NMPAT - our digital ensemble pilot session
Yesterday - 20th August - we ran our first proper formal attempt at putting together an "Inclusive/Digital Ensemble"..... with a particular focus for this first session on using the full range of technologies we have at our disposal here at Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT).
The session was run from our base here in Northampton and led by a specialist team comprising of Jan Hall (musician, SEND specialist, music therapist), Rebecca Price (musician, SEND specialist and lead on our Sound Control initiative), Emily-May Roebuck from NMPAT's "Reach the Stars" team, local musician Fred Claridge, and Chris Robinson from the Music and Performing Arts Department of Northampton College.
For this first pilot, we wanted to bring a group of PMLD students together.... certainly some of the most profoundly disabled young people currently working with us on various projects.... and see if we could bring it all together in a concentrated one-hour session. Certainly, a challenge to do it all in a single hour... but also reflective of the fact that this is about the right sort of timeframe for these young people to concentrate over and meaningfully interact with us and each other etc.
All the young people, except one, use wheelchairs, have limited movement, and are mostly non-verbal. We also had one young person (higher functioning Autism) who already works with us assisting on projects including our Relaxed Singalong programme.... who came along as an additional pair of hands to help run the session... and have a bit of an impromptu jam with Fred on their cajons after the main session had finished! The young people came with their parents/carers who stayed in the session and effectively took part as creative collaborators alongside the musicians.
The equipment we had to hand... in summary... included:
- Sound Beam
- Sound Control software and various human-interface devices (e,g, Microbit, PS2 golf controller/tether, camera/movement sensors etc.)
- Boss Loop Station
- MIDI controllers including Maschine as well as a conventional MIDI keyboard
- Skoog + iPads x 2
- iPads with various apps
- Electric guitar + amp (with lots of effects!)
- Couple of mixers/PA (two of them just to give us a bit of flexibility in setting the room up for this first experimental session).
- and a range of handheld percussion
The consensus from musicians and parents was that it was a successful session overall... and everyone keen to have us run another one.
Feedback included:
"The small group worked really well for the needs of the children that attended. It allowed more hands-on time on the technology."
"The instruments/technology was very accessible for the needs of the children. A real positive."
"A brief introduction of the equipment/instruments available to use would have been useful for the parents."
"Perhaps a 'hot desk' per instrument so that the wheelchairs could move to each desk."
"Sometimes. tt was difficult to see which was the instrument and which techy bit went with it... as they weren't conventional. At times they merged together so it was difficult to identify if one was making the sound or not."
"I liked the structure of a "Hello" song intro.... the prompts to move onto another instrument after a period of time."
"The individual showcasing per youngsters was good... even if some were star struck by it (or asleep in our case)."
"[XX] definitely enjoyed it. We liked the first two songs but after that it all seemed a bit noisy and I don't think [XX} could tell what was making a noise."
"It was good to try out new tech but I think more songs were needed"
"Looking forward to more sessions in the future."
So, in summary, our provisional conclusion is that we have plenty of interesting digital tech to play around with... but that we probably need to look into how the sound is projected back to participants and around the room generally, so that the sounds each individual makes are clearly distinguishable... and don't get lost in the mix!
A standout app on the iPad was AUMI.... a lot of which had to do with participants being able to see themselves on the iPad screen as they played.
And... the electric guitar (along with it's little Blackstar amp) was another highlight.... so a definite reminder not to neglect more "traditional devices" in amongst all the new gadgets.
Finally, it does seem our biggest faux pas of the session was to forgot to do a Goodbye Song at the end!!!!
For those of you already running these types of ensembles, it would be great to connect up and share experiences.
We'll certainly be developing this new initiative further and I'll post updates as things progress.
(NB: The session is part of our Fund B programme, "Industrious".)
