Havmannens sønn music

Just want to share some music with you.

This is one of the pieces that Charlotte is writing for the opening ceremony of the Northern Lights music festival in Tromsø, Norway in January. She composed it in Sibelius (using The Grid 2 and a Smartnav hands-free mouse) and it was recorded by musicians in Tromsø.

The boy in the story of  Havmannens søn has just turned into a seagull and flown away, so his mother's not too happy: listen

Doug

 

Dosh..!

Never enough of it!  heard to day Motorail are giving us some money to finish the album with Harry Head! I was crying into my G n T on Friday as 'computer says no' from the Awards For All people on that one so this has given me hope... Just wanted to share my news with you all.. have a great week!

BBC Children in Need bid

Hello Everybody.

I would like to invite discussion regarding our current bid to Children in Need that we are working on. The next deadline is 15 January, and it would be ideal if we could try and submit something before this, but if not, the next is 15 April. (There is a three month selection process between submission dates and the awarding of grants).

We would like to submit a further bid for the next financial year and for the next two following financial years of an 'interregional nature' - where in the first year of a project's running, the project starts in one region, as a 'model of good practice'. The merits of this project would then be used to establish it in a second region, so that the project consequently has two centres of operation. The following year, the project in the new location would then also become a 'model of good practice', and the merits of this would consequently be used to establish the project in a third location, and so on.

Today I spoke to our contact at the South West Office in Bristol, who remembered Drake Music - we were awarded a grant for 06-07 and 07-08 (for work in South West - I believe that they funded the south west prior to this too). Our contact advised me that although we were technically eligible for support, the committee are growing more stringent against awarding grants for work in schools, especially that which 'takes' pupils out of lessons.

Obviously it is more difficult to organise projects that fall outside of school hours and buildings.

As regional project managers, do you have any ideas about what we could do? Any thoughts and ideas regarding this would be extremely welcome! Do please use the blog to share them and help shape the bid.

For more information on the official guidelines and application systems, check http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/grants/guidance.pdf
it is a lengthy document but is well indexed.

Thank you all.
Roseanna

Camarata Project

Pupils from Dorin Park and Upton Heath School working together on a fantastic inclusive music project.

NW stuff

things are going really well with our new extended team of associates. here is an update on this term and plans for next......

manchester camerata partnership 

10 creative sessions working with Dorin Park (SEN) and a Upton Heath (mainstream) schools. we produced a piece based on the elements, starting with chaos (!) into fire, earth, air and water. the children designed the set and costumes, created the music and worked with a choreographer to produce a fantastic show at the bridgewater hall. will circulate some fab photos and we also had a group of students from manchester uni who have filmed the process for free. big thanks to christine for making the epic trip, despite the mammoth engineering works train journey.....

newfield school

our first school in lancashire, we have delivered 11 sessions with 2 small groups of pupils and were due to have a performance but unfortunately it got cancelled due to bad weather. we recorded a short sound collage of one of the groups we were working with and i will circulate this to everyone when i get it. this school paid for all the sessions as well as gemma s traineeship on the project. they are also paying for us to deliver 12 sessions next year continuing gemma s traineeship.

merefield school

we have delivered some very basic teacher training and 6 sessions with small groups of pupils. the music teacher is leaving in december so we are hoping they will buy us in to continue working with them. gemma is meeting with the school before christmas to use her fantastic sales charm.

stockport CP

the prospectors are doing a gig at the moor top pub on sat 20th dec of original pieces and popular covers. one of the lyrics apparently goes something like 'give us your money gordon brown coz i ain t got shit' (Yaz Shafi). vicky continues to work really well as a trainee with a beginners group on tuesdays. the beginners group is definitely continuing and we will hear from stockport this week as to whether the friday performance group will continue.

sheffield uni consultancy

the disability support service are paying us a wad of cash to do some consultancy work to make their course and equipment accessible for a new student. this is something that drake music should look into advertising our services to uni departments. gemma is creating an eflyer so you can all adapt and use.

