Some good news for 2014

Thank you very much, Esmee Fairbairn and SW Foundation, for agreeing to a request for some addiitonal funding for Heart Beats in 2014.
We're going to use this funding to put on some Heart Beats parties, so - hooray!
Happy Christmas!

.

silent nights......

No Heart Beats music tonight - we're taking our festive rest.
Sending lots of very warm wishes to all our friends. Keep warm and don't forget to be musical.
Have a Happy New Year too, we'll hope to see you all in January for a brilliant, exciting and harmonious start to 2014.

Happy Christmas!

Count Me In are leading some experiential training for Sound Foundation Somerset....

Breaking news....


Fantastic Professional Development Opportunity for Somerset Music Practitioners!

Sound Foundation Somerset (Somerset’s Music Education Hub) and Somerset County Council’s Short Breaks are funding a great professional development opportunity for music practitioners in Somerset.

This is for people who work with children and young people with disabilities, learning and communication needs and who are interested in developing their music leading skills.


Supported by SPAEDA Arts Education, and delivered by Count Me In, this experiential learning opportunity includes two mornings of live music workshops based on structured, improvised group music making.

Practitioners will participate in these workshops and learn to lead a group of children and young people with disabilities, learning and communication needs.

Afternoon sessions focus on learning and professional development, with practitioners reflecting, planning and reviewing the workshops.


Thursday 20th and Friday 21st February 2014


Great Bow Wharf, Bow Street, Langport, TA10 9PN


9.30am – 12.30pm- workshop for 12 years +


Lunch – for Count Me In and CPD Participants


1.30-3.30pm CPD element for emerging practitioners



Call: 01458 254265 to book your practitioner place.
Only five free CPD places available

Festive and seasonal....

Hey hey! it's our December session tonight - the last before the midwinter break.
Yes, there may be mince pies and twinkly lights. And music to warm, to cheer and to sparkle with ...
Our Christmas cake is also our birthday cake, we are celebrating 2 years of the Heart Beats club.
Lots of reasons to be merry, then!

Bright and cheerful

We'll be working with autumnal themes this week..... please wear brightly coloured clothes!

Heart Beats - the movie.

Heart Beats - the Movie!
Sounds like a good idea?
We think so. More news soon.

Babyhead and Zone Club at the Cheese and Grain

What a great time we had last night, thank you Babyhead, Zone Club, and FMU.
Caught a few glimpses of the Heart Beats crew bouncing around in the crowd.
Why can't all gigs be like this? Let's move things forward to more inclusive times.... more fun for everyone.

Oh, and that Alex wasn't bad on the drums, eh?...

Next Session....

Hi everyone who comes to Heart Beats - this is a reminder that our next session is on October 24th, which means there is a three week gap between sessions, not two as usual. This is because the museum venue is not available this week.
See you on the 24th.

Youth Music project .....

Once upon a time Youth Music funded us to start the Heart Beats project. We hoped it would be successful but we didn't expect it to be quite such fun!
Our support from Youth Music draws to a close, as we have now submitted our final report to them.


Count Me In wants to say thanks to them for making Heart Beats happen. And to our other funders and supporters.

We have worked with 144 young people with a range of needs since we began in January 2012.
During this time,we've been surprised, excited, amazed, fascinated and amused.... we've learned more from our participants than we would ever have expected.

Of course, the Good News is that we haven't finished yet - Heart Beats is up and running, and judging from our last session, more fun than ever.

Here we go.... new season begins

I'm so excited, I'm off to Wells to see the crew...... Heart Beats..... yes!

The Heart Beats crew

A Babyhead gig in Frome

The Heart Beats crew will be there : are you coming too? It's an inclusive night of music, dancing, and socializing, on October 18th.

Babyhead in Frome

Making time for some new music......

Yes! It's almost time for the NEW Heart Beats sessions to begin..... as you can imagine in the engine room of Heart Beats hotel here we are getting quite excited.

There will be lots of the usual cool stuff - games, rhythms, songs, tunes, soundscapes, listening, sharing, exploring ...... and some new faces, we hope.

