5 tips on how to break the ice when starting a session (getting people relaxed) by Jake Cross (Youth Band Leader on Base Studios' The Junction project)
5 tips on how to break the ice when starting a session (getting people relaxed)
In any kind of situation, meeting new people can be very nerve racking especially for young people or those who don’t have much confidence. For example, starting a group music session with 5 people who don’t know each other, then throw them into an unfamiliar environment and now, music please! Well, hold the guitars and buckle those microphones because before we can start, breaking the ice is a great way to make everyone more comfortable and also to perform at their best and these five tips will ensure you and everyone in the room are relaxed, excited and ready to rock!
1. Start an introduction circle.
First, gather everyone in a circle, sitting or standing, and start off with basic introductions: Name, Instrument, Favourite Music/Artist and throw in one for laughs, I usually do favourite type of biscuit! This brings an element of humour and comfort as everyone likes biscuits!
This is a very simple and perhaps obvious way of breaking the ice but it can easily be forgotten or rushed through but this is where everyone makes their first impression on the group, it is pretty important that everyone gets a chance to speak and feel equal.
2. Discuss an interesting topic.
So we have all exchanged names now but building common ground is the best way for everyone to connect and feel more comfortable around each other.
An interesting discussion that everyone can join in on really helps team bonding and also may lead to ideas about what direction the group want to go down later on which gets everybody excited for potential songs and performances.
Example starting points could be:
-Has anyone been to a music concert before? What was it like?
-What images spring to mind when you hear the word ‘music’?
-When you hear the word ‘Popular music’ what comes to mind?
You can use any questions you like, however these particular questions are not too difficult to answer and help bring out people’s opinions and experiences of music.
3. Do a short music game or warm up.
This exercise is great for building comfort and rapport among the group while also allowing you to assess musical ability within the group and identify potential areas to help people improve their skills.
There are a couple of games I would recommend:
This first one involves counting, timing and band awareness. Have a count of 8 beats and have everyone pick a number from one to eight and when their number comes up they have to make a musical noise/clap or beat as the game progresses either speed it up to make it more difficult/ask people to change numbers or change to an odd number of beats which makes counting more difficult.
Call and Response is a good warm up game, the idea is simple whatever the main performer claps, others have to repeat it back to move onto the next part. You can vary call and response by adding when a certain rhythm or phrase plays no one should repeat it or adding a melodic element to increase difficulty.
4. Give people clear individual tasks.
Everybody likes to be involved, useful and feel like they have contributed to the group’s performance/session. This not only makes people in the group feel welcome and enjoy the session more, it also gives them a reason to return and perform that key role they do so amazingly well!
Particular tasks could be:
-Setting up and packing down the equipment within the session.
-Talking to the group to help plan and pick songs for next week.
-Writing down ideas and lyrics during the session on a white board.
These are a few just to get you started however, the crucial point to this idea is it allows the people in the session to gain experience of having a key responsibility but also by delegating roles you as a leader will be able to assess how well they cope with the task and identify areas for development.
5. Focus on the key outcome of the session.
Finally, a music session is always exciting, amazing and fun filled but you can easily get swept up in the excitement and lose track of the whole point of the session.
While this might seem good at the time, you do not want lose control of the session and end up with no progress accomplished or make people in the session feel as though you do not know what you are doing which can lead to low team morale and less attendance.
By focusing on the key outcomes, goals, and what the people wanted to get out of the session, this will ensure everybody is happy with the sessions and that they get the most out of the time spent with you.
Some typical goals of a session may include:
-Learning and performing new songs to a high standard.
-Working towards an Arts Award achievement.
-Making new friends and having a good social/creative experience.
-Writing an original song as a band and having input from each member.
Thanks for taking the time to read through my 5 tips on breaking the ice into a session and I hope they prove useful to you when starting you own sessions and that perhaps you can adapt these to make them your own style and become the ice breaking master!
Till next time,
Jake.