Making Unique Beatz
We’re in our second term of Unique Beatz, a Youth Music funded project working with SEND young people from Unique Kidz in Morecambe, a centre that provides afterschool and holiday club activities for disabled children. Music leaders Rachel Parsons and Ash Murphy from More Music have been working with a fantastic group since April, delivering the sessions primarily at the Unique Kidz centre, just 5 minutes away from More Music. We intend to continue this project until 2022, until the end of the current Fund C period.
The goal at the outset was have a music project for SEND young people which connected to our ongoing in-house young persons music sessions. One aim is to eventually deliver some of the project in our building, where we have more access to instruments and rehearsal space. We’ve not been able to achieve this yet but we are hopeful that we can make it happen at some point.
Another aim was for the Unique Beatz musicians to perform at one of our termly Stages young person gig nights in our professional venue space. In July Unique Beatz performed and were a real highlight, we want this to become a regular fixture of our young persons gigs. Our venue has gained the Attitude is Everything Bronze level Charter of Best Practice so we are committed to our space being accessible and available to everyone.
Music leader Ash explains "This has been a great experience in how far young people can go! We started the term wondering if we could get out of the building and by the end of term they played a gig in a music venue! Who knows what could happen this term! We've brought back some of the previous songs the group have wrote as part of the warms ups. Now the group are writing their own lyrics exploring the theme of friendships and sticking together and hope to record their own single."
As for the future, it would be great if Unique Beatz participants were able to get involved in organising gigs and helping to make them happen alongside our Youth Leadership Group. We want Unique Beatz to feel part to our existing youth programme and not separate, genuinely included and able to take part in all the same opportunities as all our other participants. I’ll write more as the project continues to develop and grow.
