside verbal instruction, students given individual time as well as being part of the group
  • Lovely communication and interaction!
  • All students really engaged and responsive – lots of excitement and smiles
  • AllStars was fantastic – all students were catered for brilliantly
  • Excellent response to an excellent medium! Super engagement. 10 mins longer (i.e. 40 mins) would have been even better
  • WONDERFUL
  • Great fun, really enjoyable
  • Fabulous!
  • Loved it – can you come back again
  • They all loved it – 100% engagement!

Friday 19 June 2015

Running an integrated group.

Our group exists for young people with learning disabilities, but it's a bit more complex than that....
Over the years, we have always had student placements at our music sessions. We provide support and opportunities for young musicians to experience working within a mixed ability setting.
Vicky

It's also brought us into contact with some brilliant instrumentalists and singers who really do bring a sparkle to group improvisations.
We feel that through offering this experience we've helped young people make higher education choices, and perhaps see music differently.
Gemma

Gemma, who was with us for a year, says ... 'I've ended up going to do recorder and violin at Birmingham Conservatoire instead of computer science'. We asked Gemma if she'd be interested in coming back for some sessions : 'This sounds amazing!  I'd love to come back and take part in the sessions!'
With the AllStars project, we felt that we'd like to open out this opportunity and move towards running a more integrated group - bringing together people from different backgrounds, who have had different opportunities, but have a common love of music.
At the taster session
Our partnerships with Wells Cathedral School continues to grow, and we also now have a partnership with the Elmwood and Penrose Federation of schools in Bridgwater.
This year Wells Cathedral School have stepped things up a bit by agreeing to host our integrated music mentoring sessions - "The Listening Lounge" - which begin in September.
They will help us identify A level music students to join the AllStars groups, and we'll be joined by one of their Graduate Music Assistants, who will be at the school studying for a CME (Certificate of Music Education).

Taster session warm up games
At our tasters this summer so far we met have Bella, Ellie, Esther, Molly and Laura. Laura is from Frome and is interested in a career in music therapy ; Molly is a signed songwriter.
Bella, Ellie and Esther are A level music students from Wells Cathedral School.They're all brilliant and we hope they will all join the group!
Our team of music leaders realise we will have a challenge to meet everyone's needs - but that's what we exist for : that's inclusion. We've said we're all stars in this context, so we need to discover how that works, and what that sounds like.
We all have so much to learn from each other, simply by being in a room where we can work and play together, listen and respond on equal terms.
What will be fascinating will be to observe the outcomes of these two years of 'music education by encounter' that we have planned for the AllStars project.





Making some joyful noise...

Last night, our taster session demonstrated how we work with themes.
This weeks theme? - well - seeings as we're here in Somerset, and it's midsummer : we held our own pre-Glastonbury 'festival'.
Reggae stage, folk stage, dance stage.

Emma looking cool.


Ryan and Russ waiting to hit the beat.







Geoffrey raising those BPMs.


And here's some of the crew that came

Monday 15 June 2015

Recruiting - come to our taster sessions

This Thursday, June 18th, we have the second of our AllStars taster sessions.
Do you know someone who'd like to come?

At our first taster on June 4th we had a full room  - with a mixture of old and new faces. Lots of old friends meeting up, with plenty of giggling and happiness.
The Heart Beats crew showed the new people how things went and how we run the session.
We went from laughter to quiet listening; exploring all sorts of sound and enjoying the new instruments.

Ryan said 'It's nice to be see everyone back - and to have new instruments.' Everyone liked the sound of the harp and hammered dulcimer together.
Ellie said 'what a fantastic group.'
Bella said 'thanks for being so welcoming.'

Martyn brought his new guitar along.
Katie had her trusty ukelele, and Geoff, his melodeon.
Mark enjoyed playing the new dun dun.
Looks like we might have some fun coming up....

Three more tasters to come:
June 18th
July 16th
July 30th

- all at Wells Museum lecture hall, 6 - 8.
Spread the word.

Thursday 4 June 2015

all about AllStars

 And here we are - your music leaders :
Geoffrey
Ben
Russ
Alex
Jane







This evening

A sunny summer evening coming up, what better way to start our project than by gathering and playing together.
Wells Museum, starting at 6 : looking forward to it.

Monday 1 June 2015

AllStars project begins

This is it - this week we have our first AllStars taster session - Thursday at Wells Museum, 6 - 8. Now that is good news.
See you there.