Category Archives: Music
Youth Music Initiative Consultation Opportunity
As part of the on-going Year 11 Youth Music Initiative programme in Aberdeenshire the Arts Development team is looking to appoint a researcher to plan and run a consultation exercise with children and young people in the region.
The Youth Music Initiative (YMI) programme, which is administered nationally by Creative Scotland, has two key purposes:
1/ To meet the Scottish Government’s P6 target that “every school pupil in Scotland should be offered a year of free music tuition by the time they reach Primary 6.”
2/ For projects delivered beyond the P6 target the purpose is: “to engage young people (of any school age) who otherwise would not participate in quality music making activities.”
With these priorities in mind and working closely with the Aberdeenshire YMI team, the consultation will engage with children and young people across Aberdeenshire to ascertain what impact the work is having, what areas of music are popular and where gaps exist that can be addressed in future years.
It is envisaged that the consultation will be with a range of participants such as those undertaking YMI projects, children and young people in other music settings, Visiting Music Specialist’s classes, school councils and Community Learning and Development groups. It is important to note that Aberdeenshire is a large, mainly rural, locality and evidence will be required from a representative cross-section the region.
The research post is open to cultural professionals and creative artists who will be employed on a freelance basis and will need to be available between May and July (2014) to work with school based groups, with the report completed by the end of August. Successful candidates will be required to be PVG registered with Disclosure Scotland (Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme).
A fee of £5,000 is available for the work, which will cover all research, travel and subsistence, materials and final report. We will shortlist candidates for interview based on an indication of suitable experience and creative responses to the brief.
To apply please send by email:
- Your CV
- A short description of how you would conduct the research on two sheets of A4, with a breakdown of associated costs, based on the figure above.
- Details of two referees
Deadline for email applications 12 May, 2014 to david.atherton@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Only email applications will be considered.
Please note interviews are planned for 19 & 20 May, 2014 at Woodhill House in Aberdeen. Candidates will be judged on the basis of a short presentation and responses to questions from the panel.
For informal discussion and more information about the project please contact:
David Atherton, Arts Education Officer, 01224 665363 david.atherton@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or
Jenna Main, Youth Music Initiative Officer, 01224 664604 jenna.main@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
RSNO Engage for Schools
RSNO Engage for Schools most ambitious Scotland-wide orchestral music initiative to date: Brochures making their way to schools over the next month.
From May, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) will provide the most comprehensive orchestra-led music access programme to primary and secondary schools across Scotland. In terms of scale and choice, RSNO Engage for Schools is the first of its kind in the UK, as education establishments can pick and choose the level of music education provision they require from over thirty options.
Headlining the new initiative, the RSNO launches a national composition competition, in partnership with the National Trust for Scotland, open to 12 to 18 year olds across the country. Notes From Scotland invites young composers to write a two-minute work for an instrumental trio, quartet or quintet. The theme for the first year’s Notes From Scotland is inspired by five National Trust locations around the country.
BAFTA, GRAMMY and Ivor Novello award-winning composer Craig Armstrong OBE, famed for his soundtracks to blockbusters such as Moulin Rouge!,Love Actually and The Great Gatsby, welcomed the move:
This is a fantastic idea to engage young people in composition and to bring them together with existing composers and musicians to pass on their knowledge and skills. I’m sure it will be an invaluable experience for all concerned.
RSNO Engage for Schools comprises four distinct sections; RSNO PLAY – performance-based workshops, RSNO CREATE – composition workshops, RSNO LISTEN – exploring musical concepts and appreciation, and RSNO WATCH – educational performances. Among the many available activities and workshops are conducting lessons, improvisation for beginners, samba workshops, instrumental coaching, digital composition sessions, an Instrument Petting Zoo (where children can play with orchestral instruments for the first time), and, from January 2015, a cross-Atlantic collaboration with US orchestras examining the music of American composers.
Last June the RSNO published the first ever careers booklet created by an orchestra, providing information on available courses and further education opportunities as well as case studies and insights into the workings of a modern professional symphony orchestra. The booklet is available from rsno.org.uk/engage.
Now the Orchestra will be providing work experience opportunities to fifty young people each year, where pupils will assume control of Scotland’s national orchestra over a two-day period, with a view to planning, producing and performing their own concert at the end of the placement.
RSNO Engage for Schools is devised to be fully integrated into the goals of the national Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), offering increased music education and learning provisions through new concerts for every level of CfE from age 3 to 18 years. It is intended that, in its first year, over fifty thousand young people in Scotland will benefit from engaging with some form of RSNO Engageactivity.
The RSNO Engage for Schools is part of the RSNO Engageinitiative, announced last year, which has led to a five-fold increase in the number of people enjoying music with Scotland’s national orchestra outside of its Season performances. A notable success story is the RSNO’s Young Ambassadors scheme, which invites young people aged 16 to 18 to help promote the live orchestral experience in their area. There is now at least one RSNO Young Ambassador for every local authority in Scotland, and the attendance of audience members under 26 years old has risen to 15% across Scotland and nearly 20% in Glasgow as a result.
