Musician in a Youth Work Setting - A Year On

Last October I wrote a blog reflecting on my first 6 weeks with Carefree, a youth charity who work with care experienced young people across Cornwall. Now, a year in, I wanted to share some of my learning from the past 11 months.

Repetition is good for creating a safe space

When I started, I was convinced that I had to come up with a bunch of new musical warm-up games and group ice breakers every week - otherwise I wasn't a good music worker and the young people would find it boring. I've now learnt that repeating the same warm-ups at the same time every week is really important, especially with a new group. 

One of the youth workers I work with put it like this - 'All of us require repetition in our lives to make us feel secure. It's why we like parking in the same spot in a car park or choose to walk the same way home even if there are multiple choices available to us'. 

Joining and meeting a new group of people can be scary for anyone but for many of our young people it is extremely stressful. A familiar activity calms us and opens up head space so that we can focus on the other, more important, stressful things. Like making eye contact, forming friendships and enjoying small shared experiences. 

Plus, if all the group know the warm-up really well, you may be able to step back and give them an opportunity to build their leadership skills by running the warm-up instead. Much better than you frantically searching the internet at 11pm every night for new ideas and feeling like you have to lead every part of your session. 

Equality V Equity

In youth music's Do, Review, Improve evaluation guidance it talks about the importance of 'equality of engagement - no participant is discriminated against'. I can't argue with this but I’ve learnt that some young people need a lot more input and time than others to get to the same point - both socially and musically. My colleague Matt who is a freelance music leader also working in Cornwall, says that Equity, is just as important as equality. I.e giving people what they need to succeed as well as making sure that people get the same opportunities to succeed. 

Music ‘Show and Tells’

Music is great way to explore identity and learn to respect and celebrate difference. Care experienced young people are often less willing to share their personal tastes and focus more on just fitting in.  I always integrate group music listening into my sessions now and ask 1 or 2 participants each week to prepare a song to play. For some, this is a huge step because it requires them to share a part of their identity when they worry what the group will think of their choice. For others it can be an opportunity to express themselves, talk more about the artist’s background and why they like the song. Evidence this, and hey presto! they’ve just passed Part C of their Bronze Arts Award!

I'm not there to 'Cure'

I am not a therapist or a psychologist and our young people do not attend our group activities expecting to access therapy. I have learnt a lot about trauma, drug misuse and self-harm since starting with Carefree which can help when dealing with particular issues with young people but my role within Carefree is to offer positive, inclusive and inspiring musical opportunities. Ansdell & DeNora (2012) outline four key questions that shape the practice of 'community music therapy' (a term which I have only just discovered): 

• How can I help this client to be ‘a musician’; help this place to be musicalized? 
• How can I help them overcome the barriers to full musical participation, or loosen the hindrances to full, creative, relational musicking? 
• What strategies and techniques can I use to mobilize the specific qualities and affordances of music for this particular person/situation and their particular needs
•  What diverse benefits could flow from such ‘full musicking’? 

The aim of my sessions then is not to ‘cure’ or to ‘treat’ individuals, but instead to use ensemble music making as an interactional tool. To enable participants to engage in a musical process, and to support them to use this process as a prism in exploring and reflecting on their own abilities, ideas and identities. 

Communicate and share with the wider circle 

You can't underestimate how important it is to share the successes of young people with the other adults in their lives - young people in care have a lot of ‘professional adults’ working with them. The YP who progress most in my music groups are the ones who are supported at home to practise (if they can) between sessions. So communicating this to foster carers is important – if they haven’t learnt music themselves it’s not obvious. Many of our groups are just not ready to take part in an external music event like the Music For Youth festivals or a local music hub celebration but informal sharings with foster families in the space you have been meeting in every week can be a great thing to aim for.

Praise, Praise, Praise

Take every opportunity to praise and encourage the small things. I’ve learnt it’s important to set aside my own expectations to do this and concentrate on what our young people are aiming for instead.

Shouting Isn't Communicating!

The moment I start raising my voice to 'shouting' level I normally lose the group completely. Let's face it, if your boss, partner or friend started shouting instructions, you would probably choose to ignore it (or worse!) too. When working with a colleague Giles last term, I noticed that in place of shouting he would lower his voice instead and often use the phrase: 'why are you all ignoring me?'. You'd be amazed at how easily this carries across a room of boisterous teenagers! Phrasing it like this also means you can lead a conversation later about how their behaviour has impacted you and made you feel. Empathy is a really important skill to learn so we shouldn’t hide our own emotional experiences from the young people we work with.