Mairead, our Work Placement student, shares her soundLINCS experience

I’m a second year music student from the University of Nottingham and am coming to the end of my two and a half month placement at soundLINCS! I’ve been working here once a week and it’s given me a great insight into the work that soundLINCS does and the types of people that it reaches out to.

During my time here I’ve been creating a catalogue of music from soundLINCS’ past projects, whilst at the same time thinking about how we could utilise these resources for future projects. This has enabled me to use my musical knowledge when deciding possible applications and ideas that could come from these archived music scores.

I’ve had the opportunity to see all aspects of the organisation. Last month I helped our Programme Facilitator, Eddy Mentzel, with the Adoption Support Day Workshop that soundLINCS ran during half term. I was able to experience firsthand working with the children that the organisation delivers to. The children used ‘Cubase’, a piece of computer software, to create their own podcasts by using music, sound effects or even their own voices to create a radio edit.

As I moved from group to group I became absorbed in the work that these children were producing as they demonstrated innovative compositions and showcased incredible mixing skills! Working in an environment such as this helped me gain more of an understanding of how music can aid people and in some cases motivate them to try harder and become more creative.

I also attended a conference in London concerning the Musical Inclusion Programme that was coming to an end this year. It was insightful to hear the challenges that the different organisations involved in Musical Inclusion had overcome and the success that they had achieved over the three years of the programme.

Luckily for me my time at soundLINCS also coincided with the annual FAB! Event at the Lincolnshire Showground’s EPIC Centre. FAB! celebrates the achievements that Looked After Children have made throughout the year while working with soundLINCS and other organisations. I helped run activities such as the ‘Inspiration Wall’ and the ‘Unplugged Stage’ where I got the chance to speak to the children and see how much soundLINCS had inspired them to strive for success. After a morning of activities, I was able to enjoy the awards ceremony in the afternoon that not only recognized the achievements of the children but also the carers and foster parents.

Although I was new to the company, I now feel like my knowledge about soundLINCS has grown and through the assortment of opportunities that I have been given I have got to experience all areas of the Company. I can see that the work they do is positive and influential to others and I am impressed with what they have achieved and how they have expanded as an organisation, reaching to people of all ages, in different settings across the East Midlands. My favourite part of soundLINCS’ delivery is the training they provide for the practitioners of each setting. This means that these settings can carry on delivering the work that soundLINCS have supplied and that they leave a legacy which will continue to help the future children in these settings.