Third Music Workshop in Campsfield 16/12/06

Posted by Andy (GroupSpaces), Sunday 14th October @ 6:33pm

REPORT FROM ALI
Rosa, Lucy and I went along, bit of a delay getting in but we had the big room so that was good. It was quite low key with some people there for most of the session and others drifting in an out. We started off with the same tune we did last time. However the guys like to play their own rhythms and we started to play a bhangra tune that we know
Some of them had played a dhol before so were then keener to join in, We had some fantastic singing and even a bit of dancing, quite a wild time towards the end!
The guard enjoyed it and said she would like to hear more, for the future We should try to get more people stood up so we can get them to see the signals clearly and play more as a band, I am sure it will be different every time but it was really fun.
If we had the big room again we might be able to cope with a few more drums.

Fourth music workshop

Posted by Mary Keniger, Wednesday 24th January @ 11:48am

RHEA'S REPORT

Workshop had it's ups and downs again. There were people waiting for us when we arrived which was exciting. And Joseph who had been there last time was back. The musical instruments were a big hit but difficult to control again. Concentration span was very small today, we barely made it to the end of any of the songs. Hits: They all joined in the alphabet song - most of them don't know the english alphabet so that was helpful to them. One of the guys rapped while everyone else listened and did percussion. They wanted to know the meaning of the songs we sing again. And we have to be careful we don't make them feel like we're talking to them/teaching them kiddies songs. Also avoid singing freedom - it makes them feel like they're having their faces rubbed in it a bit. There was a larger crowd than last time - there were always people in the room!

Second Music Workshop in Campsfield 9/12/06

Posted by Mary Keniger, Monday 11th December @ 6:20pm

Radhika and I did the workshop on Saturday, it was really really enjoyable though a little bit wild at times, we thought there is great potential in Campsfield and some star drummers.!
We took 2 big drums, 2 smaller drums, 2 tams and 2 bells as we didnt want to be too loud, However it was loud as we were in the small classroom, we had to move the tables back and had about 16 people in the room. Some just wanted to thrash the drums others wanted to strut their stuff so we let them have a bit of a jam session then got them back on track. We clapped through some rhythms, explained the signals and tried to get them to be part of the band not just individual drummers, it seemed like a great release for them. We got the hang of 1 tune by 12.20.
We think that we definitely need the bigger space and we would also need ear plugs for the guard. BOP samba would be keen to do 3 or 4 more workshops next year, ideally would need 3 of us, Rad and I are quite teacherly so managed the crowd control.
Some of the guys are quite downhearted about spending christmas in captivity so not sure how you could lift their spirits next week, ?
It seems that there is a CD player, we have samba tunes we might use in the future, If one more person is needed next weekend I might be free.

Ali