Don't forget to tell your friends : we have some spare places still. First come, first served. Sessions start on Thursday September 19th at 6.00 prompt.
We'll be there :

 Ben

 Jane

 

Alex

Russ and Geoffrey

Heart Beats at the term time clubs in Somerset

Count Me In are bringing a taste of Heart Beats to the Short Breaks term time clubs - for children and young people with disabilities in Somerset - on Saturday Sept 21st, and Saturday October 26th.
This is part of six weekly sessions. Only £5 per session, or book six get one free! There's other activities on offer too - sculpture, and film.
For more information:
short breaks term time clubs

or contact Sarah at Spaeda, 01458 254 262

Outreach team

The outreach workshops took us all out and about, beyond the comfy cocoon of our usual room.
Fortunately, we were able to support each other and have some fun ..... here we are practicing our 'Tibetan applause' - as you do....

Hearts, Beats, Music

Wow, what an amazing team!
Its been a total joy working with you all .....
Geoff
Russ
Alex
Ben
Mark
Martha
Emma
Leah
Elin
Ros
Iona
Sophia
Declan

Here's a wish for lots more music, for all of us, later.

Tasters for disabled children in Somerset

Count Me In / Heart Beats are pleased to bringing their music to

'Things to do with Arts and Media…. Tasters for disabled children in Somerset'.

Thanks to funding from the SCC Short Breaks Service, the InspirED agencies* have come together to offer six Saturdays of arts and media activities in Langport in September and October 2103.   The programme offers six weeks of two hour arts and media tasters for disabled children of 12 years upwards, their families and carers and will also provide participants with an opportunity to undertake the Arts Award.  You can attend them individually or book the entire programme for only £5 per young person per session, carer goes free.

Experienced and passionate arts practitioners will lead the programme as follows.  All sessions from 10am-12noon in the fully accessible venue of Great Bow Wharf, Langport. 

·        Sat 21^st September – Things to do with Music and Song
·        Sat 28^th September and Sat 5^th October – Things to do with Film
·        Sat 12^th and Sat 19^th October – Things to do with Sculpture
·        Sat 26^th October – end of project celebration sharing the films we have made and playing sounds to tell a story through noise!

Booking and further information: Call Sarah at SPAEDA on 01458 254 262

*InspirED agencies are – SPAEDA Arts Eduction, Somerset Art Works, The Engine Room and Take Art.

Heart Beats at FosseWay School

Here's Emma and Geoff posing in front of the Heart Beats bunting. Day one of two days for Fosse Way School went well .... lots of engagement, good attention and interaction, and some excellent feedback from staff there.

Tomorrow, our workshop there is the final day of our outreach phase and the last workshop of our Youth Music funded project. What a journey this has been.
Amazing.

We're back in September thanks to some funding from the Big Lottery.

Fairfield Farm College

Wow, what a brilliant evening playing music at Fairfield Farm College - thanks Geoff, Mark, Alex, Ben, Russ ..... and all the Fairfield Farmers crew.


Heart Beats hit the spot!  what a joyful load of spontaneous music-making. Fun with reggae and funky beats, gentle improvisation, conducting, movement and games.
Thanks to everyone at Fairfield for making us welcome, giving us cool drinks, showing us the beasties (cute baby cows), chatting, helping set up and pack away.
Most of all, thanks for your music, singing and enthusiasm. 




O. said 'Thank you for coming and playing music with us here - will you come back? We don't get this opportunity often.'
J. stood up and said 'I'm leaving this college - and so are lots of my friends.' So, it was an important moment. We hope everyone will remember the great party we had together  - the Heart Beats crew won't forget it in a hurry, that's for sure.

More schools.

We were playing more Heart Beats music with very young people at Three Ways yesterday.
Geoff played his didgeridoo and demonstrated how the sound comes from the inside of a djembe. Because it was such a hot day we played gentle, relaxing sounds.

And here is a lovely letter from Critchill School, where we did some after-school club sessions.
It's a privilege to work with so many young people. The music is different, every time.

This Thursday - off to Fairfield Farm College for what I suspect might be some high-energy fun.

