Sarah Westwood was the first ever music leader on our project, teaching funky West African drumming. She's recently been on some training which we were able to fund through our CPD (continuing professional development) budget, and she's written an insightful and entertaining article on Youth Music about her experiences. Check it out here!
http://network.youthmusic.org.uk/resources/blogs/sarah-westwood/sarah-experiences-%E2%80%98village-music-circles%E2%80%99
Monday, 29 October 2012
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Huma & Jonny sing Taylor Swift "Crazier"
We run music sessions at Heartlands Hospital alongside the Kids United session in the community. Here one patient who has not sung before, gains confidence in singing thanks to encouragement and help from the amazing Jonny Amos.
Thanks Jonny!
Huma says "thank you, it was amazing. The best experience I've had".
Thanks Jonny!
Huma says "thank you, it was amazing. The best experience I've had".
Monday, 15 October 2012
Quantize!
We started a new set of sessions last week! This mini-project is called QUANTIZE and it's a bit different from what we've been doing so far! Some of the young people from Naseby and Hutton have joined with some new recruits to write, record and produce a CD of their own music. This is taking place at The Pump, which has a professional recording studio and lots of useful specialised spaces for these workshops. It's a much better environment for these sessions really, as the youth centres were often busy and provided lots of distractions.
We're working with MC Vice (James) from Street Soul Productions plus some special guests to create this exciting project! I think it's really great that by the end of it, the young people will have learnt so many new skills (writing, studio recording, CD production) and will have a brilliant end product that they can keep.
Our first session last week focussed on working together and producing a concept for the songs, and writing some first lyrics. We also had a little introduction to the recording studio, and ate lots of biscuits.
As always, if you are under 18 and live in the Hodge Hill area (or know anyone who'd be interested) get in touch by leaving us a comment, message us on twitter @Music4HH or via facebook.com/music4hh, email music4hh@gmail.com.
We're working with MC Vice (James) from Street Soul Productions plus some special guests to create this exciting project! I think it's really great that by the end of it, the young people will have learnt so many new skills (writing, studio recording, CD production) and will have a brilliant end product that they can keep.
Our first session last week focussed on working together and producing a concept for the songs, and writing some first lyrics. We also had a little introduction to the recording studio, and ate lots of biscuits.
As always, if you are under 18 and live in the Hodge Hill area (or know anyone who'd be interested) get in touch by leaving us a comment, message us on twitter @Music4HH or via facebook.com/music4hh, email music4hh@gmail.com.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Rapping!
We've come to the end of our sessions on rapping, beatboxing and lyric writing. Here are some of the tracks that our young people have created with James!
These two are from the youth clubs, so James had more time to work with them on lyrics and got their input about what the backing should sound like. He also sampled some of their beatboxing and included that too.
Naseby crew - Drastic by Music4HH
Arceus - character rap - norton hall session 2 by Music4HH
And these are from the sessions at the hospital:
Mckenzie - character rap - heartlands hospital session 3 by Music4HH
Haider AND Baabar - The Adventure by Music4HH
These two are from the youth clubs, so James had more time to work with them on lyrics and got their input about what the backing should sound like. He also sampled some of their beatboxing and included that too.
Naseby crew - Drastic by Music4HH
Arceus - character rap - norton hall session 2 by Music4HH
And these are from the sessions at the hospital:
Mckenzie - character rap - heartlands hospital session 3 by Music4HH
Haider AND Baabar - The Adventure by Music4HH
Friday, 3 August 2012
Rapping with James
We are lucky enough to have another brilliant rap artist to run some sessions with us! James Kennaby is working with our young people in the hospital and the youth centres, helping them to write their own lyrics and create their own music tracks.
James encourages our budding rappers to write about what they know by thinking of different things about their lives: activities and hobbies, their family, their thoughts and feelings. Often he gets the young people to compose a section each and adds them together to make a longer verse.
Here's some lyrics that the young people came up with and James has set to music (which I will upload later!)
The Adventure
His name is Red Arrow
He lives in London
And he really loves jumping
He wears adidas
Cos he's all class
He wears red from morning to bed
And because he tried parkour
He's got a broken leg
His friends call him odd
Because he loves playing COD
And when he's online
He talks to his friend Todd all the time
He says he drives a Subaru but that's not true
Instead he's learning to drive in a Daewoo
He fancies a chew so he goes to his friend's barbeque
He travelled to Australia to meet his friend Dalia
Whose washing machine had a recent failure.
Isn't that great? I'm particularly impressed by the washing machine reference.
James encourages our budding rappers to write about what they know by thinking of different things about their lives: activities and hobbies, their family, their thoughts and feelings. Often he gets the young people to compose a section each and adds them together to make a longer verse.
Here's some lyrics that the young people came up with and James has set to music (which I will upload later!)
The Adventure
His name is Red Arrow
He lives in London
And he really loves jumping
He wears adidas
Cos he's all class
He wears red from morning to bed
And because he tried parkour
He's got a broken leg
His friends call him odd
Because he loves playing COD
And when he's online
He talks to his friend Todd all the time
He says he drives a Subaru but that's not true
Instead he's learning to drive in a Daewoo
He fancies a chew so he goes to his friend's barbeque
He travelled to Australia to meet his friend Dalia
Whose washing machine had a recent failure.
Isn't that great? I'm particularly impressed by the washing machine reference.
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Beatboxing!
We have also had some beatboxing sessions recently, from the Beatbox Twins. This part of the project is really exciting, there are so many different things going on!
Here are some videos from early sessions. They mainly consist of making really stupid noises. Beatboxing takes lots of practice. This is something I've learnt from these sessions. Also, you often get very lightheaded and need to drink a lot of water otherwise you feel like you're going to pass out. I don't know how they do it!
Here's a demonstration of what the Beatbox twins can do:
And here's some of our participants! Farzan at Naseby:
Younus and Forid at Hutton:
Here are some videos from early sessions. They mainly consist of making really stupid noises. Beatboxing takes lots of practice. This is something I've learnt from these sessions. Also, you often get very lightheaded and need to drink a lot of water otherwise you feel like you're going to pass out. I don't know how they do it!
Here's a demonstration of what the Beatbox twins can do:
And here's some of our participants! Farzan at Naseby:
Younus and Forid at Hutton:
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