![]() ![]() Minimal expectations of who is coming, what music will be created and how it will happen is how I like to give agency and freedom to those within the session. Their opinion and influence lay the basis of the direction the session goes why force someone to learn Chuck Berry when they can’t stand the 12-bar blues? A lens that values their metaphorical voice, not diminishes it. I regard everyone as a musician, worthy of respect and worthy to be treated as a professional, meaning I can approach my practice with a wider lens of diversity and the human experience. ![]() ![]() While the answer warrants a longer time frame and word count to fully encapsulate, there is one thing that will create a groundwork that inclusive practice can flourish from a change of mindset. I don’t believe the question is how music sessions can be inclusive, but how we can be inclusive in general. I regard everyone as a musician, worthy of respect Those who look the part, sound the part and do the process by the book those are the musicians. Then why is it that music making feels like a gate kept secret, that only the chosen may enter? It seems ingrained into us from a young age that only those born with the mystical skills to make music in a palatable sense for a western audience are worthy to be called musicians. Music is one of the most abstract artforms, yet it appears as one of the most natural from children singing before stringing sentences together, to the fact that music is played at every street corner, in shops and on television, music seems inescapable. The day we deny someone the opportunity to explore their musicality, and to do so in a way that best suits them, is the day we deny the potential for innovation. Inclusivity is a buzzword which many people may use to tick a box, however I believe that it should be one of the foundations of what we do, not only as musicians but also as humans. Some focus on songwriting, others focus on technology. I now run multiple inclusive and participant-led music sessions It wasn’t about my disability or the fact that I couldn’t sight sing to save my life (though I’m trying to learn, I still can’t), it was because I was a person who had potential. You see, they saw something in me that I couldn’t see in myself and without their encouragement and guidance, I would not be where I am today able to work, able to grow and able to see myself as they saw me. However, once again, community music provided me with a ‘get out of mind-jail free’ card, as I was offered the opportunity through MAC Makes Music and Quench Arts to develop myself within community music, this time as a music leader. When I was 17 turning 18, I had another mental breakdown, almost unable to finish my song writing diploma. Even if I didn’t choose music as my career path, I gained valuable work, life and well-being skills by finding authentic and healthy ways of expressing myself. To me, that’s what community music is about. I gained valuable work, life and well-being skills by finding authentic and healthy ways of expressing myself This was focused primarily on songwriting and I would say that it revealed to me that music was a potential career path.Īt the time, I was going through a mental breakdown, and developing my expression through this musical artform meant I was able to gain foresight into the direction I wanted my future to go, something I didn’t possess at the time. When I was a teenager, I got involved in a community music project called ‘Wavelength’ run by Quench Arts. It’s imperative to me I can operate from a place of understanding, both as a musician and as a disabled person. As a musician, I write, record, and perform my own music, utilising my vocals and technology to tell stories through sound.Īs a music leader, I lead inclusive music-making sessions, primarily for people with disabilities and additional needs. I am someone who believes that musicians don’t just encapsulate the select lucky few, but include all, no matter who you are. ![]()
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