School workshops in Bridgwater

Phase two of our Youth Music work is in full swing now. Today we were at Elmwood School in Bridgwater, running workshops for their enrichment day. Sadly Penrose School couldn't join us as planned, as Ofsted had suddenly arrived!
Elmwood is a friendly school, we had a great welcome and lots of cake.
All the students joined in, concentrated hard, and made some good music.
Emma and Geoff came with us, to help lead the workshop. A student said that Emma's conducting was 'magic', and someone else said Geoff's drumming was the best thing of the day. So well done you two.

This second phase of our project can be quite challenging as we are in new situations with young people who may have complex needs, but don't know us at all.
Part of the big strength of our 'usual' Heart Beats sessions is the chance to work regularly as a team. Now we have to work with our strengths in one-off situations.

What is working well is our ability to help people improvise and really explore group music making.
Rod Paton calls this 'communitas'.
Thanks to a really brilliant team, sunny days like today will remembered for some while to come.

Next Monday we are going to Threeways School in Bath to work with primary children.

News!

MUSIC SESSIONS IN 2013-14

Count Me In are really happy to announce the news that we have secured funding from the Big Lottery Fund (Awards for All) to carry on with our music sessions at Wells Museum.

The Big Lottery want us to provide a safe space where young people in challenging circumstances, with learning needs and autism, can make friends, play good music, relax and communicate with each other.

These sessions will be the same as ever – run by Jane, Alex, Russ, Geoff and Ben. We will explore live music together and have fun too, of course.

Sessions are on Thursdays – we start at 6.00 and finish at 8.00.

You need to be aged between 16 and 25 to come. We ask everyone to pay £1.50 a session towards drinks, snacks, and venue hire.

You will be asked to sign a new registration form when you come. We’d like everyone to come to every session please, if you can.

If you have questions, or know anyone new who would like to come, ring us on 01373 813558, or email info@heartbeats.org.uk 

You can follow our project blog at:

www.heart-beatsmusic.blogspot.co.uk

 

DATES FOR THE NEW SESSIONS

2013

1. Sept 19^th
2. Oct 3^rd
3. Oct 24^th
4. Nov 7^th
5. Nov 21^st
6. Dec 5^th

          2014

7. Jan 9th
8. Jan 23^rd
9. Feb 6^th
10. Feb 27^th
11. Mar 13^th
12. Mar 27^th
13. April 24^th
14. May 1^st
15. May 15^th
16. June 12^th

Sessions are at Wells Museum, BA5 2UE.  Session times 6.00 – 8.00 p.m. Cost £1.50. For more information email info@heartbeats.org.uk  or ring 01373813558.

Summer Party

You are invited to join Alex, Russ, Jane and Ben

at the

Summer Party

To celebrate the success of the Heart Beats project.

This is on

Thursday, July 4^th, 2013

 6.00 – 8.00 p.m.

at

Wells Museum

Please wear something colourful.

Bring Mums, Dads, siblings, carers…..

Refreshments provided.

Sound Foundation Somerset - another event to attend

On June 26th Alex will be talking at the Sound Foundation Somerset's second event looking at musical inclusion - how do we get more children and young people into music? Please spread the word about this event, which is in Langport, Somerset.

Please note that this event has been postponed until later in 2013.

Planning for the Heart Beats party on July 4th

Here's some of the crew taking a break, having a banana and helping to plan the party we're having on July 4th. mmmm... looks like hard work to me.

And here's our wonderful trainees, Elin and Roo .... looking... wonderful.

Workshop leaders to expland their vocal cords....!

Next week we're off to sunny Taunton for a mini masterclass with Yvette Staelens, Somerset's top voice practitioner and all-round good person.
And after that - will we be empowered to sing? watch this space!

Feedback....

At the end of the session we always pass a 'microphone'  (talking stick) for people to hold, and say or show what they have enjoyed about workshop.
Sometimes it's a smile, a gesture, or just a sound : sometimes the most surprising things!
Here are a few quotes from the feedback at the end of our FMU outreach session last week:

·      I say thank you for people doing drumming and music, and thank you for doing Heartbeats and it’s really good, for Heartbeat drum

·      I loved every minute of it and I liked the brilliant sound we made when everyone worked together

·      having some shakers – that’s good – the beats of the drums – that sounds funny, and then girls dancing....

