An Ancient Calling | Drake East | Drake West | North Lanarkshire Schools |

Drake East of Scotland, Edinburgh

Music Maker - This 16-month long project included groups of children from 2 to 18 years old. Pre-school children at Craigmillar Childrens’ Centre were involved in a musical journey using storytelling and music. Pilrig Park children experienced working with a DJ.

Dr Who? - A group recorded a soundtrack inspired by Dr Who memories at an exhibition of Dr Who memorabilia in Dunfermline. The link with Fife Council Community Services is now culminating in a new project…

Bridges - A group of adults are working together at the Music Institute in Dunfermline on an ambitious year-long multi-arts project in conjunction with other artists leading to a performance at the Carnegie Hall.

Creation - Pupils from St. Nicholas School in Edinburgh are participating in workshops fusing drums, voicework, percussion and multi-media technology and will present a CD-Rom at the Barclays New Futures Fund ceremony in June 2003.

Keen Musicians - We also welcome the establishment of the Keen Musicians in September 2002, a gathering of musicians with advanced musical, song-writing & composition skills already achieving their aspiration of writing, recording and performing original and inspirational material to be showcased during the rest of this Year of Disabled People.

Drake West of Scotland, Cumbernauld

Antonine Court, Drumchapel, Glasgow

We are composing a piece of music that takes us on a musical journey, which we hope will be performed sometime in May ’03 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Centre. This group is great fun and the clients are exceeding the expectations of the staff: many previously played musical instruments and had a great sense of musicianship and it has been great to see these skills once again opening and developing.

Alpha Project, Cumbernauld

12 clients are involved in both musical and technological aspects of the workshops held every Tuesday and involving the use of acoustic and non-acoustic instruments and technology. We have established a great rapport with both the clients and the staff and the musical developments have been varied and extremely positive. We are working towards a performance of a recorded soundscape woven together from ‘found sounds’ from around the Centre combined with live improvisation.

Rosewood Centre, Johnstone

The workshops are part of our ongoing programme and take place within Rosewood Centre every Thursday. We decided to see the participants individually and this has worked very well. We are now at the stage of starting to pair up individuals to work together in small groups which we feel will work well both socially and musically. The room is not the most ideal space as it is very small and it is also a sensory room, which can be distracting, but it is the only space in the centre for us to work. It is hoped to develop some form of video production/sharing of work based on the theme of the senses.

Anchor Centre, Paisley

Workshops here in Paisley have started only recently, so we are still in the very early stages of development. They are held in the Anchor Centre on a Friday morning and will run for an initial ten weeks, but it is anticipated that the link with the I-D Arts programme run by Renfrewshire Council will continue to develop. The Centre itself is well resourced and there are a couple of staff members who are interested in using music as an activity in the centre.

We have two new projects beginning late April, early May and discussion with other agencies including local authorities indicate that the prospects for further work in new areas in the West of Scotland are extremely good. Caroline Dickov, West of Scotland Co-ordinator

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North Lanarkshire Schools Project 2002 – 2004

The North Lanarkshire Schools Project came about through enthusiastic responses to the My Life tour the previous year from special schools and the music advisor in North Lanarkshire. It has several key objectives including:

• A series of inclusive workshops with 3 pairs of linked schools
• Training for 2 teachers from each special school in music technology
• Creating a music technology resource for each school
• Part of new Drake Scotland website dedicated to the project
• Resource Pack for teachers with training materials

Since it began at the start of the 2002/3 school year the project has met with success in all the schools where the participating pupils have enjoyed working together to make music.

Two members of staff have been identified in each of the special schools and have been receiving training in the use of the technology.The groups have begun to find their own themes reflecting the interests of the pupils. The Redburn group in Cumbernauld are ‘off to sunny Spain’ exploring the theme of journeys. At Mavisbank in Airdrie, children are playing with samples of the wind, leaves underfoot and rain to recreate the seasons. At Clydeview in Motherwell, which shares a site with St. Bernadette’s, sign language is being taught to the mainstream pupils. The success of the project so far can be encapsulated in the two main outcomes to date: ‘FUN!’ and ‘NEW FRIENDS’.

Equipment Resources

As well as the equipment provided for each school from the SEN funding, North Lanarkshire Education Department has purchased additional equipment including an eMac computer and specialist software to process and edit material e.g. to create soundtracks of the children’s work as legacy material and for use in other areas of the curriculum.

Staff Training

As the training element progresses, material is generated for inclusion in the Teachers’ Pack which will also be available online. Some staff are specialist music teachers, whereas others are less confident about their musical skills. Their feedback enables the Drake team to produce guidelines that are helpful to those who may have little or no experience of technology or of running music sessions. Training sessions have so far covered use of MIDI, Cubase and Soundbeam.

Mavisbank School with Kirkshaws Primary

Tutors were rewarded as they began to see the children responding, some of them realising that they were able to produce these sounds unaided. The integration aspect worked will with the Kirkshaws pupils enjoying assisting their new friends as well as participating in the music making.

Clydeview School with St. Bernadette’s Primary

During the winter term 8 children from Clydeview School and 8 children from St.Bernadette’s School took part in a set of workshops replaced by a different set of pupils in the spring term. The workshops had many positive outcomes: the children became familiar and eventually became one group instead of pupils from two separate schools. An interest in signing was shown by the St. Bernadette pupils, so the Clydeview pupils, staff and Drake tutor have taught them signs during the sessions.

Redburn School with St.Morris’s High School and Cumbernauld High School

Most of the first term was spent on small individual taster sessions in order to identify two core groups. The sessions concentrated mainly on finding themes, identifying appropriate sounds and making choices. Storytelling is woven into the workshops and electronic and acoustic instruments used to involve each child in some aspect of the story.

Teachers’ Comments

'All the children have improved, growing more confident as the weeks passed.'

'All the children have enjoyed the experience and have made progress especially in listening and turn-taking skills.'

'I have learnt to step back, allowing the children to express themselves freely.'

'I look forward to using the technology in the future – the children love it.'

'He used the Soundbeam appropriately with his foot, understanding that it was him who was making this connection with the beam. Eye contact improved over the weeks.'

Children’s Comments

'I liked the music and lights – singing into the mic was my favourite'
I liked making music with the Soundbeam because you got all the different sounds by just moving your hands
' I liked the Soundbeam and playing the different instruments. I also liked making
friends with the other children'
'We learned sign language and we learned a new song in a different language'
'We are all looking forward to a successful second year.' - Sue Dodds, North Lanarkshire Schools Project Co-ordinator

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