Musical Impact on Social Outlook by Positive Labels music leader Jonny Amos

I believe that the greatest gift that anyone can give anyone is to listen; and I mean truly listen.

We started our Positive Labels project with this notion and we continue to carry it on as the project evolves in tandem with the musical skills of the project's participants. The projects early sessions started with an informal "tell us one thing about your week so far?". Whilst responses and engagement to this question were both subdued and suppressed for the initial weeks, a sense of familiarity allowed the young people to progressively open up about anything thats on their mind. The weekly intros went deeper in subject matter with such questions as "What do you like most about yourself?". Whilst initially an uncomfortable subject to address between teenage peers it was questions like this which had a twofold benefit; an increase in social impact between the participants and an increase of self awareness which led neatly into new areas for lyrical creation. Before long the opening question of the session became "Who has any new song ideas that they'd like to share?". The young people would listen with patience and care in the same way that they did with the earlier group questions. This allowed for our participants to be open with their new creative ideas in a protected and trusted environment. This allowed us to facilitate a learning environment of peer feedback which in turn allowed for the progression of young people's musical and leadership skills through listening and critiquing the ideas of others. 

Not only were the young people progressing musically from week to week but their social skills grew noticeably as a result of the process of listening and talking to each other. The musical impact of the project not only started to benefit the individual but also their social impact as a result of witnessing the progression of others around them. 

When it came time to start the recording process of the songs from the project, we'd ask the young people to listen to the songs that inspire them in order to create the stylistic basis for their own sound. "What instruments are you hearing in this song and what role do they play in the song's genre and vibe?". It was questions such as these that helped the young people to deepen their understanding of recorded music. "Being able to pick out what instruments are in Taylor Swifts album was eye opening. I hadn't thought about music in that way before" one of our participants admitted. "It definitely helped to shape the sound of my single" she added. 

The key to engagement is building trustable bonds and the key to building those bonds is in listening.