Online Exhibition Opportunity - Drake Music In Translation

For Drake Music In Translation, we are seeking to commission 2 artists
with personal experience of disability to collaborate with Drake Music
artist / curator in residence, Melanie Clifford, on a new online commission
investigating translation and interpretation.

We are interested in commissioning artists who work in any medium that
can be exhibited via an accessible online platform, including, but not limited
to: music, text, sound, image, performance for video and / or a conceptual
approach to networked media and collaboration.

The starting point for the commissioned work(s) will be a 1 minute silent video
by Melanie Clifford, which will be audio described.

Across 4 weeks in March 2011, the 3 artists will use online communication
tools to explore translation and interpretation in their work. During this period,
some of their ideas / conversations / work-in-progress will be posted to
commission-specific pages of the forthcoming, new Drake Music website. At
the end of this process the final piece(s) will be exhibited online via the Drake
Music website, launching our New Commissions programme, 2011.

DM will undertake to publicise and host the final piece, and each artist will receive a small honorarium of £400 for their work.

To apply, please send your CV + up to 3 examples of your work, documented
in digital format (or link to website where examples can be found) + a brief
statement of your interest in the theme of translation and interpretation. We
can accept attachments up to 25MB in most digital formats.

Please contact us if you have any questions about your application, the
project, or Drake Music.

Applications and enquiries by email to: info@drakemusic.org

The deadline for applications is 5pm, Monday 7th February 2011.

This commission is open internationally.

Commissioned artists should be available to work online during the period
28th February - 25th March 2011.

For more information on Melanie Clifford: www.melanieclifford.net
Prior to website release, keep up to date with Drake Music via: http://
drakemusicblog.blogspot.com

Launching our New Commissions programme 2011

The Drake Music New Commissions programme is designed to provide opportunities for musicians, composers and artists with disabilities to develop new work in an integrative, critical context. We are particularly interested in exploring process and participation in the production of new work, and in encouraging cross-disciplinary dialogue and socially engaged practice.

Drake Music is part of the wider cultural activity of re-imagining (dis)ability and diversity via arts and music. We are intent on using the opportunity of commissioning new work to inspire contemporary critical debate.

Join our mailing list for details of new projects as they happen! info@drakemusic.org

New Website will be ready to go soon!

We are completely redeveloping our website into a new inclusive resource, for musicians, composers, artists, learners, teachers, participants and audiences. The new site, along with our new look, is currently being tested and will be launched shortly.

Music Mentoring programme in London

Looking for one to one support in music making? Or maybe you are already a professional musician looking for new ways to express yourself creativly?
We are looking for Mentees to join our FREE Mentor programme. More details can be found here www.drakemusicproject.org/newsdetail.asp?nstoryid=162

NW Update

Adult Work:

Sheffield University

Sheffield University are funding one-to-one tutorial support for Ray de Gussa until Christmas. Depending upon Rays attainments this is likely to continue in 2011. One of the main outcomes of the module will be to perform a short improvised solo. This outcome will be assessed by an improvisation test including a practical and song writing component. Ray will be given a stimulus, e.g. a chord sequence, 1 week before his exam. During the exam itself, the chord sequence is played again and Ray will be expected to play a melody over the top of the chord sequence. Fil Hill will be advising the University on how a student using AMT can be measured against this outcome.

Jigsaw

Jigsaw is a social and sports group for young disabled people living in Bury. The group caters for around 30 disabled people aged between 13 and 30 years of age with a range of physical, learning and behavioral impairments.

Jigsaw have commissioned Drake Music to deliver an exciting pilot 4 week course for up to 20 members of Jigsaw from October 2010 until December 2010. Following this both Jigsaw and Drake Music will provide feedback about how the pilot went, and Jigsaw will make a decision about whether they wish to purchase 18 further sessions. Feedback so far has been very positive and it’s likely further sessions will be purchased.

Stockport CP

These weekly sessions are continuing to be of immense value to Stockport CP participants. The Prospectors have performed at the Alma Lodge Hotel in October for Stockport MBC “Valuing health, Valuing people” conference. They are also gigging at the Trafford Centre in December 2010.

