Unit 59 - Music in the community

Music project application

Project overview

The project will involve music workshops, which will be led over a 6 week period to blind and partially sighted children and young people. The workshops/project will be in collaboration with LOOK UK which is a charity that supports visually impaired young people and their families. The project aims to build many transferable skills for the young people and also provide an enjoyable experience.

Benefits of the music workshop project

There are many different benefits to a music workshop and project such as building confidence, communication and listening skills. These skills are transferable which means that the young people will be able to use them in other situations. For example, the workshops may build the confidence of the young people which will enable them to speak out if they are having problems in school, college, etc. For some of the young people, there may be a chance to lead part of a workshop which could help improve their confidence massively but for others it may just be a case of actively participating in all of the exercises in the workshop.  The workshop also will benefit the young people as it will provide them with an enjoyable experience which they can look forward to when they finish school. It is evident that music workshops have been a great benefit to people in the past as they have provided many opportunities to people of all abilities which include boosting skills and creating performances. This is also what this music project aims to do. 

About Reaction Music

Reaction Music is a community interest company (CIC) which was set up by Kevin Bowman. They offer music workshops to people of all ages and abilities across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Their clients include the NHS, mental health patients, youth groups and care homes. These music workshops can provide therapy to the patients and act as a social prescriber to help to improve the conditions of the participants. 

How can the workshop work with LOOK?

Music workshops are a proven way of helping people to build confidence and can bring together people who are from different areas of the community. It is very common that visually impaired children are isolated within a mainstream school and can suffer from a lack of confidence and poor social skills. Through the music workshop project, the children will be able meet people who are in a similar situation to themselves and share experiences. This can then lead the young people to forming friendships with their peers in the group.  The group will also be able to develop their confidence throughout the workshops, working on tasks over the course of the 6 sessions designed to develop problem solving, team working and social interaction. 

Project plan

Workshops will run for six weeks starting from July 9^th. All workshops will start at 4:30pm and will finish at 5:15pm (each workshop lasts 45 minutes). Schedule is as follows:

Monday 9^thJuly

Monday 16^thJuly

Monday 23^rdJuly

Monday 30^thJuly

Monday 6^thAugust

Monday 13^thJuly

All workshops will be held in the Performance Studio at The Chapel Arts Centre, The Royal National College for the Blind, Venns Lane, Hereford, HR1 1DT. The room is quite large and is a perfect place for the workshops to be held.

The overall budget for the project is £1000 which will be separated and spent on different things.

£100 x6 – for each workshop to cover venue hire, transport, etc.

£20 x6 – admin costs for each workshop

£280 – equipment and other resources if required