Hope Creative Project - Filwood, Bristol. Session 1 - October 2016

I have recently begun a voluntary Music Trainee role with BPM (Bristol Plays Music) and I am working with a number of practitioners on ‘The Hope Creative’ project. The Hope Creative project supports children in care to explore and express their creativity through music and performance. By adopting a person-centred approach, the project provides the children with an opportuntiy to build self-confidence and identity through both individual and group work. Running alongside the monthly workshops is an Inclusive Practitioner training program that will enable me to develop my own skills and further understand the importance of an inclusive musical environment that nurtures and develops the creative potential in every child.

I am very humbled and excited to be given these opportunities and I will be recording and reflecting my experiences here, every month.

Workshop One - October 2016.

I arrived at the Filwood Community Centre, in the south of the city, and my fellow practitioners were already setting up an array of musical instruments. By the time the children arrived, there were ukuleles, an assortment of percussion instruments, a digital piano, a guitar and two iPads set out around the room. The Community Centre is great as it not only provides enough space for physical exploration, but it also has a large stage at the rear that gives a real sense of theatre. It was hard not to be drawn to the stage and that is exactly what the children did! I was immediately invited by Child A to help begin the planning of what would eventually become a full performance of The SugarBabes - Sound of the Underground! Child A was very confident in assigning roles and showed a clear decisiveness in choosing which dance moves should be performed, or which were 'too difficult' for the practitioners to grasp! As a small group, we practiced which parts of the song each of us would sing, and which dance moves would happen at what point in the song. It was great to see such planning and structure within the development and after a number of run-throughs, we found ourselves on stage ready to perform. The Parents/Carers of the children arrived and sat at the front to watch, and after my group performance, a great solo performance by Child B and a beautiful piano performance from Child C, a big round of applause filled the space.

At the end of the session, when the children had left, we sat down to discuss and reflect on the workshop. This was a great opportunity for everyone to provide feedback and it will be a crucial part in developing the workshops further.

Since the first session, I have met with my mentor and we discussed how I could bring my tech skills and experience to the next workshop. We came up with the idea of using iPad apps that allow loops and layers to be recorded and triggered, so check back very soon to find out how it went!