Ramp it Up Projects

Music Services in St Helens are funding Drake Music to run a 16-week music course throughout the Autumn term for Key Stage 4&5 pupils at a local Special School. The project will involve 15 two hour workshops, 1 performance and 1 recording, training teachers and local music associates/therapists. The workshops will encompass one to one sessions as well as group activities to make certain that all the pupils are meaningfully involved.

An mp3 of the final piece of music created will give participants a record of their achievements, inspire other disabled people and promote both our partner organisations and ourselves.

They are very impressed with the quality of our work and have helped us to source two of the schools we will be working with as part of our national “Ramp it Up” programme.

Training

We have delivered half day training to a special school in North Wales around the Soundbeam and we are in negotiations with St Helens Music Services regarding future training days and/or a conference on inclusive music making.

Funding

We have recruited Alison Jones for 5 days to secure money from local/regional smaller trusts and help research sources of funding for Ramp it Up/other projects in the North West. Alison will also be working on an Awards for All bid to develop a programme of work in the North West.

Drake Music student has GCSE success!

Talented Drake Music student Jordan Andow has achieved his goal of passing GCSE Music. Jordan, who attends the City Academy in Bristol, had previously worked with Drake Music (SW) on a range of performing and composing projects. He has been supported over the past two years by Jonathan Westrup, Drake Music Curriculum Development worker.

Jordan’s achievement is made even more remarkable for the fact that he nearly didn’t take the course. A mixture of timetabling clashes and other pressures meant he considered having to drop his favourite subject. However, the school stepped in to fund one-to-one support from Drake Music and the result is a fantastic outcome both for Jordan, and for music education generally in this country. Jordan is soon to start college and plans to continue making his own music.

Drake Music South West Update

Sing Up
Drake Music have been working in partnership with Sing Up to make singing accessible to every child, in particular students who face significant physical or communication barriers. We've made a short film about this work. You can watch it here:



Barrs Court Music Motivator
The Drake Music SW team have completed the Barrs Court Music Motivator project funded by Youth Music and delivered in partnership with Barrs Court School and Music Pool, Herefordshire. Drake Music produced 6 schemes of work for the school. We took 6 units written by QCA and made them more accessible for students and staff by creating supporting resources using Clicker 5 software, Powerpoint and by creating audio CD's containing sound effects, backing tracks etc. The project has also included a considerable amount of staff training on subjects such as using Clicker5 and powerpoint for music making, soundbeam2 and setting up a PC to play and record sound.
Barrs Court have been extremely pleased with the project and have decided to engage Drake Music to complete another 6 units of work over the next year.
We will also be working with Youth Music over the next year to develop access to the resources for other special schools.

Gloucester Music Service
Drake Music SW have been engaged by GMS to deliver participation and training in accessible singing in every special school in Gloucestershire during the summer term. We will also be training GMS staff in accessible singing. We will be reporting back to GMS in August on the best way to deliver music making in these special schools in the future.

RAMP it Up! Real Accessible Musical Participation
This creative music project is running this summer term at St Roses school, Stroud, Claremont Primary and Claremont Secondary. Students at all schools will take part in a series of music workshops and compose and learn a piece of music which will be performed in a sharing at the end of the project. We are also working in partnership with the schools to ensure the longer term delivery of accessible music education and will be training teachers and support staff.
This project will delivered at another four schools in the South West next academic year and we will shortly be inviting schools to apply to run the project in their school.

Emersons Green Afterschool Music Club
A new integrated after school music club started at Emersons Green School in June, led by Drake Music. Funding has been secured from Aiming High funds, South Gloucestershire Council, to run the club until the end of 2010.

Summer Playschemes
Drake Music are running music making sessions during July and August at Briarwood Summer Playscheme and Claremont Summer Playscheme. These sessions are open to all students at the schools and their siblings.

Vocal Force Project
Drake Music SW have delivered accessible singing training at schools in Oxfordshire and Berkshire and trained Vocal Force staff.

