SiFly health and education

Rotherham United Community Trust

We were dreaming of weather like this as we joined the trust this week.

Unfortunately it was persistent rain and there were flooded roads all around, but that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm from the young people we worked with.

We explored the building blocks of Music through looking at rhythm and language as we noticed the difference between English, Nigerian and Romanian inflections.

Rhythm is closely connected to language development and is reflected in the way music is created in different areas of the world. Music which is local to the country of origin tends to adopt the rhythms of the language of the country.

It is our pleasure to play a part in the health and development of young people in Rotherham.

Thanks again to Jonathan Allen for inviting us to return.

SiFly health and education

Go Swimstars

It was our first visit to Go Swimstars last week. They work from several venues and specialise in swimming coaching.

Supporting young people on the winter HAF programme, it was good to meet new faces and re connect with some that we had worked with before.

We were joined by one of our volunteers Denis, who we first met as an attendee at one of our sessions around 3 years ago. He is now gaining valuable knowledge and experience to support his college education.

He has ambitions of going on to further education and it is a privilege for us to share his journey.

Thanks to Sue for inviting us, and her staff for giving us a warm welcome.

You can find further information about Go Swimstars here:

https://www.swimstarsanddolphins.com/

SiFly health and education

Children’s Ward Doncaster Royal Infirmary

The core of our work is about improving health using music. We were asked to return to the children’s ward to support young people and their families who are in difficult and challenging situations.

As a parent who has had to deal with having a couple of children in hospital over the years I have an understanding of how distressing it can be.

Music can help with reducing anxiety when operations and procedures are on the horizon.

Music making can play a key part in building friendships and can help cure the boredom of being stuck in hospital.

Music can in some cases aid in pain reduction by up to 40%, although a degree of knowledge and experience is needed to be successful.

The video above is of staff members experiencing a taste of what the kids had done, it is so fulfilling to see smiles on faces.

Thanks to Jill Edwards for inviting us back and we are looking forward to seeing you again on the 6th of December.

SiFly health and education, music production

Brownies, Guides and Rainbows

Over the past couple of weeks we have been supporting one of the local groups.

My parents encouraged me to join the cubs as a young lad and it proved a good way to mix with other kids and learn about the outdoors.

Working in St Michael’s church in Skellow was a pure joy as we explored songwriting and beatmaking along with some electro acoustic Jams.

Thanks so much to Gemma and Fiona for inviting us. We met at a local Community gala organised by Well Doncasters’ Lauren Beaumont.

We met some young people who we had worked with previously and it meant a lot to us to witness them flourishing.

When parents get their children to participate in out of School activities they are giving them an opportunity to widen their social circle snd boost opportunities to develop support networks. This is increasingly valuable from a mental health perspective.

So a big thanks to all the parents out there who are putting the effort in, you will be rewarded with healthier more resilient young people.

SiFly health and education, music production

Activ8 Summer Camps 2023

Over the 6 weeks holiday we were asked to support Activ8 Coaching who provide sports activities to schools.

We had 100% engagement from the young people and we also had particular interest from the support staff.

We heard how some had no access to creating music using the 90minutemusic way, and didn’t fit into classical music training and had to opt to take another choice at secondary education level.

This was my personal route, not believing there would be a place for me in a very competitive environment.

Nearly 25 years later I’m now in a position to mentor young people into finding their way.

We were proud to give our long time volunteer Denis some valuable experience and he had a good rapport with the young people as he took a lead role in delivery.

Thanks to Owen for inviting us to support and thanks to all his staff for making us welcome especially Will who made a great cup of tea.

Looking forward to working with you again soon.

SiFly DJing, health and education, music production

Adwick Primary School

“When we started I was quiet and didn’t want to talk much, but now if our teacher asks a question I will answer, I used to be scared to do things but now I find it easier to get involved, I enjoyed the beat pad most.” L.M aged 9

We asked if they felt anything had changed since we started 6 weeks ago.

