‘Make A Noise’ at Brierfield Library with More Music

In July 2014 More Music worked with 20 young people in Brierfield Library in Pendle in partnership with Paul Hartley from arts organisation In-Situ, who are based in the library.

Helena Ali from Brierfield Action in the Community was also a key part of the sessions because of her knowledge of the local community. ‘Make A Noise’ was funded through Youth Music’s Music Inclusion project. Two music leaders from More Music, Ashley Murphy and Rachel Parsons delivered the sessions alongside a trainee music leader, James Rhodes-Baxter, a local musician who had worked on a previous project with us at the library. The team worked with young people aged between 7 and 18.  The project manager from More Music was Darren Leadsom.

One of the main aims of the project was to engage the young people who congregate at the library in creative activities. Many of the young people who attended the sessions came from a Muslim background, which is reflective of the local community. As a Music Inclusion project, our goals were to create new music making opportunities where little was previously available and pass on music workshop leading skills to local musicians.

What did we do?

The project covered a variety of activities and musical genres including samba drumming and performance, singing in an ensemble, Music production, rapping, beatboxing and creative writing/ performance poetry.

The project aimed to give young people in the area confidence to try out new art forms and the opportunity to perform for the first time.  It also aimed to bring community cohesion by working together on projects with participants from a variety of cultures in the area who may not have previously engaged with each other.

This project was a continuation from sessions at the beginning of the year and provided some progression for many young people who were beginning to regularly be involved in the arts with no prior experience.  It also provided another opportunity for us to work with local trainee music leader James Rhodes-Baxter, who we had first identified and worked with on the previous Brierfield project.

Was it unique?

What made this project so unique was the wide range of activities that were on offer for young people. In one room the collaborative process of samba drumming was happening, as young people in another would be writing and recording their first raps. Not only did it mean that there was a mix of males and females in the project but also a variety of ages being engaged in the project.

The project culminated in a professional performance a larger library in Colne, which had a line up including up and coming singers who are gigging across the country and rappers with 10,000 views on YouTube. The event was also a fringe event for the Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival in Colne, the UK’s largest blues festival, taking place at the same time. The samba group that had formed at the project performed at the event, which gave the young people an amazing amount of confidence. The fact that the event had such professional acts and was part of an internationally known festival meant that this was a unique opportunity for the young people to experience something they had never experienced before.  

Matthew* was very nervous when he first attended the session, he has Aspergers and so is not comfortable in social situations. However, he subsequently attended every session and grew in confidence, engaging in beatboxing and drumming with a particular interest in lyric writing and creative writing. His mother said that he got into trouble at school for beatboxing because it was going around his head all the time so she was pleased he had a place to express his creativity.  Matthew and his sister went on to perform at the final gig in Colne.

What else could have happened?

Unfortunately the young rappers who joined at the later stage of the project did not feel ready to perform at the gig. This was a shame because they had worked hard on writing and performing their tracks in the project. In the future it would be fantastic to set up a project that focused on recording this material and shooting music videos.

This would give the young people a further sense of achievement in the project and a product they could share with their peers.

What has it achieved?

The Brierfield project has given many young people the opportunity to try out musical activities that were not available to them before. It also gave the opportunity for young people to express themselves and be heard through creative writing.

Looking ahead

In-Situ has been successful in a Youth Music funding application to deliver a year of music sessions at Brierfield Library in 2015. More Music will be part of this, delivering the sessions and working again with James Rhodes-Baxter to develop his skills as a music leader.

It will raise aspirations and look at working with artists and young people to discuss the opportunities for employment in arts bringing a sense of empowerment to the area.

* Names of young people have been changed.

Written by Ashley Murphy and Darren Leadsom