Funding
We have received generous donations from Serena White and Kitty Cavendish towards our work in the South West who raised sponsorship by running the Rome marathon and completing a skydive respectively. The donations will go towards our core costs and the new work at Barrs Court School. We also received donations from GASfest and Cardiff Legal Services both in memory of Jason Morris. We are extremely grateful for all these donations which make our work possible.

CDI
We are currently looking at ways of delivering the NOCN Introduction to Music Course at St Roses and piloting a new accessible BTEC music course at Claremont Secondary, both from September. For more information about the CDI please see the CDI blog

NW Update - May 2010

Italy Conference

Drake NW delivered a presentation, workshop and demonstration for Cassa della Musica Genova, Italy. Gemma delivered a presentation: Overcoming barriers - an innovative approach to teaching, learning and making music: The thirty-year experience of Drake Music , and Fil ran a workshop and demonstration.

Cassa della Musica has been running since 2007 and is dedicated to music teaching and playing, research and production. One of their directors, Andrea Masotti, has a background in music therapy and was keen to develop links and learn from our experience. Previously, in 2008 they hosted an International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), organized by Info Mus Lab - Casa Paganini of the Department of Computer and Information of the University of Genoa. This Conference made reference to innovative ideas about the use information technology with disabled people. Following this they were awarded funding to hold a conference about Disability, Music and Technology on 20 March 2010.

The conference had two goals:
1. Elaborate on the potentialities of Information Technology to support music education and to make the approach to music easier for all disadvantaged people;
2. Suggest the use of Information Technology both for music creativity and music therapy studies and practice.

The first part of the conference was hosted in the museum auditorium with about 100 participants. Other speakers included academics from the University of Genoa who spoke about Multimedia technologies for therapy and rehabilitation, and Therapeutic mediation: potential and limits of new technologies. A range of people attended - Health Educators, teachers, music therapists, health workers, and members of disability associations.

The second part was hosted in Cassa della Musica studio and consited of a workshop and demonstration. The workshop was for a small selection of disabled people, and was observed by parents and therapist via a live camara.

Both the presentation and practical workshops were well received and
Cassa della Musica are keen to work with us in again for future collaborations.




Sheffield University

Phil has been progressing well with Rays training program. It is quite apparent that Ray is very determined and committed to learning how to master the software and hardware needed to complete the course, as well as completing his actual coursework. Phil has made sure that Ray is empowered so he can be as independent as possible, but due to the complex nature of the software (Grid2) combined with Rays co-ordination difficulties, Ray will need continuing support both in terms of learning and problem shooting. We feel that Ray will not being able to keep up with
the demands of the course without continued support from an AMT
expert as very often he has come across problems that only
Phil can solve.

Sheffield University are buying us in to deliver further weekly training sessions until the end of this academic year. They will review Ray’s progress over the summer to determine if Ray has developed the necessary skills to formally register for a 20 credit module in September.

Stockport CP

These sessions are going really well, and the Prospectors are gigging as part of the Stockport Beer Festival on June 4th 2010. They have secured John Lewis sponsorship for a concert at Trafford Centre in December and confirmed sessions up until December 2010.

Camarata Project

The culminating cross-artform performance based on ‘songs of the earth’ took place on 26 March as part of Chester Performs 2010. With a brilliant Live VJ and a more inclusive choreographer (from Chester Dance), the finished result was superb. Nevertheless it would have been nice to also use a disabled dancer to empower and create a role model for the disabled children.

St Helens Music Service

St Helens Music Service are keen to develop a long term partnership between Drake Music and the teachers and the musicians already delivering peripatetic lessons etc in the same schools. The have suggested that we deliver a training day for local musicians, associates, tutors, and then possibly a 10 week project which includes teacher training within it – this might be more sustainable in terms of using the equipment in real live workshop situations.


Future work

Two local schools are applying to Youth Music to buy Drake in to deliver projects in September. GN will be approaching BOTW and IMW for future collaborations.

