Today, Southampton Music Hub launches “Black Lives Matter: Songwriter Sessions” — a new ebook resource featuring performances and interviews with Sheldon Hamilton McKenzie and Sal Resco Chitulu.
Through their music, and in conversation, these two talented local artists share their music and their stories: helping us to better understand where their music comes from.
Chineke! Junior Orchestra flew through their auditions on Britain’s Got Talent, and are now hoping for success in the semi-finals of the competition. During their audition performance, they were joined by Morro Barry, a talented, young tuba player from Southampton.
You can tune in to the semi-final this Saturday at 8pm, and show your support on Twitter!
Southampton and IOW Music Hubs are looking to recruit a talented young (18–25), BAME music artist and/or producer, who is passionate to work with younger musicians, producers and performers: helping them discover digital music genres, build musical and personal skills, and move forward towards better musical futures.
This role is part of the new ‘Digital Native Artists (DNA) Programme’ which has been funded by Art Council England.
Working across electronic dance music genres, modern rap and hip-hop genres (including grime, trap and drill) and progressive R&B and pop genres, you will help build a diverse and inclusive programme of music making and learning.
You will use your music and production skills to develop and deliver a programme of digital music resources, workshops, and events which engage with aspiring young musicians in schools and other settings across the region. The programme will enable participants to improve their musical skills, develop new personal skills, and inspire them to continue making music in the future.
This a development role, and training and support will be given to help build your teaching and learning skills, as well as mentoring and support to help you develop a wide range of professional skills for working within formal and informal education settings.
This role is a one year (48 weeks), fixed-term contract, for one day per week (6–8 hours) starting in Autumn 2020. Salary is £400 per month, £4,800 total.
Get in touch to send a CV, covering letter and a link to examples of your music.
Applications should be received no later than 12noon on Friday 16 October 2020.
Interviews, via Google Meet, will take place during the week beginning Monday 19 October 2020.
Art Asia are offering four creative ways to explore the Mayflower story:
“The Mayflower Story began with the epic voyage of the pilgrims, in search of the New World and finding their site of belonging. It is a story of persecution, hope and challenges they encounters as they negotiated a new regrouping of communities to call it home. The Mayflower story has a double edge — the pilgrim finding a new home but at the same time displacing the indigenous people and paving the way for colonialism. It is important to recognise this. At a time when we are living through some extraordinary times, not only because of the pandemic but because of inequalities and entrenched racism in society ‘Belonging’ attempts to bring the lives and stories of the new settlers in Southampton.
Art Asia are offering creative responses, including singing, storytelling and craft, and are inviting Southampton’s communities to respond.
As a new school year begins, and teachers welcome back pupils once again, Southampton Music Hub is working with schools to keep music at the heart of creative learning communities. Much about the year ahead can feel very uncertain, however, the whole team are dedicated to responding to challenges in the same spirit as they have done before: keeping our focus on bringing the life-changing power of music to every child in the city.
Here are a few of the ways we’re getting ready to do just that:
This year, instrumental and vocal teachers are being given extra time to plan and prepare for the year ahead. The team are having training sessions with educational psychologists, to better understand the personal and emotional challenges young musicians are facing, and how music lessons can be part of the response. There will be training on how to recognise and nurture the personal and social development of young musicians, as well as training on how, where it may still be needed, online music lessons can be the best they can be, for all involved.
Additionally, “Music for Wellbeing” guides for schools use music a tool for helping children understand and overcome the emotional challenges faced throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The hub is empowering and developing teachers so that young musicians can reach their fullest potential.
Working together with school’s, Southampton Music Hub is helping to keep all children, teachers and the community as safe as possible, including guidance around good hygiene, social distancing, engaging with NHS Test and Trace, as well music specific risk assessments. Music can only change lives for the better, when we first keep each other safe, and these new practices will help happen.
