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What I've Done On Quench Arts' Interface Project by Lewis Farquharson (Young Music Leader)

Hi there! I’m Lewis, and I am a Young Music Leader here on project Interface. My skills include my ability to teach, perform music, and communicate well with others, which is certainly needed for this project! My role here on Interface as a Young Music Leader is to help support the younger musicians on the project with their music composition, to create interesting and expressive music with my peers, using a variety of technological equipment. The Interface project itself is a project centered around music technology; encouraging young people who have a passion for music technology and performance, to come together and create compositions that demonstrate this passion. And a desire to compose music using technology! We aim to use unique sounds, along with interesting ideas, to create some new and original music.  

Over the course of the project, I have developed a variety of different skills within music technology, performance and teaching. I was able to learn how to use different musical equipment like the DAW software Logic Pro X, Ableton Push, which is a MIDI controller, and a Native Instrument Kontrol instrument keyboard. We were able to learn how to use these unique instruments, and software programs, not only with our performance, but also in other applications. We also learnt how to use a mono synthesiser, to be able to add another unique sound to our performance. 

On top of musical skills we had also learnt valuable planning skills. For our taster sessions that we had put on, we had to learn how to effectively plan this session so we would have enough time to perform, and run our workshops. One of these workshops included an activity where we would show our participants an unfinished track. We would then ask them for their opinions, and what we should do with the song. We then took their advice, and played with them for the first time. 

In terms of my facilitation skills, I was able to develop my ability to teach my discipline, being the drums. My student, Dilveen, was able to progress throughout the sessions, with her ability to play the drums. She was a beginner, so I knew I would have to take easy steps, in order for her to develop through the skills. I began with teaching her the names of the different parts of the kit, so she would be able to understand each part and function of the drums. Then, I taught her a basic 4/4 groove, also known as the ‘money groove’ because it has been used in thousands of songs. I began with counting out to 4, and showing her where each part of the drum landed, within the groove. Of course, I broke this down into bass drum, hi-hat and snare drum. This helped her to understand the groove much better, and once she had learnt the groove, in time with a metronome. I taught her a couple variations of the groove. Overtime, she had managed to play these grooves in time, and we had moved onto some other grooves, like the original. 

To conclude, in the future I hope to be a session musician who is hired to perform an array of different styles of music, in all different kinds of venues, all over the world! I would also love to be able to record music in a studio setting, for all kinds of artists. Also, I would like to increase my knowledge within the vast world of music technology, in terms of recording, creating and editing. And finally, I would like to be able to improve my facilitation skills in terms of teaching. I understand that in the career of a musician, teaching is a great way of improving your skills, and teaching is another income. Teaching can be very rewarding at times, and that’s why I like it! Thank you for reading!