NW Update

Stockport CP
The weekly sessions are continuing to go well for both the beginners group and the performance group. We have brought in Sam Yates and Fil Hill to deliver these weekly sessions, giving them new energy and flavour. There will be a Christmas performance of lively electronica with a twist of festive spirit on Friday 18th December, 1.15pm at the Moore Top Pub, Stockport. Please contact gemmanash@drakemusicproject.org for more details.

Camarata
From January 2010 we are working with two schools in Chester (Dorin Park and Upton Heath) to deliver another series of mixed media workshops culminating in a cross-artform performance as part of Chester Performs, May 2010. Songs of the Earth will act as a stimulus for the project content, to compliment other aspects of the programme, such as Mahler’s das Lied von der Erde, which is based on the idea of the seasons.

Sheffield University
Ray De Grussa is a disabled person who has been given a place on Sheffield University’s Music and Creative Media course. Ray has a significant impairment and experiences physical barriers accessing this course. Since September 2009 we have been training and Ray and his Tutors in assistive music technology to enable Ray to start the Musical composition: styles and techniques next term. Fil Hill has been delivering the training, and advising the University on appropriate equipment. There were a few delays as it took some time for the University to order Ray’s equipment. We will be working with Ray again next term.

Individual Support
We are continuing to get individuals asking for music lessons. In some cases they have been able to use their individual budget to pay for these lessons. We have worked with two people so far and received very positive feedback. One individual is expecting to receive more funding to enable him to purchase more lessons per week from January onwards.

Digital Beginnings
We are continuing to work with two SEN schools in Wigan. One school is mainly for children who are autistic, and the other is mainly for children with physical impairments. The workshops are going well and are proving to be a very valuable resource in helping the schools meet their yearly targets. This is particularly relevant for one school, which is currently in special measures, and needs to meet various targets before April 2010. The schools have links with JBB Stadium, and are going to approach them for support and to arrange a visit for the children to get their inspiration. The Inset day is planned for January 2010.

Lancasterian School
We recently delivered an eight week MOO project culminating in a CD of exciting electronica and hip hop. The school loved the work so much that we are going to help the school apply for funding to deliver another project in either the spring or summer term.

Training
Music Leader North West have provided funding for professional development and networking for Drake associates, trainees and volunteers. Next year we will be organising specific training around soundbeam and live software, as well as another networking day for the NW team.

Future Partnerships
We are in discussions with various schools and organisations, such as Imperial War Museum, Band on the Wall, FutureEverything and Full Circle Arts, regarding exciting new projects, showcases and performance opportunities…. Watch this space!

South West News & updates

Emerald Ensemble 'Preludes' Project
Drake Music are working in partnership with the Emerald Ensemble on a new project commencing in Bristol next year. We will be delivering music workshops on mondays starting in the Spring term to children at Ilminster School, South Bristol. This is a mainstream primary school with an SEN unit attached and some of their pupils face significant physical barriers to participate in music. The Emerald Ensemble plan to run the project over 7 years using approached such as Hum & Drum, Kodaly, Dalcroze and Colour Strings

Brewery Arts
We are working in partnership with the Brewery Arts Centre and Gloucestershire Youth Service to run a pilot project of inclusive arts activities for young disabled and non-disabled people aged 11 - 16. Our Associate musicians will be collaborating with an animateur to create an original film and soundtrack in 6 one off workshops. The workshops will take place in Cirencester and Bourton on the Water on Saturdays through January and February 2010. The project is designed to provide short breaks for disabled young people and their carers and is funded by Gloucester County Council.

Claremont School
We have worked with Claremont School this term to help them raise funding to continue our successful programme of workshops with their students begun in 2000. The school have secured a grant from the Quartet Foundation to enable Drake Music to restart our work with the school in 2010

Digital Beginnings
Workshops commenced at Penrose School, Bridgewater, Somerset this term as part of Digital Beginnings. Penrose is a day Special School for children aged 2 - 19 years with severe and profound multiple learning difficulties. Alex Ivanovich and Clive Radford are working with four groups of students, 19 young people in total. The sessions will culminate in a performance in the Spring term.

