October 2010
Was a busy month, off to Germany for the InTakt conference on music and people with special needs, to present a 4-day workshop on 'an introduction to community rhythm circles'. We had a wonderful time - the group of workshop participants came from Turkey, Lithuania, Italy, and Germany; 1/3 were music teachers, 1/3 were students with hearing impairments, and 1/3 were people with special needs. Their musical backgrounds were drawn from a euro-pop group, a classical orchestra, and a body percussion group. So… no-one really understood anyone, but then of course, in the music, everybody did!
We had some members of Orchestra Esagramma - an entirely inspirational integrated orchestra from Milan - check them out:
And we were also fortunate to be joined by several members of the KeKeCa body percussion group, who I completely adored. They work with a university in Turkey which specialises in welcoming deaf students, and together they have formed the most energetic, creative, and entertaining body percussion group - ever!
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| The 'community rhythm circle' group at the InTakt conference, Dortmund. What a gorgeous bunch! (photo by Dilara Hancer) |
Once I was home again, there was no time to relax, as the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival was in full swing. There was a very full programme for the Buddy Beat, which included a series of workshops in the Renfrewshire festival hub, a disused shop unit that was taken over for the duration of the festival and turned into an arts venue. There were interactive performances for other mental health groups, such as ACUMEN in Barrhead, who were holding an afternoon's event about the power of music in mental health; youth workshops, and open community drum circles. I also gave two public talks - one on 'The forgotten power of music', held at Paisley museum, and another on the benefits of singing for the Gerontology special interest group at the University of the West of Scotland.
This was followed by a 10 day intensive training in drum circle facilitation with Arthur Hull - no rest for the wicked!
November…
…should have probably been spent in a small, dark, (quiet!) room, but there was still plenty of drumming to be done. Workshops continued with the Buddy Beat; at the State Hospital, and the fledgling 'Singing for the Brain' project (run as a collaboration with the Royal Alexandria Hospital geriatric psychiatric day hospital, and Alzheimers Scotland) was finding its wings.
One-off events included a workshop at Dykebar Hospital with members of the Buddy Beat - some of which had previously been in-patients, and who wanted to return and share their experiences with others. There was a presentation about music, rhythm and dementia for the Dementia Learning Forum in Fife, whose members were extremely encouraging in their response and enthusiasm for the possibilities of engaging people through music.
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| Buddy Beat at the Dementia Learning Forum |
The month rounded off with several cancelled events, due to the snow - a pattern that was to continue throughout December….
December
…although I did eventually manage (in between snowdrifts) to squeeze in an afternoon's musical training for nursing and activity staff from three BUPA care homes in Irvine. We looked at two forms of using music, one being more structured sessions, and the other involving more mobile, individualised musical interaction for those who may not be well enough to enjoy a 'workshop' format. It was very rewarding to get to try both these formats out with staff on the day, as they could directly see the effect that the music was having. The biggest response from the staff at the end was that they were going to be more confident in attempting to engage people with music in the future. Result!
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