I am currently taking part in running a 10 week musical workshop at a residential home in Bristol, I am assisting my friend Laura Farage who is running the workshops as part of her course in Creative Arts Therapies.
Session 1: 8/3/12
8 attendees
- Introductions go around the circle, everyone introduces themselves and the music they like, it may be an artist or genre.
- Warm up – Boom boom clap. Got everyone doing 2 beats on their legs and a clap, this got everyone moving and made everyone less shy, we even had people singing along with ‘We Will Rock You’
- Everyone chose a instrument to play (these varied from Djembes, bells, shakers, tambourines etc.)
- Free improvisation
- Got everyone to play a 4/4 beat with their instruments and then built the dynamics up and down.
- I then set a beat on the djembe and everyone joined in with their instruments, we then built the dynamics up and down.
- Went around the circle with the Djembe, everyone got to experiment with the different tones of the instrument. This was and improvised part of the session, as one of the participants enquired about how to make different sounds on the Djembe so I took it around the circle to let them experiment.
- 2 participants then began their own beat without being prompted, everyone else joined in. This was a great bit of free improvisation which was not structured by Laura or I. Was great to see everyone getting into it by themselves and getting creative.
- Began the sing a long part of the session, everyone chose ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon’ to begin with, we then went on to Amazing Grace and finished on When The Saints Come Marching in. Everyone particularly seemed to enjoy this part of the session. Group seemed energised, seemed to come alive.
- Laura then went around and asked everyone what their favourite songs were, took notes for future sessions.
- Tea and Coffee
- A Participant who is a very accomplished piano player then played the pianofor other participants, this seemed to really give him a purpose, he really enjoyed doing this and everyone enjoyed listening.
- End Session
Session 2: 22/3/12
8 Attendees
- Ice Breaker – Threw soft ball to different people in the circle, person who received ball would pick a question out of the bag questions varied from, favourite song, favourite place etc.
- Music Quiz – Had 12 songs on a CD played each song and participants guessed the name of song & artist. Each participant had a instrument which was their ‘buzzer’ they had to play when they knew the answer. This seemed to be particularly popular and everyone seemed to really enjoy it and get into it. It encouraged memory, everyone began reminiscing on what the songs meant to them and boosted self esteem, everyone would receive a point for each one they got right. Songs included: Abba, The Animals, Bobby Darun, Cliff Richard, The Beatles, Daniel O’Donnell, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Jackson 5, Nancy Sinatra, Petula Clark.
- Pianist Participant then played, he had brought in a book of war time songs, everyone shouted out requests, everyone sang along with songs and again reminisced on war time memories.. Songs included: Goodnight Sweetheart, White Cliffs of Dover etc. Again participant seemed to really come out of his shell, it really seemed to give him a sense of purpose to play for the group, he seems to really enjoy it. Participant also mentioned that he has felt ill that morning but has come because he wanted to play the piano for us, gives him motivation. I also took photos of Participant as he requested, he wants photos he can get printed to show people.
- Tea & Coffee
- Laura played guitar, people joined in on their instruments again free improvisation, very creative.
- To close I played the guitar as people left.
- End session.
A Soundscape Of My Life 