Sing Up

We are currently editing a short film of, and evaluating the pilot project sessions delivered in the summer term. The first 5 songs for which accessible singing resources have been created will be available to download from the Sing Up Song Bank sometime in January. We are in the process of making resources for a further 10 songs. We are also in the process of planning training on accessible singing both internally within Sing Up, and externally.

Barrs Court Music Motivator

Alex is continuing to create resources, lesson plans and to train teachers and local musicians at Barrs Court School in Hereford as part of this Youth Music funded project. This project is already proving extremely successful and could provide a new model of working for some of Drake Music's work in schools.

Training Day
Drake Music are running an open training morning at Colston Hall, Bristol in February 2010 for all music leaders, funded by Music Leader South West. The session will give an overview of the work of Drake Music in the South West and an introduction to the use of assistive music technology for disabled musicians, as well as a chance for networking and skills sharing. During the afternoon there will be a 'closed' CPD session for all current Drake SW associates.

CDI

For information on the Curriculum Development Initiative, see the CDI blog

Fundraising
We have been successful in securing a grant of £3,000 from the Joyce Fletcher Trust for our schools programme in the South West. The work will be planned and delivered next year.

Conferences

Doug gave a presentation on the work of Drake Music at the 'Inclusion Inspires' conference, organised by Music Leader West Midlands at Birmingham Symphony Hall on 16th November. Jonathan and Gemma will be presenting on Drake Music's Curriculum Development Initiative at Music Learning Live on 25th February at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Doug has been invited to speak at and take part in a panel discussion focussing on successful partnerships at the South West Federation of Music Services conference in Torquay on 25th Janurary. Doug will also be presenting at the Bristol Music Educators Conference on 3rd Feb at the Colston Hall, Bristol.

St Rose's School
Our work with pupils at St Rose's School in Stroud has continued this term and has been well received by both students and staff. Fran Billington, headteacher, said that our work was excellent and extremely valuable however they are unfortunately no longer in a financial position to pay for our services in the immediate future. The school hopes to continue their relationship with Drake Music in the future and we are looking at alternative funding for the work.

Drake Music gears up for PQASSO

Hi everyone,

I would like to share with you that I have been at the Implementing PQASSO training on the 29.and 30.September 2009.
PQASSO is a quality assurance system for Voluntary Organisations that will not only improve the systematic working of an organisation but is also recognised as a quality mark that qualifies us for local government funding.
In the near future we will set up a PQASSO working group, that will gather the evidence for the 12 quality areas of PQASSO, which are planning, governance, leadership and management, user-centred service, managing people, learning and development, managing money, managing resources, communications and promotion, working with others, monitoring and evaluation and results showing that Drake Music operates according to the requirements of a quality mark.
So... what this space...

All the best,
Christine :-)

Digital Beginnings update

The inter-regional, Youth Music funded 'Digital Beginnings' project is now up and running in the North West, East Mids and will start soon in the South West. For regular updates please check out the separate Digital Beginnings Blog which currently features posts from Merlyn (NW) and Alex (SW) as well as a growing list of free / cheap software for use in schools.

The Digital Beginnings project has a separate blog so that it can be used by pupils, teachers and anyone else involved in the project.

Doug

NW News & Updates......

Consultancy work at Sheffield University
Ray is a disabled person and a keen music enthusiast producing his own
music using Cubase and Grid 2 for several years. He has been trying
to get a place on Sheffield University’s Music and Creative Media
course for the past three years. Ray has a significant impairment and
experiences physical barriers accessing this course. Sheffield
University employed us to write a report with recommendations in how
to make the course accessible to Ray.

Based on our recommnedations, Ray has now been accepted on their Music
and Creative Media course. This is a real achievement for Drake Music as
well as Ray. Sheffield University have proposed Ray and his Tutors
undertake training and preparation during the semester 1 (September to
December 2009). Following which Ray completes one module in Semester
2 (January to May 2010): Musical composition: styles and techniques.

