In May this year, we had the absolute pleasure of welcoming a group of 12 young people aged 14 – 18 to our Woolwich Works home for a half-term project led by electroacoustic composer and sound artist Cameron Naylor. The 3-day project was a chance for young people to get hands on with microphones, learning techniques for recording the sounds in the world around them, and then creatively working with these sounds to develop a new piece responding to the space.
“I enjoyed recording different sounds and arranging them in a way that I wouldn’t usually do.”
Amirah, Holiday Project Participant
“I enjoyed spending time with my friends, recording sounds, and learning to use digital software.”
Boa, Holiday Project Participant
“I enjoyed learning about how you can use many things to create different sounds. It was great to record. It helped me understand music and flow. It’s not just captured by instruments and doesn’t have to be perfect.”
Glorian, Holiday Project Participant
With the support of Cameron and our NYJO Emerging Professional musicians, Olamiposi Fatile and Benjy Sandler, who acted as Assistant Educators on this project, the young people were all successfully able to experiment with new technology, use recording equipment for the first time, and compose new sound pieces that relied on them stepping outside of their melodic music-making comfort zone. You can have a listen to what was created below!
It was really lovely to see this project encourage the young people to take notice of the smaller sounds around them that they might not otherwise have heard, and to consider how they could find value and joy in these.
“I processed the sounds of my surroundings more; like I noticed sounds I hadn’t before and I’m very happy I did”
June, Holiday Project Participant
In a world that can make young people feel they have to be online and engaged with social media constantly in order to keep up socially with their peers, it can be so hard for them to carve out time to slow down and listen to what is surrounding them.
It was such a joy to see this music-making process giving them the confidence to appreciate the natural world, to hear music within the sounds of nature, and to seek these out in the city environment that they are growing up in.
“I learnt the meaning and connection between nature and the sounds around me and how to put them into music.”
Sehrish, Holiday Project Participant
At the end of the 3 days, Alex, one of the project participants, wrote that taking part had shown him how ‘the sounds around us are music’. We can’t think of a better takeaway for these young people to have left with, and hope that they continue to hear the music in everything around them as they move forward.
If you would like to find out more about our Holiday Projects Programme, drop us an email anytime at [email protected].