dovestones college

new partnership with an arts college who are buying us in to deliver 6 sessions from january.

band on the wall and gorton education village

amazing manchester venue are paying us to deliver a taster inclusion project in feb/march. following on from success in this, we hope to continue this in a similar way to the camerata project towards a performance as part of band on the walls re-launch series. this also links into a bigger bid with them to commission disabled and non-disabled artists and musicians to work together on a new piece to perform with Mr Scruff in 2009

futuresonic festival

we are working with futuresonic and full circle arts to put in a bid to awards for all for a creative project with disabled and non-disabled musicians and VJs working together towards a piece as part of the main programme at futuresonic.

useless eaters

we are planning to get going on fundraising for this in jan as the new staff at imperial war museum north will start. still options for making this a national project but up for discussion at the mo.

more schools work

gemma sent round an eflyer to loads of schools and we have meetings booked with 4 schools in jan. st john vianney in manchester are finalising their awards for all award grant to work with us to submit before christmas.

nw team training

doug is coming from bristol on 6th jan to give more training to nw associates which is great. musicleader NW have also agreed to match fund us £1K in the next financial year or to fund a symposium event for people working in our field. they are also supporting us with travel costs for volunteers.

thats it for now....... lis and gemma xxxxx

Biomedical Music

To all Drake musicians, associates, staff and anyone else who's interested,

please use and abuse this entry (via your comments below) to discuss and generate ideas for what could potentially be a very interesting project.

The Wellcome Trust gives Arts Award grants to 'experimental arts projects that investigate biomedical science' and examine it's 'social, cultural, and ethical impact'. Read more here.

Carien & I are interested in making an application to this fund sometime early in 2009. So far we imagine that the project might:

• involve one or more art-forms in addition to music
• be appropriate for more mature musicians / artists rather than school-age children

Your thoughts please...

Doug

This is Bristol calling...

Dear all,

I'm all in favour of this sort of thing, so I'm going to put my money where my proverbial mouth is. I know that Doug recently wrote about goings on down here in Bristol, so I might just tell you briefly about Curriculum Development. My No.1 ongoing priority is finishing writing the NOCN accredited 'Introduction to Music' course, which features four units. I've already begun delivering a unit with one of our students, Bradley, at St Roses school in Stroud. Bradley is a fantastic student; intelligent, funny and talented, and he has worked very hard on completing the different assessment tasks.

In parallel with this work, I've kept up the task of communicating with key music providers - such as Trinity Guildhall - to try and get them onboard with engaging with our work and our students. It takes imagination on their part to see the possibilities of what can be achieved and I hope that in meeting experienced Drake musicians, such as Charlotte White, they will become increasingly energised in their support for musicians with disabilities.

Lastly: I attended the NAME conference in Birmingham in September and was deeply unimpressed by the seminar I watched relating to disabled musicians and assistive music technology. I've asked NAME if Drake can be considered for delivering a seminar at the 2009 conference.

I've blogged enough...best wishes

Jonathan

East Midlands..

Ok got that one of of the way.. What's been going on? Well I have been pestering the schools to take on sessions in both mainstream and special needs schools using SoundBeam as my introduction.. The result has been from July this year, so far:

7 Schools in Nottinghamshire have had on average 4 sessions each working with around 18 children in each school

4 day centres averaging 4 sessions each working on specific projects (including 'light and sound', 'Moved by Music')

Arts Week in Nottinghamshire: A week long activity including music technology for children with special needs making the week which stretched across 11 schools, accessible to all.

In other areas we have more or less completed an album with musician Harry Head, a project aimed at creating opportunities that has turned into a professional recording in a professional studio using professional musicians such as Jess Meek on Bass (Joan Armatrading, George Marinelli on Guitar (Bonnie Rait). We are waiting on some extra funding to complete the project but has been a huge success and a quality product as well as all the participants benefiting in a way they had never imagined such as Harry being trained to become an associate for Drake East Midlands.