The Prospectors Performance
The Prospectors, Stockport CPs resident band, performed at Granville
House on the 7th August. Their regular audience enjoyed a lively
collection of classic pop covers and upbeat remixes of old school
house tunes.

Stockport CP beginners
These weekly sessions are continuing with more focus on individuals
and their development and using new techniques to ensure full access.

Individual Support
We are still receiving requests from individuals wishing to purchase
one to one music lessons. We have successfully delivered 4 weekly
sessions for an individual in Stockport and received very positive
feedback.

Digital Beginnings
We are continuing to work with two schools in Wigan. One school
primarily deals with children who are autistic and the other deals
with children that have significant physical impairments. The 5
observation sessions went well and we will be delivering the sessions
in September. One school has approached JBB Stadium for support and
to arrange a visit for the children to get their inspiration. We have also extended the project to include Lancasterian school in Didsbury and will start work there in September.

We Are Here
The sound and mixed media installation based on a theme of 'Journeys
and Maps' was a huge success. Linking in with multicultural and
multilingual communities from Gorton Education Village, the six pieces
focused on 6 geographic regions of the world: China (SE Asia) and
Africa, Carribean and Pakistan/India, Eastern Europe and Middle East.
We are hoping the success of this project will lead to further
partnership work with Band on The Wall

Re-mix
As part of Full Circle Arts animation / film project, we delivered an
exciting and fun workshop for eight young disabled people. We
facilitated the production of four pieces of music to accompany
animation produced during the project, which was then aired at the
celebratory event at the Zion Arts Centre on the 26 July. To see the
work, please see vodpod.com/watch/1974164-remix-animation-shorts.

Training
Music Leader NW have agreed to support us with associate team training
for this financial year. Our team training day will take place on 17
September, and will be an opportunity for our associates to network
and reflect. Doug Bott will be facilitating discussions around best
practice and new technologies. Following this we will be organizing
small group training sessions on specific technology such as Soundbeam
and Live.

Youth Music Mentees (Camden, London)

We are looking for young disabled musicians aged 15-25 living, studying or working in the London Borough of Camden to take part in our exciting new mentoring programme.

You will get the opportunity to work with one of three music mentors for 10 hours (over 5 weeks), with support from our music technologist.  Our mentors are all highly experienced disabled musicians.

The mentor programme will help you:

*Set goals

*Encourage areas of talent

*Build your confidence

*Develop you as an artist

* Support your progression in music

Whether you play an instrument, sing, use Assistive Music Technology or compose, either as a solo artist or as a band or collective, the mentoring programme could support you (for example in highlighting areas for development, making connections and networking, setting up your own gigs or music installations, broadening your existing influences or listening, widening your audience, career development and personal development).

This FREE opportunity is open to young disabled musicians working, living or studying in the Camden borough who:

*Are aged 15-25

*Play a musical instrument (including Assistive Music Technology such as Soundbeam or switches), or sing or compose music

*Have a keen interest in their own development as an artist

*Are considering music either as a career or as a route to personal development, or both

*Are either a solo artist or a group

*Are passionate about music!

To apply for a place on the programme or to apply on behalf of a young person you work with please request an Information Pack by calling 020 7739 5444, 

by email melanieclifford@drakemusicproject.org or 

by post to Drake Music, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA

London updates

Connecting across Difference

We have now completed the evaluation process for this project.  As you know, the final performance was in March 2009 and the whole project was a huge success.  We are currently feeding back to funders and will use the evaluation documentation for future funding bids and to inform the way we work in London and in other regions. 

Holloway Arts Festival

Anya Ustaszewski and Gary Day have just completed a series of 5 workshops at The Bridge School as part of this project.  The children there have composed a piece of music plus a percussion part which accompanied the Holloway Arts Festival procession on 4^th July (the percussion part was performed by children from two other schools in the borough). 

The theme for the day (which included projects led by other artists and organisations including costume-making, poetry-writing and other fun activities) was the score of Alice Through the Looking Glass, a musical play composed by Stephen Daltry.  Gary and Anya had the opportunity to visit Stephen at his home prior to starting the work to go through his score and discuss his inspiration/composition. 