RSNO Director of Learning and Engagement Jenn Minchin:
We’re very excited to be unveiling our new programme, RSNO Engage for Schools. Its development is geared towards providing the most valuable experience in terms of musical enjoyment and understanding, and provides a seamless integration with schools curriculum requirements at all levels. What’s more, it is available to every school across the country, and those who choose to engage with Scotland’s national orchestra can do so at the level of their choice. It promises to be the most ambitious learning and engagement drive of any performing arts organisation in the UK, and we are very much looking forward to sharing our love of music with many new enthusiasts.
For more information on RSNO Engage for Schools, contact the RSNO Engage Team on 0141 225 3574, email: engage@rsno.org.uk, or visit rsno.org.uk/engage.
Spring into Scotland Sings – Glow TV
2 May, 9.45
Register: http://bit.ly/1mVCroZ
Following on from our highly successful Scotland Sings on Burns Day we are back – with more songs for you to learn and join in with!! This time we will be joined in the Glow TV Studio by Dumfriesshire singer Jen Butterworth. So get your best singing voices ready and join us for another fun event!
Composing Music Survey
To help us better support composing music in the classroom, Education Scotland would like to invite practitioners to participate in a very short survey which will help direct us towards developing appropriate support materials. This consultation will also take into account feedback from our learning blog and inform next steps for the working group.
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/eslb/2014/04/23/composing-music-survey/
Divided City by Theresa Breslin: New Musical Version for Primary Schools
Register: http://bit.ly/1jYpnfR (Glow log-in required)
Join Theresa Breslin and Elly Goodman of the Citizens Theatre as they offer a unique insight into the history of bringing this iconic book to the stage. Pupils and teachers will get the chance to ask Theresa and Elly questions about the play and the book and to find out more about this ground-breaking project. The Citizens Theatre has now staged three large scale musical theatre productions of Theresa Breslin’s Divided City, adapted for the stage by Martin Travers with an original score and songs by Claire McKenzie. More information about this Glow TV event is on the Education Scotland Learning Blog.
Blue Blocks, Going to the Zoo and an orchestral Work-In-Progress
We’ve got a busy office here at Starcatchers HQ – with our Creative Skills and Expecting Something projects going full speed ahead, and productions of Hup, A Small Story, Blue Block Studio and Yellow Valley all touring over the next few months. For more details, and to marvel at how Starcatchers staff are keeping their sanity (lots of biscuits is the key!), read on!
Development of Blue Block Studio, our innovative programme of creative play and storytelling for babies and young children, which will be visiting 10 communities across Scotland as part of the Culture 2014 programme celebrating the Commonwealth Games, is well under way! We’re very excited that some venues are now on sale and others will be joining them very soon.
Blue Block Studio
Development of Blue Block Studio, our innovative programme of creative play and storytelling for babies and young children, which will be visiting 10 communities across Scotland as part of the Culture 2014 programme celebrating the Commonwealth Games, is well under way! We’re very excited that some venues are now on sale and others will be joining them very soon.
Blue Block Studio is a space specially designed for babies under 24 months. It is a creative place for babies and their adults to listen, to explore, to build, to watch, to lie down, to look and to touch. See www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/blue-block-studio to check which community we’ll be visiting near you!
Performances of Yellow Valley, the musical-storytelling performance created for children aged 2-4 years which will accompany Blue Block Studio, are also on sale, and again more will be added over the coming weeks. See www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/yellow-valley for more details and venues.
A Small Story
Dates for the Scottish tour of ‘a small story/ eine kleine gesichte’ our co-production with Berlin-based Theater o.N, are now on our website at www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/small-storyeine-kleine-geschichte-scotland with most venues now available to book!
The show is for children aged 2 and over and is all about the small stories which make up big stories life – love, marriage, babies, friendships, everything! It has been made by Andy Manley and Ania Michaelis with design by Fred Pommerehn and music by Danny Krass.
Don’t miss this opportunity to see this fabulous international performance!
Creative Skills Programme
Our Creative Skills Programme is in full swing! Early years practitioners in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire took part in a What is Creativity? session with Heather at the start of the year and have begun practical sessions delivered by Early Years artists. Sessions have been well attended with early years practitioners from a variety of settings, and early feedback is positive with a high percentage of participants having already started using skills and techniques they’ve learned in the sessions in their own practice.
The HNC Childcare students at Glasgow Kelvin College and Dumfries and Galloway College also continued their training, with music sessions led by Greg Sinclair. The students seem to have carried the same enthusiasm from last year’s sessions into the new year – long may it continue!
So please click here for more information or to sign up.
