The Hang Drum is just one of our brand new range of Acoustic Instruments. We have been supported by North Doncaster Development Trust to add to our state of the art Music Technology equipment to provide a framework for building confidence and learning new skills.
Due to the odd way of working in the non profit sector, we have equipment, we have insurance, we have all the qualifications and experience, we also have many disadvantaged groups in need of working with us, all we need is funding to get on with the work.
Watch this space for developments as we are confident of positive news very soon.
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.
“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.
Supercharging development in young people who don’t always engage is an important part of what we do.
At Askern Shakers youth club we worked on communication and respect. The mixed age group worked well. We talked about our connections to music and examined how music can support brain development. Our first visit to Shakers and what an asset for Askern, thanks to Mitchell for inviting us and thanks to Isiasha from Heal Me Happy for passing on our details.
At Woodlands Library we were joined by a group of 10 who had come from the Outwood Academy next door. They wanted to produce a Darkzy style tune, We identified the sounds and techniques and began emulating it using the technology. I explained to them that there would be a challenging journey ahead, but we use state of the art music production equipment, so coupled with our 25 years experience, we are able to get them there fast.
Week 4 of 6 and the Adwick Primary group are coming along as we expected, the initial shyness has become a burgeoning confidence and their coordination physically and socially is an achievement we are proud to play our part in.
The Charity Hub
We have also found time to update our level 3 safeguarding and visited The Charity Hub this week where we met with some local and national organisations and got to share our experiences while learning from theirs. Thanks to Vicki Beevers from The Sleep Charity and Nathan Kennedy from D. I. C. E. for guest speaking. And Brett Riley-Tomlinson and Clynton Johnson for inviting us.
And finally awesome to see our volunteers developing fast and getting a real insight into the research and skills which back up what we do, so big thanks to Dennis and Matt.
Upcoming workshops 👀
Me Project from 2.15 on Sunday Woodlands Library from 2.45 Monday, Askern Shakers from 7.00pm Monday, Adwick Primary School from 2.55 Tuesday, Bullcroft Memorial Hall 4.45pm Tuesday, Highfields Boxing Club 4.45pm Wednesday
We were back at New York Stadium in Rotherham today. We delivered in the RUFCST Museum, aside of learning of the first ever penalty to be scored in a match against Darlington and various facts of play off victories and football memorabilia our focus was on health and development.
We got really useful feedback from one of the participants today. I was told that the workshop was really easy to understand and that our core work, which we always begin with when working with new people, was a clear path to songwriting and composition.
After 10 years of honing and development this wasn’t a surprise, but hearing it from a young person was special.
Thanks to Jonathan Allen for looking after us again and good luck for tomorrows 24 hour #walkforrio which is a fundraiser for the son of Tommy Spurr, who used to play for Doncaster Rovers.
I have always been reluctant to share the awesome!!! work of The ME – Project. I have been working with them over the past couple of years with their Artfully Adapting programme.
It is a targeted programme which practically highlights artistic activities to support specific areas of young people’s lives. I always commend the participants for just turning up. The difficult part of the work for us, is sharing with the public just how much fun it is, while respecting confidentiality of the attendees.
When parents say to their kids “hey go down and try it” it must fill them with dread as they don’t know what they are walking into. I think everyone who joins is pleasantly surprised. The facilities are awesome and I always look forward to returning for a chocolate cookie, they always get the really nice ones.
Kat, Paige and the team are like a family. I think what has made it work so well is that they do it like us, they carry the deep knowledge and experience, which they keep inside like a book on a shelf, while being more focused in the moment of having fun and engaging.
So far every participant has enjoyed it, we have had a lot of fun, and at one point last night we had a 5 minute laughing fit with tears rolling down cheeks as I looked back and shared one of my stories from my school days.
The latest 6 week programme to support 12 to 16 year olds may still have a place left as I write this, check below for details.
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.
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.
I’ve loved it today and I would really like to do this again. E. B. age 8
Over 150 session attendances over the past week. Great to be teaming up with Active Fusion again.
Creating partnerships is vital for the work we do in the community and it is a special feeling to be able to support our local area.
One of the children today stated that he didn’t like music before the session began, but went on to contribute well with the group and engaged well with technology.
We have encountered this a few times over the years and showing young people that they can do things that they don’t feel confident about is important to us.
We are not going to pass on 24 years of experience in a short period of time, but we can show them that there is a place for them in the world of music.
Returning to join up with Active Fusion has given us the opportunity to build on the foundations of our previous work on communication and respect. We moved on to exploring music from around the world to coincide with the commonwealth games. The young people benefitted from being allowed to experiment with instruments from far and wide which in many cases they are experiencing for the first time. We believe in giving opportunity by removing barriers of cost and geographic location.
We will be back supporting Active Fusion again soon, big thanks to the staff as always for making me feel part of the team and thanks to the young people for their effort and enthusiasm.
90minutemusic.co.uk 