Not all music can be face-to-face, at least, not yet, and so online and remote music-making will still be a core part of the hub’s offer. But online is not just a second-best option. Digital workshops open up capacity, so that more schools can be inspired by world-class musicians and composers. Ensembles will continue to develop their exciting digital performance programmes which can reach a bigger, broader audience, in the year ahead too. Online music lessons will also continue for some, where needed, enabling musical learning to continue when face-to-face lessons are not possible. By blending online and face-to-face music-making — embracing the best of both — the hub is able to make sure more children than ever can access music.
Every new year brings new possibilities, including new challenges, and this year, that is particularly true. But music has a unique role to play, helping bring people together, helping us understand ourselves and each other better, and helping us to imagine a bright future for our schools and communities.
As another school year comes to an end, Southampton Music Hub looks back on a year which has been unlike any other.
The year, and our Mayflower 400 journey, began in four primary schools, where composer James Redwood collected musical ideas inspired by the Mayflower story.
Over the next few months, those ideas inspired a momentous musical voyage for a new orchestra of 100 talented secondary musicians, alongside digital remixes and resources for others to play and create for themselves.
Alongside Symphony 400, Southampton Music Hub partnered with Mayflower Theatre to take inspirational songs from their newly commissioned musicals to school children across the city. The songs inspired and motivated hundreds of hours of workshops and rehearsals for young singers.
In early March, over 1000 young musicians performed two nights of unforgettable music at the Mayflower Theatre, with a programme of music which included musical performances of all shapes and sizes, including the debuts of Symphony 400: The Voyage and Big Sing: The Journey.
“I was really nervous — I’ve never done anything like this before — but being with my friends, I was able to get on stage and sing with everybody!”
— year four pupil from Hollybrook Junior School
Just a few weeks after the unforgettable events at the Mayflower Theatre — a celebration of the passion, creativity and resilience of the city’s young musicians — the country went into lockdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and that same passion, creativity and resilience was shown once again, in the face of unprecedented circumstances.
In the past few months...
Southampton Music Services has moved over 600 music lessons online
City ensembles have created a virtual concert programme
Pizza boxes of music-making activities have been sent to shielded children
A new Soundbites Digital programme has allowed First Access to continue in schools and at home
‘The Greatest Friend’ encouraged children to look after their own wellbeing and the wellbeing of others
Weekly instrumental and curriculum newsletters have supported schools and home learners
Resources from the Synthesis project have inspired independent electronic music-making
At every stage, young musicians and all those that support them — from their families to music teachers, to hub partners and beyond — have shown incredible resilience, creativity and passion for keeping music playing.
There are so many uncertainties ahead, and as Southampton Music Hub charts out a plan for returning in September, the challenges ahead feel huge. Not least of all because we know of the huge emotional burden that has been placed on the city’s young musicians over these past months, being separated from the friends and musical communities they love.
Nights like Mayflower Theatre in March, and the incredible response of the past few months, serve as a reminder of what can be achieved when people come together and unlock the passion, creativity and resilience of the city’s young people and communities.
Thanks to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, more pizza boxes of exciting music-making activities have been sent from Southampton Music Hub to shielded children in the city.
Whist some children have been able to be back in school ahead of the summer holiday, shielded children are having to wait until September. Pizza boxes of fun music activities mean that even those with limited access to technology or instruments can enjoy making music at home over the summer holiday.
Thanks to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, who’s musicians and team have used their orchestral expertise to create inspirational ideas, shielded children in the city can be inspired by the work of world-class musicians.
Southampton Music Hub Find out more about our Hub Choirs at: Bella Voce - Senior Chamber Choir Soton Voce - All ages Community Choir https://www.southamptonm...
Southampton Music Hub choirs; senior youth choir Bella Voce and community choir Soton Voce, have worked together this term to contribute to a recording of a All Is Found from Frozen 2. Weekly virtual rehearsals have been running since lockdown started and this song has been learned entirely remotely by members in three part harmony!
Young rock musicians from Southampton have kept their rock bands going throughout lockdown, working hard to turn their usual rehearsals and concerts into virtual band practices, and now, video performances too!