Expecting Something
We’re more than halfway through our second block of Expecting Something, our project with the Family Nurse Partnership Edinburgh and Lothians. In this block lead artist Sacha Kyle has been looking at the concept of there social and connected mother and baby, and our young mothers, babies and mothers-to-be, have been enjoying relaxing music and movement with various visiting artists. Our mums, their partners, friends or family are also looking forward to the last couple of sessions in this block, where we’ll be going on trips to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and Edinburgh Zoo! All together now “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, How about you, you, you…”
For more information on everything that Expecting Something have been up to see Sacha’s blog at http://expectingsomething.wordpress.com.
Nickum
We’re getting closer and closer to the culmination of our Nickum project, in conjunction with the RSNO, and nursery and family centre venues in Aberdeen are now confirmed for the mini-tour of the work-in-progress Hup. Abi and Hazel, our lead artists, along with musicians Liz Lloyd and Andrew Huggan have only had one week of intensive rehearsals but already Hup is coming together and enthralled the 0-24 month audiences who saw shadings at Out of the Blue, Leith and Ashgrove Family Centre, Aberdeen.
To read all about Nickum and Hup see Hazel and Abi’s blog at http://nickumaberdeen.wordpress.com
Refugee Week Scotland 2014
Community Celebrations Grant Application
Deadline: 3rd March – 5pm
At the Scottish Refugee Council we have been busy organising a very exciting programme for Refugee Week Scotland 2014! It will run from 16th – 22nd June in venues across the country, and we’d love for as many organisations as possible to get involved this year. The 2014 theme is ‘Welcome’, so we want you to have a think about how ‘welcome’ is shown in your community.
The SRC are awarding grants of £100 – £450 to help small community organisations to organise your own events as part of Refugee Week Scotland 2014. We strongly encourage you to apply and to spread the word to any other organisations or community groups that you think may be interested!
There are two files attached below – an Application Form and Grant Application Guidance Notes. Please read them both before applying! Receiving the grant from the SRC is unfortunately not guaranteed, so to make sure you are in the best position for acceptance, we urge you to read through these Guidance Notes thoroughly. We are looking for ideas that explore the theme – ‘Welcome’ – and discuss all the different things that this word can mean. For example, your activity could:
– Explore how welcome is shown in your community
– Encourage people to share their experiences of how welcome they have been made to feel here
– Encourage people to share experiences of how they have welcomed life in Scotland
Most importantly, you must demonstrate how your event will appeal to other communities and general public, and how you plan to involve them! The Community Celebration Events are the first step towards wide-scale understanding and integration among asylum seeker, refugee and local communities across the whole of Scotland. We want to know how your event will help this become a reality!
The deadline for submission is Monday 3rd March, 5pm. Please send all completed applications to arts@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk
If you need help – we are happy to discuss any ideas and give advice where necessary – just email arts@scottishrefugeecouncil.org.uk.You can also browse last year’s programme for inspiration.
Good luck!
Community Celebration Grant Application Form 2014
Community Celebration Grant Application Guidance Notes 2014 Final
Into Film in Fife
Into Film is a new film education charity, bringing together FILMCLUB and First Light, gives 5-19 year olds a chance to experience film and the moving image creatively and critically, as well as learning about the film industry and careers within it. In or out of school Into Film cultivates their interest, and provide teachers and youth leaders with the tools and training to support engagement at all levels.
The film education programme includes learning resources, CPD and training, film clubs, filmmaking film festivals, industry interactions, youth engagement and more. For information or to register for updates visit www.intofilm.org or if you’re interested in starting a film club to watch, make and understand films register at www.filmclub.org
Hidden Stories’ Animation Competition
Red Kite Animation and Edinburgh Museums & Galleries present an exciting animation competition designed to celebrate Edinburgh’s rich heritage and the art of animation.
Budding animators are invited to submit short animated films of 1-3 minutes, based upon either a real or imagined backstory to an object of their choice, housed in one of Edinburgh Museums & Galleries, including the City Art Centre, Museum of Childhood, Laursiton Castle and the Museums Store.
Check www.edinburghmuseums.org for details of venues.
Submissions from any groups or individuals are invited for anyone living or studying in Scotland in the following three competition categories :
Primary School age
Secondary School age
Matriculated students in Further or Higher Education.
The deadline is 31st March 2014
Entries are free.
More information available at:
http://www.redkiteworkshops.co.uk/competition.html
For tips on how to make an animated film click here
Judging
Entries will be judged by a panel of animation professionals and educators including: Will Anderson, Jared Taylor and Sueann Smith, and Cllr Lewis.
Benefits
For older, aspiring animators, this is a wonderful opportunity to have their work seen by some of Scotland’s most esteemed animation professionals and, for younger animators, an opportunity to enjoy being creative and have fun.
Prizes
Grand prize… a bespoke Red Kite Animation Workshop.
Winners films will be showcased in an exhibition at one of the venues within the Edinburgh Museums & Galleries; as well as on the Red Kite Animation and Scottish Animation Network websites, reaching hundreds of animation professionals worldwide.
Contact Fiona Henderson, Workshop and Education Officer at Red Kite Animation for more information
Red Kite Animation
89 Giles Street
Edinburgh EH7 8BZ
0131 554 0060