Youth Music Mentor programme

Drake Music has been commissioned by Sound Connections as part of their Youth Music Mentor programme.  It is funded by Youth Music and each partner organisation is paid a fee of £7500 to deliver mentoring to 10 young musicians in a specific borough.  We are representing Camden, however by prior arrangement we have left 3 spaces open to students at George Green school in Tower Hamlets.  

Anya, Victoria and Melanie (our 3 CAD associate musician mentees) are the adult mentors delivering the programme.  It is a really exciting step in their development and we will bring in Daryl and Lynn (our 2 CAD mentors) to offer some support to them over the course of the programme.  It is also a chance for the 3 mentors to take the lead on the project and have a more substantial input into the development and planning of this kind of work.  Nick Wilsdon will continue to work as music technologist on this project and support the young musicians with any practical or technical advice.  We are currently in the planning stages and hope to start the delivery of the mentoring at the end of summer/beginning of September.

Melanie will also take on the role of project co-ordinator for this project, with support from me as I am currently managing the London programme.

The Orpheus Centre

Following the success of our 9-week series of sessions led by Gary at the Orpheus Centre a residential performing arts centre run by Richard Stilgoe (one of our patrons), I met with Danny Bravermen who is head of their learning/education and outreach work.  I am currently liaising with them and planning a programme for the whole of the academic year 2009-10.  Their focus is on personal development and independence, so this is an interesting partnership for future work.  

THAMES/Beatrice Tate School

Beatrice Tate school was one of the partners for CAD.  We have been approached by THAMES to deliver a further project at the school on their behalf (as they currently do not have any practitioners specialising in music for disabled children/young people).  I am liaising with THAMES about costs (as the cost to the school is below our current full-cost recovery, THAMES may choose to subsidise some of the work).  The project would be for 4-week chunks of work at the start of each term (so a total of 12 weeks) 2 sessions per week. 

Disability Awareness Event

Victoria Oruwari performed at the Disability Awareness Event at Guy’s Hospital on 24^th June.  This performance has been paid for by Guy’s Hospital and she will be sang a 10 minute set of 3 varied songs.  The audience and staff were hugely impressed.

POSSIBLE FUTURE WORK

• Roundhouse: we have given them a quote for a joint project, there will also be other opportunities in the future for partnerships.
• Individuals: We currently get quite a few enquiries for individual sessions.  Some of these might be paid for by the individual musician through new ways of receiving social services support.  Unfortunately at present we aren’t able to offer anything for people who aren’t able to pay for the service (or fund it somehow).  Ideally I would like to look at developing options for individual sessions/adult group work that might be open for people to attend.  At the moment we don’t have the capacity to even start to plan this work.
• George Green: I am in liaison with George Green school who want some more work in the new academic year.  We will finalise what they want within the next few weeks (before the end of term) and hope to start delivery in September.
• I am submitting a funding application to Goldsmith’s Company Charity to support the programme in the London region, at present we are only working for fees and always at full cost.

Anna (Betty) xx

NW News & Updates......

The Prospectors Performance
The Prospectors, Stockport CP’s resident band, performed at the Stockport Beer Festival on the 29th May.  With a few new members and a good sized audience they performed an energetic and inspiring set of
classic pop covers and remixed nineties dance tunes. We are hopefully performing at the Mind Body Boogie festival in August, more details to follow.

Stockport CP beginners

These weekly sessions are continuing with more focus on individuals and their development. The participants have requested a performance for friends and family at the end of term.

Consultancy work at Sheffield University
We have been employed to provide some Consultancy for Sheffield University to enable them to make the contents of their Music and Creative Media course accessible to a potential student who has significant impairments. Ray has been trying unsuccessfully to access this course for 3 years.

On the 9th June we attended an initial consultation with both the student and staff to establish the physical barriers this student faces and current structure of the course and technical set-up.  We are now producing a report detailing the software and hardware needed to remove barriers as well as suggestions for adapting course material.  This report will include information on software/hardware costs and providers and research into the various options available.

