Youth + Music = SW conference

Count Me In are going to this music conference on April 23rd.
We shall be running some workshops where people can get a taste of what we do, and talking about our work.

There will be lots of other great SW organizations there too:
Wren Music - Action Track - Somerset Rural Youth project - RIO - Bristol Plays Music - Bath Festivals - Supreme Youth Project.

The guest speaker is local chap Michael Eavis.

Tonight....

Hey folks, it's HeartBeats tonight!
Russ is off to the farm to get all those lovely instruments.

More exploration of the links between colour, shape and sound

We're still thinking about the wonderful multi sensory world of music ... colour, shape and sound.
Recently at an in-house training day, Hugh Nankivell took us into a world of graphic scores.

This inspired Alex, Josh and Jane to experiment with some 'graphic scores' at the Listening Lounge.

There's a big clock on the wall in the room : tick-tock-tick is always in the background of our music.
We decided to follow the clock and play together for exactly one minute.

Then we sat at the table, chose a colour, and drew a picture representing what we'd played - we had exactly one minute to draw.

Then, we passed our instruments on and had - you guessed! one minute - to make a piece of music together, on our new instruments, by the following the 'shape' our drawing.

Then, we turned the paper around and experimented with playing each others' graphic score.

Finally, we used the amazing Tunetrace app to photograph and play the picture. Tunetrace allows you to photograph drawings which then generates live music.

Make drawings in the real world, photograph them with Tunetrace and hear them transformed into music. - See more at: http://www.qappsonline.com/apps/tunetrace/#sthash.axmltX0J.dpuf

BeBot conversation

Had some fun with apps last night at the Listening Lounge ... here's Alex and Josh having a little Bebot conversation.

 

Reflections on 'Joining In'

Thank you to our partners Spaeda, and Sound Foundation Somerset (the Somerset music hub), for putting our reflections on Joining In up on the Hub website - life affirming, indeed!

http://www.soundfoundationsomerset.org.uk/jane-harwood-reflects-on-life-affirming-training-for-inclusive-music-practitioners/

Hugh....

So excited to be spending tomorrow with the super brilliant AllStars team, and the AllStars ensemble, and fabulous Hugh Nankivell - oooh yeah.
Music will happen.

Trust and participation

Trust is such an enormous part of our music work. 

The young people who come to play music with us need to trust us.
We need to create a safe space that makes everyone who enters it feel they can trust us to provide support, encouragement and diverse creative opportunities.
The act of improvised, lived music making itself cannot happen with trust.
As an organisation, we need to trust in each other to share an agreement on what is good, a general perspective, and how to work with whatever arises.

Recently we discussed the tensions that go into making a successful, user-led, creative environment.
Trust underpins all of this:

• ownership / shared identity
• joy / challenge
• flexibility / familiarity
• risk / safety
• shared experienced / personalised experience
•  communication / inspiration
• suspense / reassurance
• stimulation / rest

Trust enables participation.
Lawrence Becko, former Sound Connections Programme Manager, writes about Youth Participation in the arts:
'sometimes we simply forget to listen to what young people are saying, believing 'adults know best'...Ultimately, the extent to which youth participation, voice and leadership can be encouraged will depend on the abilities, commitment, resources and 'buy in' of each organization, their staff, and the young people themselves.'

As Wired4Music say,

'By  taking ownership over their musical participation, young people can

voice their opinions freely, achieve more and get the most out  of  a  project  that has  been  designed  specifically  to  suit  their  needs.  In return,  organisations  can gain  new perspective  and  understanding  of  the  young  people they’re working with, save  money  and resources by  creating projects  that  will  be  successful for  their  participants and  support  young  people  to  create  new  opportunities  for themselves and progress within their own musical journeys.'

Inner ear, outer ear

Jackie took a few photos on Saturday :

Rachael leading the improvisation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  'I really enjoyed meeting other practitioners and community musicians of all ages and experience.'

Inner ear / outer ear : 'Playing music with others in such a safe, 'polite' environment has made me feel good too.'

The fishbowl 'what a great combination of theory and practice!'

Listening and responding 'Lots of things to reflect on about listening, relational space, timing / contribution.'

Thinking, discussion - 'Makes you think outside the box.' 

Discussing rationale :

‘It’s been great to see some  more of the philosophy and workings behind HeartBeats’

‘all good skills and ideas to bring to my teaching and work in hospitals’

'Brilliant fun. Exceptionally skillful and experienced leaders, thank you.' 

 

 Some home made instruments - kazoovuzela' - Freedom to allow ourselves, and the group, to express our musicality'

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Reflecting, understanding, and sharing - working in a team

Leading a training day for other professionals, who come from a range a backgrounds and experiences, forces you to reflect on what you do - pick it apart - and distill it down into a cohesive presentation.

We work as a team of three independent music leaders who deliver sessions together, with an interconnected  approach.

 As musicians our job is to scaffold the music in the group whilst waiting our turn to lead - it's interesting switching from leading to modelling and support, whilst our colleagues interpret the plans we make together. This gives you a real sense of how effective the music leading is, too.

When we were planning for 'Joining In' training this Saturday, we started with the premise that we bring three different approaches to the whole.

The day was about approaches to 'musical inclusion'.

Obviously between us, we have a range of expertise. To keep things clear we focused on the AllStars  'musical inclusion' approaches:

• Alex, as a music therapist, spoke about the personal outcomes, the process-based approach;
• Russ, as a musician, spoke about musical outcomes, and enabling everyone to be included in a musical process;
• Jane, as a community music leader, spoke about social outcomes, participation and communication.

It worked! - we managed to re-affirm and support each others' work, whilst describing our broad and cohesive approach.

Just through putting this together, we learned a lot through reflection and sharing.
A great experience.

Some feedback:
'fundamental, free, expressive, understandable'

'Inspiring and eye opening'

'It made me realise what a variety of things music does and has taught me not to be so regimented with music.'

'Makes you think outside the box.' 

'Amazing, I learned a lot. I learned, what is music.'

 'Life affirming - opened my eyes to a different type of 'work.''