SING CITY SUMMER FROM BRIGHTER SOUND

Sing City Summer seems to be passing so quickly and we are already looking back on some of our summer activity, some great festival experiences and our summer residency at Band On The Wall and all the fantastic music that we made!

 

Our talented group of Singers , song writers and musicians came full of enthusiasm and energy! and inspired a wonderful 3 days , full of creativity. It was an absolute pleasure , as always to work with our young people and support their fantastic ideas and help develop their writing and singing skills.It has been great to see the progress in all our participants since the project first started, and even more wonderful to receive some great feedback from participants and parents alike.

 

The kids had a great time singing at the Lowry and the Warhorse show. They have watched the film at home last week to learn more about the war and the story, and doing lots of research to find out more. Thanks again for giving them the opportunity, they felt so privileged and were all dressed up for the show last night. I do believe it is helping them a lot to spend time with kids their own age and who also shared the same passion and hobbies. in the meantime they have been writing new songs at home which they all sing together and it is so great to see them trying to harmonise their voices. I was surprised to see them playing the piano yesterday for one of the songs and they looks so confident which is great as normally she is super shy. They are benefitting a lot from these sessions. Being together and spending time together with her sisters and friends is doing them all a lot of good and bringing them much closer.

Yesterday when I watched them singing at the 3.30pm session, they( our girls and all the other members) were all having a great time, singing, moving with the music. Thanks again for the great job and making them all feeling special.

....From one of our mums who brings her four daughter to Sing City.

 

Here are some comments from our Young People...

Hello! Just thought I'd let you know what I think about Sing City

The sessions are quite relaxed and comfortable to work in but because we all share an interest in song writing there's nobody messing about and its a good environment to learn in. I love to sing so when I came across it I had to join. As someone who already writes songs, I wanted the support to improve my work and the knowledge gained from just one session has helped me immensely. Franco is obviously an expert and it is great to be taught by him Thank you,  

As a musical theatre student, I have always been told that I must sing in a certain way for years, but Sing City has enabled me to discover my own voice and then go onto to develop my vocal and my song writing abilities. After just three weeks so far, I have happily walked away with many vital lessons that I will continue to use outside of the programme. It is an incredibly warm and friendly environment, where anybody is welcome and I would thoroughly recommend this scheme to everybody.

 

During our residency we challenged the entire group to learn four chords on the ukelele and then work within smaller groups to write a song using those four chords and perform their new pieces together. it was brilliant to give a chance to each participant to pick up an instrument.

Another of our writing briefs was to respond to the world of pop music where there's currently a lot of demand for songs to have a big sing a long moment in the music. We listened in to pop songs such as Ed Sheeran's Sing! and learnt the song as a group and then decided to come up with our own 'Sing City' Anthem. Our participants worked in three different groups on this particular brief - and came up with some really great chorus parts that we managed to merge together to form a huge Sing City Medley!

 

Once again we were able to offer each participant a chance to record their own material and covers with the support from Singer Songwriter Liam Frost and we were also able to make sure that each participant received one on one vocal tuition from our Choir Leader Yvonne Shelton .Our residency culminated in our now established Sing City Writes Night!

It was great to have parents and friends come down and see all the performances from our young people and hear all that they had been working on during the residency.

We also shared the stage with another Brilliant Project at Brighter Sound called On Top Of The World. On Top Of The World has been running successfully as a project for 8 years! stretching all across Manchester. The participants from the music workshops in Tameside came to our last day of the residency and rehearsed their material alongside our group , ready for a wonderful event of sharing on the Band On The Wall stage!   http://www.brightersound.com/young-people/top-world-back-tameside/

 

Our summer didn't end there, and it was only a few days rest before our singers had to get back in to gear and get their festival heads screwed on!

We were very lucky to be involved in two brilliant fesitvals this year! Sing City performed a brilliant set at the Bridgewater Hall Summer Festival

and we took over the band stand stage for a full 2 hours! at Dig The City festival in Manchester's city centre.

We also took our group to perform at another Fantastic Brighter Sound Project at Whythenshawe Hall , Hall Of Sounds a residency of sonic workshops and a chance to get involved in some local history. Our singers teamed up with historic broadside ballads writer Jen Reid to perform a piece written all about the history of the hall - a 16th century timber framed building , owned by the Tatton Family for almost 400 years.

http://www.brightersound.com/latest-news/brighter-sound-sound-art-project-present-hall-sounds/

 

Our participants are currently taking part in Only Remembered with our sister choir at the Lowry 'Sing It Salford' The wonderful workshop activity is centred around commemorating World War One and is in partnership with the War Horse production currently showing at the Lowry!

 

As we look to Autumn , We look forward to taking part in some wonderful new projects about to start in the city, working with the Manchester Museum and the Wonderstruck Project . Zion arts Centre and Whitworth Art Galleries Video Nation Events.

As well as continuing our Sing City Writes Night and work shop sessions and getting ready to celebrate our First Birthday in October!