On Tuesday 14 and Thursday 16 July 2020 Southampton Music Hub and Southampton Music Trust will host two virtual concerts to celebrate the achievements of some of the city’s most talented young musicians.
These ‘Award Holder’ musicians receive additional support throughout the year. Through one-to-one music lessons, ensemble membership and instrumental loans, their incredible talents are nurtured to fully flourish.
For those young musicians who face challenging circumstances in their lives, Southampton Music Trust provides free support which means that talented young musicians, who can benefit the most, get to enjoy the life-changing power of music.
Southampton and Isle of Wight Music Hubs are launching version 4.0 of the Synthesis Video Guide resources, designed to help young electronic musicians build new composition skills, inspired by some incredible musicians.
Building on videos about looping (with Ricky Tart), ragas and scales (with Dr Pooja Angra), and arranging (with Em Johnson), this updated version adds resources about mixing, bass lines and chords.
Matt Brombley, Project Manager for the Synthesis Project, says:
”Using digital resources allows for young musicians to choose their own adventure through the world of electronic music composition. With these new videos, we’re excited to make that world a little bigger.”
The Synthesis Project is funded by Youth Music. Find out more about the project.
Some music hub friends have sent in videos of them singing, dancing, signing and even playing along with ‘The Greatest Friend’ — enjoy watching them as they get moving, make some great sounds, and even get a little messy!
Over the past few days the team have spent time reflecting on how we can better support BAME musicians in our city. We continue to listen and learn. We also want to act now.
So, today, we launch a new, paid commission for BAME musicians in Southampton.
Southampton Music Hub is looking for BAME musicians, performers and producers who:
Live or study in Southampton
Are 18+
Perform or record their own original material
We’re looking to commission them to:
Record a performance (audio or video, 3–4 minutes) of a self-composed piece of music
Participate in a recorded, one-hour zoom conversation about their music
Genre and style are open, and musical and lyrical content should be appropriate for audiences of all ages.
The recordings will form a digital resource pack for schools and the wider community that will be made freely available on the Southampton Music Hub website.
Fee: £200 for individuals, £300 for duo or group performers
We are looking to commission 3-5 musicians in this first round, and hope to be able to expand the scheme in future.
Expressions of interest for this round close at 12noon on Tuesday 30 June 2020.
The brief is also available to download from the Synthesis Page
Coronavirus has has a huge impact on all our lives. For families up and down the country, the past half term has been unlike any other: learning at home, and keeping a social distance from others. With schools looking to start welcoming more pupils on site, starting with some of the youngest first, this is a challenging time for everybody.
For children, as this half term ends, and they look ahead to the big changes coming soon, there are lots of confusing thoughts and feelings to try and make sense of. That is why Southampton Music Hub has created a brand new song called, ‘The Greatest Friend’.
With some very silly lyrics, fun actions, and sign language translation too, the song is fun for all ages. So there really is no excuse not to sing, dance or sign along.
The song also has a very important message hidden inside: it’s ok to feel sad and confused sometimes; everybody feels that way, but, it’s not forever.
What better way to show that we’re all in this together, than a video of everybody joining in? That’s why we need YOU!
Send us your videos and video clips either through the music hub website, or on Twitter, and you could be part of a huge, exciting, community video version of the song.
Starting today, pizza boxes of music activities arrive on the doorsteps of shielded children across the city. Including support for songwriting, beatboxing, and even turning the box in to the drum, the resources are designed to support music-making at home, with no extra stuff needed.
The boxes have been put together by Southampton Music Hub and are inspired by the incredible work of Solent Showcase Gallery and Southampton City Council’s art box scheme. They are part of the Covid-19 response from Southampton’s Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP), looking to help make sure children can access cultural experiences from a distance.
Matt Brombley, Development Manager for Southampton Music Hub, says:
”We’re delighted to be part of the SCEP’s response to COVID-19: helping children and young people making music at home. We know that for shielded children — those who are extremely clinically vulnerable, or who live with someone who is — the very strict social distancing restrictions are really tough. We hope that being able to make music and write songs will help them to work through the difficult feelings that such a troubled time brings.”
