In February 2025, we hosted a 3-day Holiday Project at our Woolwich Works home. The three days of workshops were based around African Drumming, Steel Pan, and Samba. These workshops were open to any young people who were currently at secondary school, and we welcomed all levels of experience.
Combining drumming, percussion, singing, movement and laughter, on the first day led by Sandra Dyer, the young people looked at developing their sense of rhythm, timing, and coordination, whilst building their confidence in being expressive and creative.
On day 2, led by Marlon Hibbert, they discovered the ‘kitchen of the steelband’ and learnt how the different rhythms within a steelband interact to create vibrant and interlocking sounds. And on the final day, led by Nunno Britto, young people had the chance to explore body percussion and Brazilian swing!
“I would definitely encourage any musician to always explore their rhythmical sides. Music is said to be 50% notes and 50% rhythm, so if you ignore 50% of it, you might not be doing your best and that’s what we always want to do; our best.”
Nunno Britto, Music Leader
Looking at a different form of percussion each day meant that the young people were able to learn the basics of a wide range of instrumentation:
“[On the Steel Pan] You hit it and you’re like, it’s a piece of metal, it’s just going to vibrate, but it’s not and it makes some really nice sounds.”
Holiday Project Participant
“Steel Pan is an instrument that nobody gets to experience; this is a chance for people to learn about instruments of Trinidadian culture, which is a big part of the Caribbean, and both are extremely important.”
Marlon Hibbert, Lead Educator
Through this project, young people got the chance to use music as a way of exploring different cultural traditions from around the world, as well as making new friends:
“I really enjoyed meeting my new friends and connecting culturally!”
Holiday Project Participant
As with all our Holiday Projects, the aim was to create an environment where the young people felt safe to try new things, experiment, and make mistakes:
“It’s always a highlight when a person finds something a bit tricky to start with, then they get it and that moment of them getting it… There was a few young people who got rhythms that I know they thought they weren’t going to get, but they did!”
Sandra Dyer, Music Leader
If you would like to be notified when recruitment opens for future Holiday Projects, please email [email protected] to be added to our Learning Opportunities mailing list.