Developing leadership skills in the Role of Emerging Music Leader

Having the opportunity to make leadership suggestions and decisions in a safe learning environment

I feel that I have had rapid personal development through my role as an emerging music leader on Positive Labels Birmingham Project. My decision-making ability has developed where I’ve had to make decisions on the spot in the session to positively impact the group.  For example, there have been sessions where participants aren’t as engaged or as enthusiastic as usual; I’ve had to make the decision to engage them within the group activity. I’ve developed in my leadership skills where the project has given me the opportunity to lead a song writing session. I had to ensure that the participants completed the activity set and try to push them to their maximum capability of music creation whilst offering support and gentle steering of their collaborative work to ensure that everyone’s voice has been heard. I had to make sure every participant was equally included in the session and no one was left out. That session was a brilliant success for the participants where they managed to write a whole song with music and lyrics that will then be recorded as part of the project so they can go away with a song created and performed by them.

Rewarding results

The position has therefore been incredibly rewarding as every session, I see participants develop further in their musical abilities and in personal development including their enthusiasm for music and their teamwork together. For example, in the sessions everyone tries new things. There are participants who sat quietly at the start of the project, and refused to sing. In the course of the project they have sung live in front of an audience of parents and they now sing and write lyrics with the group in sessions. It’s very encouraging to hear participants say they feel comfortable being creative in the sessions because no one is judging them there. I feel a great sense of achievement when participants who seemed shy in the early stages open up and work with the whole group.

Further opportunities and challenges

Being an emerging music leader has presented me with further opportunities including a full day session with LAC group where we wrote lyrics and music to a song that the participants went away with having completed a full recording in just a day. This opportunity was fantastic for the participants who ended the session with a sense of achievement of writing and recording their own song. However it was also very inspiring for me as an emerging music leader who developed skills of patience , empathy and understanding of difficulties some young people are facing. Being involved in the process and creation of a song for participants who wouldn’t normally be confident enough to express themselves through music was really eye opening and motivating to continue develop my music leader skills.

Blog is written by Joe Jackson, emerging music leader on the Project Positive Labels Birmingham.