·      I enjoyed being here and making new friends. You guys are really cool. .. and You know what, and I liked it. It was really cool and I liked being the singer, and listening to music - I liked the music and the drums and that, really cool. You guys are really awesome

Our team said some nice things too:

• I liked every bit of it. I don’t know if I can pick out a favourite bit – Liked all of it 
• It’s nice to see new people, it’s nice to get new friends

Outreach hits FMU!!!

Ears still buzzing and heart still thumping after an awesome music-and-sound-charged start to our outreach season at Openstorytellers 'FMU' club.
Thanks for hosting guys!
Great welcome, nice dancing, good playing.
Thanks to our awesome team - Martha, Geoff, Mark, Elin and Roo - great leading. It's a joy to work with you all.

Next up : after shcool club at Fosseway school this week.
Session at Threeways School in Bath.
Session at Penrose School in Bridgwater.
Two sessions at Fosseway school holiday club.

Sounds of Intent in Bristol

We're going to this conference in July. Alex is speaking - we promised not to heckle!

Heart Beats will be at FMU (Friends Meet Up) in Frome on May 11th.
We're running a two hour music workshop based on improvisation, sound

sculpting,communication and fun.
www.openstorytellers.org.uk

Heart Beats - Phase two

Some people have been wondering if they have missed some Heart Beats sessions at Wells.
To make things clear:
Open sessions have stopped now. (We hope they will start again in the autumn - we're waiting for funding news.)
We will have 'open doors' at the Heart Beats project party, on July 4th, 6 - 8 at Wells Museum.
Meanwhile, from now until our Youth music funding ends after the summer, we are running the second phase of the project. This is where we go out and run 'outreach' sessions in schools, holidays clubs and so on.
The first of these is at FMU (Friends meet up) in Frome, on May 11th.
- see www.openstorytellers.org.uk for details.
 So - if you go to FMU, see you there!
Watch the blog for more news about Phase Two.

Somerset Sound Foundation

Just back from giving a presentation about Heart Beats at the Somerset Sound Foundation (music hub) event hosted by Spaeda at Great Bow Wharf, Langport - 'how do we get more children and young people into music?'
Ideally I would have taken the whole gang along and just played music! But, words, photos and film had to suffice. Great to get good feedback and especially inspiring to hear about other work going on across the county and region - including Actiontrack and Drake Music amongst others.
Giving this presentation has helped me to think clearly about Heart Beats and look back on what has been good practice.
We're now entering phase two with our first 'rehearsal' session with our core peer leading team - a step into the unknown, but a good one I feel.

Music leading

At Heart Beats, we have our own way of music leading -  using agreed signals, body language, and conducting. Sometimes two people can lead at the same time - this needs empathy and a good awareness of your 'leading partner'.
Here's a clip of two of the Heart Beats crew doing some co-leading.
As you can see, it's fun too.

Games at Heart Beats

We often start our sessions with some musical games. This is a short film of a game we play - mirroring. You take turns to lead or copy. When the music stops - don't move! It's fun and relaxing - a great way to loosen up and make connections.

Count Me In are taking part in a sharing event about 'musical inclusion'

We're pleased and excited to be involved in a sharing event,  where we will be talking about Heart Beats.
This event is called 'How can we get more children and young people into music'?
It's  a free event and parents, carers and youth workers are welcome - it's not just for music leaders.
On June 26th Jane and Alex will both be talking at a similar event, aimed at the more 'formal' music sector - such as schools.

Summer party

You are invited to join Alex, Russ, Jane and Ben

at the

Summer Party

To celebrate the success of the Heart Beats project.

This is on

Thursday, July 4^th, 2013

 6.00 – 8.00 p.m.

at

Wells Museum

Please wear something colourful.

Bring Mums, Dads, siblings, carers…..

Refreshments provided.