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 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.

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S.T.E.M……..THE FLOW.

Instant engagement is the key to delivering any kind of work with young people. Over the past 3 years our partner organisations have shared the benefits of our work such as reducing anxiety and building social confidence.

It’s fulfilling to hear the positive feedback we have received and we are blessed to have found partners who share our passion.

When you work with tools everyday they can almost become invisible to you, I think we sometimes take for granted our privilege of being able to use state of the art equipment and we often ignore the obvious elements of Science and Technology in our work.

  • This week we have given an opportunity for young blind people to closely communicate using the technology as a tool. We were Invited by the Ridge Employability College who are focused on giving young people employment opportunities in the community.
  • We have also spent time at Highfields Boxing Club where we opened up the conversation about how young people used technology and we all had different views of what a mobile phone is for.
  • We embraced sound design at Bentley Myplace this week and came up with a classic house groove. We sculpted sound using a synthesiser and made collaborative choices on what we were aiming for.
  • The STEM acronym is used a lot nowadays and there can be a fear factor surrounding maths and science, our focus is on the fun, so we feel the flow rather than the…….. Errrrrrrr no.

We have places available at Highfields Boxing Club on Wednesday night from 4.45pm

Also Bentley Myplace from 7.00pm on Wednesday.

SiFly health and education

Rotherham United Community Sports Trust

Back at the New York Stadium. Great effort from the morning group with respect and confidence building throughout. It gives us massive confidence in our working practice when we return and see the development in action.

Thanks to Jonathan Allen and the staff at New York Stadium for providing a safe environment for young people to develop and learn new skills.

Recent results on the pitch outline the dedication of the sporting staff, the same ambition is mirrored in the way that the trust engage with the community.

A privilege for us to be asked to return and play our part, looking forward to seeing you again soon.

SiFly health and education

Identity and Direction

Hey!! Where are you going? Or who do you think you are?

You have probably been asked these questions, but maybe not in a compassionate way. In the context of our work with young people we don’t ask these questions directly but the answers to them are vital to support positive mental health and development.

Our widespread culture of digital connections centre on watching others go in a “direction” while being exposed to a myriad of “identities”

We offer a unique way of reinforcing who we are by focusing on our positive habits while challenging our negative ones. Being able to accept our mistakes is also a courageous step towards good mental health.

We passionately advocate young people finding their way and following the things that they want to do, while offering advice as to how it can become reality.

Not all young people know exactly what they want to do when they become older, but having conversations and tying ambitions with current interests has a value in itself.

People say to me “I can’t do that.” …. My reply is usually a challenge, “how do you know?” or I may agree “you can’t do that today, but this is the path to be able to do it tomorrow”

In 90 Minute Music we don’t give you anything you don’t already have, we just remind you where it is.

We hold the UK Youth quality mark for working with young people and will be at :

Myplace Bentley from 6.00pm on Wednesdays and Bullcroft Memorial Hall from 4.00pm on Thursdays.

Get in touch to book on

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Machines: Better or Worse?

For us technology has enabled us to do what we love every day. Supporting young people with their development while working creatively with music.

But has the development of technology made things worse? Do we have shorter attention spans? Are we becoming more anxious? Is anybody truly bored anymore?

Our philosophy in 90 Minute Music comes from researching how humans utilise technology and exploring how we can add value in terms of sociability and building resilience.

There is often a perceived conflict between us and technology especially when it goes wrong.

When technology fails

In our experience some young people are more likely to be enthusiastic about engaging with technology than each other.

We use this to our advantage by using the technology to focus on the things that technology has begun to erode. We share our knowledge of music, production and the world of DJing to identify how we can synergise groups of individuals by learning about their primary needs.

We have supported thousands of young people with their development by identifying areas of support and quickly putting that support in place through our training and expertise.

Although our aims are to support health and development, the nature of our work is having fun and sharing each others qualities.

I didn’t like 90 Minute Music, I loved it.

C. B. Age 10 Doncaster

We will be at Myplace Bentley from 6.00pm on Wednesday 8th of June.

Norbreck Communal Hall Askern from 5.00pm on Thursday 9th of June.

Bullcroft Memorial Hall from 7.15pm on Thursday the 9th of June.

Follow us on Facebook to find out when and where you can access free sessions for young people.

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Active Fusion Easter Camps 2022

Awesome to be asked to return to support Active Fusion on their Easter camps across Doncaster. We delivered to over 350 young people and it was personally rewarding to hear some, who I had worked with last summer relaying information which they had retained from our previous session.

We gave the young people with previous experience a chance to pass on their knowledge, which empowers them and supports confidence building, it was also good to see the Active Fusion staff rewarding this supportive behaviour.

We worked on communication, discipline and explored music from India and South America. 100% engagement. Well done to all who took Part, special thanks to the staff and volunteers who got hands on to make this project successful.

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A busy couple of weeks!!!!

It was great to have 5 new faces to add to the growing group at Highfields this week. Word is getting round about the great work we are doing in our local communities and we will begin Work in Carcroft, Askern and Bentley soon.

We have been using Pro DJ equipment for the last couple of weeks, but last night we began working on music which we will be uploading to Soundcloud, which will give a platform for sharing our productions.

We hope to showcase the amazing work being presented by young people in our local area and hopefully one day bring all our participants together in one venue to celebrate what we have achieved.

SiFly health and education, Uncategorized

Atlas Primary Academy

Great enthusiasm and expression at Atlas Academy in the heart of Doncaster this week with use of Microphones and Samplers. The students embraced the opportunity to use the technology. Although we bring with us state of the art equipment, we always encourage freedom of expression and in recent weeks we have introduced a shopping trolley, a tape measure and improvised drum kits into our music making.

Thanks to Neil the caretaker for his help, looking forward to seeing you all again next week.

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A Dynamic Contrast

HIGHFIELDS BOXING CLUB : A busy day of delivery yesterday, building numbers in the group at Highfields with some new additions. Everything we do is focused on using music as a tool for development with communication and discipline at the core. Thanks to everyone who shared on social media and the parents for travelling from outlying villages.

ME PROJECT : We began our long anticipated work with ME PROJECT last night. Our usual all action hands on session was sprinkled with open group conversation as we explored how music can be used as a tool to reduce anxiety and cope with the increasing pressures of adolescence. Big thanks to all who attended and the staff for joining in and supporting. The due diligence and meeting of professional guidelines for developing this kind of workshop is massive. Utmost respect to Kath and Paige for getting to where they are.

ATLAS PRIMARY : We were back in the centre of Town for this one. Bringing together young people from different cultures and backgrounds. The starting point for this one was chaotic and challenging for every one of us. Our training in recognising SLD’s was helpful as we steered the group into respect, communication and genuine dynamism. We do this work because we know it can be challenging, but we also trust in our understanding and experience to bring out the best in everyone and the young people grew into it with gusto and enthusiasm. Thanks again to the staff for their support.