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A BandLab journey

The Soundtracks programme is an inclusive, open access music programme for young people from age 12 which is delivered in youth centres by Bolton Music Service across Bolton and Blackburn with Darwen. Along with everyone, we have had to make significant changes to our programme model over the last year and have evolved a flexible blended approach with a mix of online and face to face sessions. Working in partnership with youth centres under National Youth Association Covid guidelines has helped us to maintain in person support for the most vulnerable young people. One strand of our delivery has been a developing understanding of the potential of Band Lab to support online and blended models of working.

We initially came across the BandLab app at a Reaching Out Network meeting hosted by More Music and Brighter Sound in May 2020. By June, fifteen of the the Soundtracks delivery team and some of our partners had taken part in some initial training, and then the journey started…

The following eight months has been a continual process of evolving many different ways of using BandLab with constant sharing, discussion and collaboration between the music leaders, trainees and young people. Ways we worked have included:

  • working online, using the app to create original songs and new arrangements of existing songs.
  • engaging young people in collaborative music making activities, despite not being able to meet in person. Next best thing to being in the same room!
  • using the app in face to face sessions to build up a body of work over the course of time, and incorporating this into self-study/practice.
  • young people working independently to create a soundscape using Bandlab's inbuilt loops/samples.
  • creating ‘Stems’ which can be imported into Band Lab for young people to use for arrangements and editing. We  have just begun to expand this work beyond the popular music focus to use in music service folk music ensemble delivery.
  • a focus on introducing production and editing skills, eg. basic mixing and recording techniques.
  • young people writing song lyrics collaboratively in response to an inspiring image.
  • recording individuals within the session and over the course of the programme. This has enabled the young people to hear their musical skill progression.
  • young people shown how to use Bandlab as rehearsal tool, e.g. using/adjusting the metronome, muting/soloing tracks, adjusting volumes and using the recording function.
  • sharing remote delivery with teachers in alternative provision settings, supporting young people and training staff simultaneously.
  • delivering webinars to 65 music service and school teachers, sending support materials to all secondary schools and creating a dialogue about BandLab/BandLab Edu. 

The elements of this journey have been documented in a series of 16 video tutorials put together by our team of music leaders and trainees. These are intended to support young people working independently and to inspire music leaders who would like ideas for different ways into working with the BandLab app. The videos and accompanying written materials can be found at http://boltonmusicservice.com/online-learning/soundtracks/creating-music...