Overview of the music project
Upon starting this unit, I didn’t have much knowledge about community music and didn’t know much about what sort of things happen in s music workshop. This is because I have never really been involved in music making before apart from a few occasional lessons in primary school and the completing the singing unit as part of this course.
At the start of this unit, I carried out some research into what music in the community is, its benefits and some community music organisations in the local area. I learnt a lot from this research and presented my findings in a PowerPoint presentation.
During some of my performing arts sessions, I was able to think of and practice some potential exercises for the music workshop. I was then able to lead my peers through a series of exercises as a pilot workshop. The feedback that I received from the pilot workshop was to stay calm and relaxed when leading the session. This is because if I seem relaxed, it will make it easier for the participants to relax too. This is something that I will keep in mind when I am leading the workshop.
Alongside these sessions, I worked with Kev, who works for Reaction Music, to gather a better understanding of what goes on in a music workshop and what we were going to be doing in the workshop. He was also able to give me direct feedback on what works and what doesn’t work within workshops. I was able to have a session with Kev where we sat down and went through all of the activities that we wanted to put in the workshop. We worked on a piece to teach the group for the second half of the session. I found these sessions really helpful and they made me feel more confident about leasing the workshop alongside Kev.
On May 14th we facilated the workshop for young people with a visual impairment in partnership with the charity LOOK UK. Before the workshop began, I was quite nervous because this is something that is way out of my comfort zone but once the workshop started to get going, I became more relaxed and the nerves started to ease. I remembered that this was one of the feedback points that I was given after the pilot workshop. I noticed that as the workshop went on, the group started to become more relaxed and got more involved with the workshop.
We would like to develop this workshop into a full project and would take many aspects into account when doing so. One of the main things that we would take into consideration is the feedback that we got from the participants. According to the evaluation forms, some participants felt the same at the end of the workshop as they did at the beginning. When designing the project, this is something that we need to take into consideration and think about when designing the activities. Having said that, none of the participants decreased in mood from the beginning to the end of the workshop which means that the workshop must have met its aims of being fun and making sure that everyone gets involved.
I believe that the aims of the workshop were met during the session. The aims were to develop many different skills such as communication and listening skills. However, to develop these skills even further, I think that the group would certainly benefit from taking part in a full music workshop over a 6 week period. I saw a difference in how the participants were from the start of the workshop compared to the end and I think that carrying out workshops over a 6 week time period would have a massive positive impact on the lives of the young people.
In conclusion, this project has enabled the young people to begin to build their confidence, communication and listening skills. It has also given them a chance to meet new people who they may have never met before. By expanding the project, it will allow for a continuation of all of these things to occur and will make a long lasting positive impact on their lives because they will be able to apply these skills to many situations such as school or college where they may be going through a tough time. The skills that they have learnt from the workshop will enable them to speak up and make changes if they require it.
I believe that the aims of the workshop were met during the session. The aims were to develop many different skills such as communication and listening skills. However, to develop these skills even further, I think that the group would certainly benefit from taking part in a full music workshop over a 6 week period. I saw a difference in how the participants were from the start of the workshop compared to the end and I think that carrying out workshops over a 6 week time period would have a massive positive impact on the lives of the young people.
In conclusion, this project has enabled the young people to begin to build their confidence, communication and listening skills. It has also given them a chance to meet new people who they may have never met before. By expanding the project, it will allow for a continuation of all of these things to occur and will make a long lasting positive impact on their lives because they will be able to apply these skills to many situations such as school or college where they may be going through a tough time. The skills that they have learnt from the workshop will enable them to speak up and make changes if they require it.
Yes, the socialising at the end of the workshop was an important element for all of the group because, as you say, it gave them an opportunity to meet other visually impaired youngsters.
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