The aim was to engage young people throughout the design, planning and implementation of the project, ensuring the voices of young people were heard and expressed in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them through music and creativity.
Samm told us
"The project was youth-led, with initially divergent ideas about their theme of focus. As the weeks progressed, I wove through presentations on key music components, such as: Melody, Harmony, Rhythm, and Bass, offering engaging activities, games, and musical examples to inspire their projects. With the support of a secondary artist, we delved into working in groups to focus on practical compositional exercises to be later merged into larger compositions. Adapting to evolving group dynamics, I introduced percussion instruments initially to gauge their musical aptitude within a fun circle-activity. Subsequently, keyboards and digital drum machines were introduced to explore musical theory and electronic music sound design, a topic of high interest...
...The young people were pleased and proud of their accomplishments, enjoying the sessions thoroughly. Towards the end, they even volunteered for an impromptu performance for their colleagues in the special educational needs department- a touching moment."
"The course was really fun, and I learnt how to use an electronic drum kit. I was surprised how good the music I made was. I especially loved making the album cover. Doing the rhythms were a lot of fun and the music we made out of the sounds was good". S2 pupil
"I got a chance to learn bits on the piano. It was really fun and was lovely. I loved coming up with ideas for the album cover for the music we made." S1 pupil
"The course was engaging for young people and they learned some very valuable communication skills. I have seen an improvement in the pupils ability to interact with each other and with adults. This group delivered a brief musical session to some of our pupils who experience additional support needs which was very much enjoyed by the pupils and staff." Wellbeing Worker
"We started to create sounds through percussion instruments, these were used in our final musical piece. I got a chance at recording and mixing tracks on the computer, which I loved doing. It was good to get a chance to listen to different types of music that I wouldn't normal listen to." Also it was nice to meet and speak with other pupils who I have never talked to before" S3 pupil
"I found the course really engaging and have not had an opportunity like it before. I learnt how to make music and record it on a computer programme. It was really cool being able to mix the different instruments with the rhythms we made. I really enjoyed the course and the two presenters were really fun." S5 pupil
