Goodbye to Esther

Esther has been with us for a year now, both at the Listening Lounge and in the HeartBeats sessions.

We had a Listening Lounge evening out to say thanks to her for all the amazing music and to wish her well as she leaves Wells for a leap forward into higher education. We'll miss the harp and the smiles too. Good luck Esther!

Music and place

Lovely day - and it's St Patricks Day too.
At the Listening Lounge tonight we're going to get in the mood exploring rhythms and atmosphere, jigs reels and slow airs.... thinking about music and place.

AllStars heading West

Tomorrow we are running the first of our regular AllStars West Sessions - we're off to Bridgwater where we will be the guests of Robert Blake Science College and Elmwood School.
We're working with the students on using music as a means of connecting, making friends, and communicating.
In the sessions tomorrow we'll have a good mix of students from both schools.
This will be interesting ...... it's the first of four sessions this academic year, so we'll be doing some groundwork together and establishing a groove.

AllStars project begins

This is it - this week we have our first AllStars taster session - Thursday at Wells Museum, 6 - 8. Now that is good news.

See you there.

the lovely things that people say

I keep bumping into people who have been to our sessions. People even send us messages about the session. We thought we'd put some of these messages on the blog.

It really cheers you up when you hear how much everyone has enjoyed the music...Wendy says
'I would like to share some of the comments from some of the clients that I work with who used to attend Heartbeats. Frequently many of them ask me when is heartbeats going to start again and that they miss it very much.  One particular client said she missed playing the instruments it made her feel happy.  Another client has stressed how he misses making music with other people at heartbeats. We hope that heartbeats will continue to run throughout 2015.'
 Maggie says :'it’s very moving to see how those that struggle to communicate verbally find it so easy to communicate musically with a percussion instrument in their hand and engage with others in an extraordinary way. Their smiles and enjoyment are wonderful to see....'
MJ says 'Heartbeats is a very special group where I can relax and enjoy making music with friends.

Jane, Russ, Alex and Ben make every week fun and we learn different exciting things.

 I am happy to help people with music at Heartbeats. I have learned to play the Hammered Dulcimer and love improvising with Alex. Music always makes me feel good...' 

 

 

 

Heart Beats at the Rural Music Network, February 9th 2015

Heart Beats hero Mark J. has fund raised, organised and made the poster for this session.
All you have to do is book a place (0797457603, email jamesbrookes@sryp.org.uk) and turn up on the night. It's free!
Huge massive fun guaranteed. Come and meet up with your old friends. Warm your hearts in the middle of a cold winter!

our lovely volunteer trainees

At our last session we said goodbye to Gemma and Vicky, this years' trainees from Wells Cathedral school. They have been so welcome at every session, adding to the mix with beautiful French Horn, Violin, recorder, ukelele, voices.... Good luck in the future you two! We'll miss you!

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!

Winter Wonderland

Calling all parents, carers, siblings, families .....

PLEASE JOIN US NEXT WEEK…..

Our next session, on December 13^th, is the last Heart Beats session of 2012.

Please come in and join in the music. We will be having fun and creating music with the theme of ‘winter wonderland.’

We’ll be bringing hot drinks and mince pies too.

Don’t forget – Heart Beats starts again on January 10^th.

Declan's gig

'Our' musician in residence, Decan Millar, is out and about gigging. Please support him if you can!

Maggie and Bill Johnson form the Beacon Acoustic club say:

Dec performed at The Beacon last night and I'm still searching for an adjective that would do justice to his 'butterfly' song - how amazing to write songs of that calibre when still only 15 years old....

 

Anyway, if you fancy hearing more of his work now's your chance:

 

On Tuesday December 5th, Glastonbury Assembly Rooms' regular folk night, "Fabulous Furry Folk" hosts its youngest ever headline act in an evening of rootsy folk with a community vibe, and an opportunity for floor spots to support the main act. Recent "FFF" gigs have included headliners Robin Williamson, Martin Carthy and Martha Tilston but the final gig of the year brings it all back home with a chance for a local musician to play in the magical acoustic atmosphere of the Assembly Rooms' stone hall. Declan Millar has earned his wings over 5 years of appearances at Fabulous Furry Folk (yes - it's been going since 2007 when Dec was only 10!) and various other Assembly Rooms gigs. Still only 15 years old, he has also shared stages with Eliza Carthy and Lau and has recently been working on his first CD, produced in Bristol by Patrick Duff of Strangelove, and featuring his sister Caelia on fiddle and Brendan Sweetman on keyboards. His music blends influences including classic folk-rock and psych-folk; Declan is truly one of Glastonbury's finest troubadors. This gig will launch the new album and give the audience a chance to hear some  of his latest material as well as earlier songs.Support will be from various floor spots; please get in touch to play. Admission £5 on the door - 8 p.m. for an 8.30 start.(Nathan Williams)

Heart Beats training day

Breaking news! We've booked top class music leader and creator of Lifemusic, Dr Rod Paton, to lead a training skillshare day for us - we'll have a few places to spare if you know anyone interested. The date will be September 17th, 2012, and we have the lecture room booked at Wells Museum. More to follow soon.

Heart Beats session warms hearts!

Thanks to everyone who came last night and made it such a special session. What a lot of good listening, playing and turn taking.
Extra thanks to a superstar team of young musicians, Sophia, Iona and Declan.
It was a joy to end the evening listening to Mark play his hammered dulcimer.
We're looking forward to our next session on March 8th.

Geoffrey - a Heart Beats team member

This is Geoffrey - a team member of Count Me In and a volunteer for the Heart Beats sessions.
Geoff says 'I live in Glastonbury and I play music. My instruments are djembe, melodeon and didgeridoo. I learn music by listening to it. My other interests are painting and travelling to countries that take part in the Eurovision Song Contest.'

Hello from Russ

Hi I'm Russ.I love trying to get music out of any instrument, even if I've never tried it before.Things with strings are good but I enjoy drums and percussion too.My favourite thing to do is playing music with other people outside on a sunny day.

I'm a Heart Beats music leader

Hi - I'm Jane and I'm a Heart Beats music leader.
I play guitar, bass, flute, and percussion. I play in two bands, lead workshops and teach guitar.
I like all sorts of music - especially music that surprises me, or makes me smile. Best of all I like playing, especially when everyone else is joining in.
Come and join us!

Welcome one and all to our new HEART BEATS blog.

Hi everyone! This blog is where we can share ideas, news and thoughts about Heart Beats - the new music project run by COUNT ME IN, funded by Youth Music and Flourish Homes.

Heart Beats is a music club for young people with learning disabilities between the ages of 16 and 25 - it doesn't matter where you live, or if you play music yet. We're here to help you do that! Heart Beats happens on Thursday evenings, twice a month in term time, at Wells Museum. The two hour sessions cost £1 per person and start at 6.00 p.m.
To join up, you can email info@heartbeats.org.uk or ring 01373 813558.

We'll use this blog to keep in touch with you, and also share news and ideas with our partner project, Soundscape, which is run by Somerset Rural Youth Project and funded by Youth Music too.