Today, Southampton Music Hub releases the first evaluation report from Action Research into the impact of moving music lessons online during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Drawing on responses from young musicians, parents and staff, the report highlights some key findings:
Build on existing strengths
Staff, parents and young musicians all have existing, transferable experiences, skills, knowledge and understanding that can be used and built upon to support new initiatives and formats
Existing relationships, infrastructure and processes can be built upon and developed, even in challenging circumstances
Facilitate and support the sharing of adapted good practice and learning experiences
Community is key
Support is all around us — colleagues, family members
This support supplements, but is not a replacement for clear and concise guidance
Sharing emerging good practice, both formally and informally helps to support staff and families, and further opportunities to do this should be found
Simplicity enables speed
Selecting a single platform allows for quicker training, support and troubleshooting
Platform specific pre-existing skills are broadly low, and the transferable knowledge and understanding which accompanies these skills are quickly built upon
Complicated technical setups do, sometimes, result in higher audio and video quality, but we have not gathered enough evidence to support the assertion that this improve learning outcomes for young musicians
Challenging circumstances are increased, but can also be reduced
For children, young people and families already facing challenging circumstances, moving music lessons online has resulted in a reduction in their engagement — a deeper understanding of the causes of this reduction is needed, and both the adaption of existing strategies and the introduction of new strategies for engagement will be needed
For those able to engage, learning music online has provided many improvements to wellbeing, including:
A comforting sense of connection to “normal life”
Improved, transferable confidence
Increased parental engagement
Exceptional circumstances lead to exceptional responses
Across staff, parents and young musicians there is wide acknowledgment of the exceptional context in which this work takes place, and the willingness to undertake exceptional actions as a result
However, there are some transferable principles that would apply beyond the current period:
Parents and young musicians highly value regular music lessons, including developing a learning relationship with an individual teacher
Staff, parents, and young musicians may not have experience of specific technologies or activities, but are willing to use and build upon existing transferable skills, knowledge and understanding to achieve successful outcomes
In responding to the report, Matt Brombley, Development Manager for Southampton Music Hub, says:
In compiling this report, I was overwhelmed by the extraordinary amount of effort, goodwill and energy that had been shown by our young musicians, their parents and teachers in exceptional circumstances.
To staff, your resilience is truly incredible. In teaching, we often talk about modelling, and usually, mean playing music for our students in a way that demonstrates excellence. But to me, this report shines a light on how you have gone further: modelling resilience to the young musicians you teach, demonstrating what huge challenges can be overcome when we approach them with a willingness to learn and adapt. I cannot include every thank you that came in the responses from our families, it would be many pages long, instead, accept just one on their behalf — thank you!
To parents and guardians, as this report shows, your existing skills and confidence have been vital in getting online music lessons taking place. But, beyond that, you have been on a learning journey of your own — developing new knowledge and understanding, as well as building on your skills and confidence, and this progress should not be lost or underplayed. It has not always been easy, or simple, but you have made it work. For many of you, this experience has brought you closer together as a family, making you more engaged in the musical lives of your children. On behalf of the young musicians you support — thank you!
To our young musicians, I am delighted that we have been able to provide you with music lessons at a time when so much else is being lost. You have shared how comforting it is to be connected with “normality”, with your music teachers, and with music as a place for creative self-expression. Your energy and passion have driven us all forward, wanting to allow you each to develop to the fullness of your potential — thank you!
We continue to learn together.”
Responding to the reports key development areas, Kath Page, Manager for Southampton Music Hub, says:
“We have already started to respond to the key development areas highlighted by this report. We are committed to helping children overcome the barriers and challenges which may prevent them benefiting from the life-changing power of music. I’m delighted that we have already moved to:
Deliver physical music resources to children who find they don’t have the right technology to access music lessons online. Starting with shielded children, and expanding over the coming weeks, boxes of music activities will help them continue making music at home.