It was our final session of 6 on Tuesday and I asked the children if they felt anything was different from when we met 6 weeks ago. 6 out of the 9 pupils recognised that they were more confident socially.

For us building strong social bonds and supercharging confidence are among our primary aims, but to hear them mirror back their understanding of it really made my day.

Over the past 6 weeks we have covered communication and discipline. Learning and development. Music from around the world. Songwriting and Music Production, DJing and the connections between Maths, Science, Art and Music.

We have Jammed, laughed, learnt about each other and explored the building blocks of Music.

Thanks to Miss Jenkins for taking part as well as supporting us through the sessions and thanks to all the School staff who made us feel welcome.

SiFly #SEND, DJing, health and education

Cura-Care Music Sensory group

“I love bringing him here, it gives him time away from me (mum) and gives him space to be himself.”

So nice to hear one of the mums appreciating the work of Paige and Rachel who share in our passion for supporting young people.

It was encouraging to hear from the ladies that there have been some positive leaps forward today.

Massive thanks to Well Doncaster for supporting us over the last few months and allowing us to work with so many different groups.

The highlight of my day today was just after the photo above, this young fella began to get creative and when he started to do some thing above and beyond, he turned to me and said “high five”

I gave him some skin and we carried on.

Thanks to everyone who who joined us today.

Upcoming sessions this week are.

Woodlands Library from 2.45 Monday, mixed age Askern Shakers from 7.00pm 11 to 16 Monday, Adwick Primary After School Club closed session, Tuesday Bullcroft Memorial Hall from 4.45pm Tuesday 7 to 11 Highfields Boxing Club from 4.45pm on Wednesday mixed age.

Free to join us. See you then

SiFly health and education

Highfields Boxing Club & Bentley Myplace

Awesome to welcome the birth of a new group in Highfields this evening. At this time of year its important to offer safe activities for young people, so thanks again to the Well Doncaster team at DMBC for their continued support.

We are proud to welcome our latest volunteer, Emily from Doncaster University Health and Social care. Providing opportunities for young people to develop through leadership is an important part of our ethos.

It’s not always easy to make the connection between health and music. The health benefits of social development around music can be life changing. We add the value of being experienced industry professionals with a strong awareness of current healthcare practices, which we are proud to pass on to the next generation.

We have also been back at Bentley Myplace where we have been finding out about young people’s aspirations and sharing our thoughts on how using music technology equipment could support essential skills for their future.

We will be back on Wednesday Highfields from 4.45pm and Bentley from 7pm

Join us this week

SiFly health and education

Bentley Myplace Youth Hub

We have been supporting the young people of North Doncaster over the last few weeks.

We began our journey supporting young people nearly 10 years ago at Myplace, which sparked the idea of 90minutemusic. It has been an arduous journey from initial personal adversity, through curiosity about the watermark of potential for marginalised groups, to extensive research and expertise gained which was honoured in 2021 with the proud presentation of the UK Youth quality mark.

We will be offering FREE sessions on Wednesday evenings from 7pm, and a special workshop from 12pm on Friday the 28th of October at Bentley Myplace.

Get in touch to book your place.

SiFly Uncategorized

Active Fusion Summer HAF Camps

Another milestone for us as we surpassed our previous weekly delivery record with attendance of over 250 young people.

Our philosophy is to make music as accessible as possible from the first moment, then show a pathway to progression into the more challenging elements of Music Production and DJing.

We saw many new faces who were introduced to the start of their 90minutemusic journey, while those returning, went on to take part in playing music from around the world to support the commonwealth games.

An overall highlight, was having a group that I had not worked with for a year remind me of what they remembered from the previous session together and went on to produce their own quality track, experimenting with FX and mixing.

Over the course of the Summer camp we had visits from Pro photographer Gavin Joynt, Lindsy James from Active Fusion and MP Nick Fletcher, who all got hands on and joined in on the sessions.

As usual thanks to the staff from Active Fusion and all the caretakers and school staff who allowed us to work alongside them as they prepare for the new school year ahead.