Individual Support
A couple of individuals have approached us about using their individual budget to buy in our services to deliver one to one music lessons.  We have been booked to deliver 9 weekly sessions for an individual in Stockport starting on the 3rd July

Digital Beginnings
We are now working on a joint project with two schools in Wigan.  One school primarily deals with children who are autistic and the other deals with children that have significant physical impairments. We have started the 5 observation sessions and will begin delivering the sessions in September. We have funding for 2 terms and the schools are looking into finding funds via their connections with Wigan rugby club for a 3rd terms work. 

We Are Here

We are working in partnership with legendary Manchester venue Band on the Wall and Gorton Education Village with pupils from mainstream and SEN schools to produce a sound and mixed media installation in the school. The project will be based on a theme of 'Journeys and Maps', linking in with the schools' multicultural and multilingual intake. The six pieces created will focus on 6 geographic regions of the world:  China (SE Asia) and Africa, Carribean and Pakistan/India, Eastern Europe and Middle East. The project is lasting 2 terms and is entirely funded by Band on the Wall.

Re-mix

We are delivering our first project in partnership with local disability arts organisation Full Circle Arts. Re-mix is a summer project for disabled young people with creative workshops leading to a celebratory event where the work will be shared. If this project is successful, we hope to offer more music workshops from September.

Training

We are in the final negotiations with Music Leader NW who will support us with associate team training for this financial year. This should allow the NW team to have a few days training before term starts in September and to then meet once a term.

East Mid's in the sun! (for now...)

Hello... busy times here so just a quick update with what's happening now, more to come! Music Our Way which is a music tech course for older young people in the region is going really well with some interesting pieces of music emerging. Over 35 people have been involved so far and the project will end with a performance night in Mansfield at The Old Library in July..

Drake Music and Salamanda Tandem

Arts Work with People in Nottinghamshire Seminars

14th and 15th July 2 - 5pm

Dear Arts, Health and Care Professionals

If you or anyone you know is interested in arts, and disability work in Nottinghamshire do get in touch!

In order to contribute we would like to invite you to one of our consultation seminars:


14th July 2 - 5pm at Drake Music - Blue Water Studios in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire
or
15th July 2 - 5pm at the Salamanda Tandem offices in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire.

Its all about how we can help support and develop a fertile arts and disability practice in Nottinghamshire over the next few years. We have been commissioned by Nottinghamshire County Council's Arts Service, to undertake a consultation project with both experienced professionals and other artists who may be new to the field but are interested in reaching disabled people through the arts in Nottinghamshire. For development to happen we need to look at what the barriers are for arts, health and carer professionals working in Nottinghamshire - e.g. work opportunities, funding, volunteering, training issues etc and would therefore like to know your thoughts.

Salamanda Tandem and Drake Music are conducting the seminars, and there will be a series of focused questions to discuss. If you can't make either event but would like to contribute, we can send out the questions to you via email, or if you'd rather have a chat by telephone that would be great too.

Please forward to anyone you feel would like to make a contribution.

RSVP by July 10th 2009.

Warm Wishes

Shirley Novak

East Midlands Programme Manager Drake Muisc

Two Tick

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share the good news that Drake Music was awarded in April with the "Two Tick - Positive About Disabled People" symbol to use with all our recruitment and publicity. This symbol is awarded by Job Centre Plus to promote organisations which comply to their 5 comittments. You can find further information about this here

This award is reviewed annually.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone!
Christine

Tromsø Videos

Footage of the three sections of Havmannen's Sønn featuring Charlotte's compositions are now on YouTube:

The sønn is born

The sønn plays with the birds

His mother is alone

Bear in mind, this was performed in temperatures of about -8˚ !

If you're unaware of the background to this work, check out previous posts on this blog:

I can't believe they ride bikes here

I found heaven on earth!

Doug

Free software

There is now a Digital Beginnings blog to document this programme of work which you can link to from the blog list on the right.

The first post lists free software which can be of use to schools and other musicians. We plan to add to and edit this list as the project progresses.

Doug