Working with schools to expand our online music lessons offer, including a digital version of our incredibly popular SoundBites project, which can be done both at school and at home
Re-imagining our inset programmes for the rest of the year, and the year ahead, to allow time for the team to share, and build upon, the new and adaptive practices which they have so quickly deployed”
Southampton Music Hub has new sets of resources to support music-making and learning at home and in schools this week.
A weekly newsletter for instrumental musicians, to go alongside online music lessons, and instrument specific resources being sent directly by instrumental teachers.
A weekly newsletter for those missing out on classroom music sessions.
Resources for making use of iPad and other digital apps, including video guides from expert musicians on how to write your own songs.
This week, the first of ten weekly sessions for First Access musicians is heading out to schools and families that are missing out on their Soundbites and In2Music lessons. Learning music from across the world, over ten weeks, young music-makers will use their voices and any percussion they can get their hands on — or just their hands — to explore melody and rhythm.
Think your school or family should be taking part? Get in touch
Over the Easter Holidays, staff from Southampton Music Services were redeployed within Southampton City Council, becoming part of the team which delivered child care for vulnerable and key worker children during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Judi, Debbie, Lewis, Simon, Kevin and Kath were joined by other city council staff as well as teams from Youth Options, to provide sport, music, arts, games and other activities.
Our Holiday Clubs have started!! 🎉
— Youth Options (@YouthOptions) April 6, 2020
Here are the team at @woodlands_CC ready for a fun day of sports, music and games! ⚽️🎼🧩🎨 @SouthamptonCC @MusicHubSouthhttps://t.co/JiHmRoXrPH#holidayclub #socialdistancing #Easter #Hampshire pic.twitter.com/luLnvn6cJx
Another fun day at our Holiday Club! This time we’re making slime!! 💜@SouthamptonCC@MusicHubSouth @Woodlands_CC#easter #easterholidays #artsandcrafts #hampshire #Southampton pic.twitter.com/hKLs7yPtpQ
— Youth Options (@YouthOptions) April 8, 2020
The sessions did more than inspire the kids — two members of the youth options staff have taken up the ukulele as a result!
The active outdoors staff have fallen in love with the Ukulele lessons which have been run in partnership with @MusicHubSouth! So much so that Ben has ordered himself a new uke!#music #ukulele #southampton #hampshire #EasterFun pic.twitter.com/qMIjgmWdO8
— Youth Options (@YouthOptions) April 9, 2020
Matt Brombley, Development Manager for Southampton Music Hub, says:
”We’re so proud of the members of our team who gave up their Easter Holiday to be redeployed within the council and to take on such important work. Music has incredible power to help us make sense of the world around us — that is never more important than now, particularly for vulnerable children in the city. Added to that, we know the huge sacrifices that key workers in the city are making during this time, and for our staff to step up and help support them to be out in our hospitals and communities doing vital work, we’re overwhelmed with pride!”
Southampton City Council leader Christopher Hammond said:
"It's been brilliant to see how schools, childcare providers and other community organisations have gone the extra mile.”
Southampton Music Hub is launching Challenge-19: a challenge to the city’s young musicians to perform for friends and family, sharing their musical talents through digital video and over the phone.
For those who meet the challenge of performing 19 times, they can send a record of their achievement to the music hub office to get a digital certificate.
Young musicians interested in taking part should get in touch with the music hub office.
Southampton Music Hub is creating regular resources to support the city’s children and young people learning at home and in school.
The instrumental teams have been busy making videos, worksheets and other resources to support young musicians playing at home, which they will add to over the coming weeks
Southampton Music Hub instrumental and vocal teachers have worked exceptionally hard this term — thanks to their resilience and creative problem solving we have had over 300 young musicians start online music lessons in less than two weeks. They deserve a break — and so do we all! Lessons and resources will be back after the Easter Holidays, from Monday 20 April onward.
