Musical Inclusion - Guitar tuition/songwriting

'Music brings joy, to all of our hearts, It's one of those, emotional arts'

I stumbled across this quote today whilst searching for something inspiring that could describe how many feel about music, and the great power it possesses. It's a great quote, and I love how it refers to music as an 'emotional art'. Very true!

I seem to wear many hats when it comes to my work as a musician, and have the privilege of meeting so many different people from various walks of life. The diversity of people and the many cultures that express our creativity fascinates me.

Recently, as a part of my work for NMPAT (www.nmpat.co.uk) I have been visiting some young people in a Children's Home. A couple of times a week I take them through a session covering guitar tuition and songwriting techniques. Most recently this week, the young people wrote the chorus to their first song. The most wonderful thing about working with them is seeing the joy music brings to them, and how much it boosts their confidence.

It makes me smile to hear comments such as: "I can't believe I can actually play this", or as one said to another "you're playing that really well, how are you doing that?".

A few weeks ago these young people couldn't play an instrument, let alone write a song, and yet now I am able to sit with them in a group as we play the guitar, sing together, and create. The sessions end with a mix of emotions, from great excitement-to increased confidence- to sadness that they've got to wait a few days til the next session.

I am looking forward to completing this song with the young people, and excited to see how much more creativity there is in them. They have a pile of lyric covered A4 sheets between them just waiting for the right chord progressions and melodies to finish the job. Watch this space and I'll be sure to inform you on how things develop.