Practitioners Day, 16th February in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council

A day to find out new and existing artists who will work with Drake on delivery in the region.'Skill Builders' will help us to seek out what's out there, and what training may be needed to work with people with disabilities. The day is funded by Nottinghamshire County Council

Leicester Cinemabilty Festival Drake East Midlands is working with the Pheonix Cinema Leicester and Richard Attenborough Centre to provide sessions as part of the run up to the film festival next March. This is to include music to film, archive and performance

Training for older children to deliver projects in the schools. We are providing training at Bluewater Studios, Ollerton to students from a secondary school in Nottinghamshire in how to use Soundbeam. They then will be able to deliver (with support from an associate) to other primary schools in the area. The training will have a certificate attached and go towards their final grades and has huge benefits in breaking down barriers.

More Schools are making daily enquiries to me about the work that Drake does in the East Midlands and I want to secure at least 4 regular schools before March of next year.. 

I could go on but just to give you an idea of where we are at in The East Midlands

Bye for now..

Marketing Skype conference call 09.12.2008, 2pm

The RPMs are invited to a Skype conference call about website, marketing, campaign, etc - to generate imaginative ideas that are 'quick, cheap and easy' to implement.

I look forward to speaking to all of you on next Tuesday, 9th December, 2pm and hearing your creative ideas and comments.

All the best,

Christine

South West shenanigans

The trouble with being so busy is finding the time to tell people about it all. So before I get too stuck into the affairs of the day here's a brief update on what's happening in the SW:

Sing Up

Alex is making resources for the Sing Up / Drake Music pilot project due to be happening at a few schools in Feb / March next year. He's making Clicker 5 sing! If you want to know more about this pilot project, you can read the original 2 project proposals here and here

Curriculum Development

Jonathan is piloting the National Open College Network music course we have written at St. Rose's School with Bradley Warwick. This takes place each Tuesday morning and so far it's going really well. We are not currently running any other music sessions at St. Rose's because there's not enough money.

Claremont School

Colin and Alex are running sessions for Claremont pupils on Thursday mornings only at present. Most of the work is currently based on the anatomical delights of 'Dem Bones...' Jonathan & Doug usually work in the new Drake office at Claremont each Thursday, so this is a great opportunity for the four of us to catch up.

Music for Tromso

Charlotte White, who is now studying at Hereward College near Coventry, is collaborating with Musicians from the SKUG Centre in Tromso, Norway to compose music for the opening ceremony of the Northern Lights Music Festival. Charlotte is sharing Sibelius, MIDI and mp3 files with the Norwegian team via Dropbox, and communicating with them via email & Skype. Charlotte and I will be attending the festival from 20th to 27th Jan 2009. We will be giving demos / presentations to various people from SKUG and the University of Tromso and Charlotte will also be doing a performance or two. 

Project Management

Funding apps, funding apps... Not a lot more to say really! Currently working with Carien & Jonathan on an £80k bid to Esmee Fairbairn to continue Curriculum Development funding, and also a £30k Youth Music 'Make It Sound' bid for a big project centered around Barrs Court School in Hereford. Better get on with it then....

More soon,

Doug

Manchester, here I come!

This Saturday evening, 29th November, I will have the pleasure to be in Manchester to see the performance at Bridgewater Hall.

Although the trains are going chaotic on weekends, I am very excited to go and I hope to support the NW team not only with Marketing material.

I look forward to seeing Lis and Gemma and being introduced to the 2 new associates.

I will let you know next week about my experiences at the event.
Have a nice week,
Christine :-)

face the music : compose the future

How exciting...

As the campaign in now officially launched, it is great to see that things are progressing. Not only on the just giving page ( http://www.justgiving.com/drakemusiccampaign) can you follow the donations coming in but also on our website is a line up of people, who are donating.

Personally, I find the abstract version of the remix and film quite cool. However, the different stages on the way until the video is fully revealed will be interesting, too.

I look forward to reading about what exciting things are happening in the regions .

I hope you all have a great week, (with no tummy bugs as they are not fun...)

Christine :-)