Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

I'm working on an exciting new project.  It involves a human pyramid. "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" will require 6 young dancers & we'll show it during Art on the Hill 2018.  Below is a copy of my flyer.  You might need to click and enlarge it 

Creative dance and music in black and white

Following our Emotional Wellbeing Children and Families project last year at Victoria Park Baptist Church, we're happy to be continuing our work with a series of creative dance and music workshops, being pioneered here by enthusiastic Year 4 students.  

Did I mention bass guitar?  Well, listen...it's there in the mix alongside djembe drum, shruti box and voice.

Bass-ically...we're working on a new project

All might seem a bit quiet of late - but the lower frequencies of gyroscopic are resounding to the sound of my BASS playing.  All part of a new project, resting in the assurance of a booming bass-line and the guarantee of more community fun in 2018.

'Musical Words A-G' Before and After

So, here's what we planned: A series of workshops for the first 

weekend in October - traditionally this is Art on the Hill Weekend, 

our community arts trail for Windmill Hill and surrounding 

neighbourhoods in South Bristol: 

Flyer for our Arts Weekend Multi-Arts Workshops. Pictured: Colin Smith, pianist

We had a lot of fun, particularly on the Saturday when

Colin Smith provided the musical entertainment, all inspired

by our words from the musical scale A-G.  The participants, 

mostly children, were great sports and the dance moves from the
fantastic stories they created were particularly entertaining. 

Moreover here's what we got:  A Musical Words A-G 
community collage! Now in the Charles Padfield Centre, 
next to Victoria Park Baptist Church BS3 5DA:

Children and Families Multi-Arts Emotional Wellbeing Project - told in 1 minute

Funded by Community Access Support Services, Bristol

Breathless...With A Thought

Theresa's thought poem

Thoughts And Earworms - our Emotional Wellbeing Families project, with an emphasis on Primary-school-aged children

"Breathless. With a thought. Ideas. Balloons, bubbles, bursting. Beginnings".

This is Theresa's 'thought poem'.  Others of us have been sharing our 'thought songs' or general earworms...songs that won't go away.

The words have particular significance for Theresa and I like them.  So they have become the lynchpin of our Emotional Wellbeing Project (see previous post) involving *live music, dance, artwork* and lots of balloons and bubbles.

Our Happy Happenings and serious thoughts are all taking place at Victoria Park Baptist Church, Bristol.

Thought Bubbles

All workshops are taking place at Victoria Park Baptist Church.

Thoughts and Earworms

- our Bristol City Council funded Emotional Wellbeing project for children and families - is going well.  On Sunday we held a visual arts-based workshop called 'Thought Bubbles'.  People of various ages had a great time making a paint and washing-up liquid mixture, which then translated into wonderful bubble paintings. 

We've created work that'll go on the walls in time for our presentation of *live music and dance*, which we look forward to showing on Sunday 9th July.

BUBBLE ART can be BEAUTIFUL

Coming soon to the EWF Children & Families 'Thoughts and Earworms' project :
'Thought Paintings', a visual arts workshop using acrylics and oils.  For example: the bird in the picture BELOW feels lonely.   There's an open padlock, made of gold, with a rusty chain which, to the outside eye, might represent freedom.  But sometimes feelings are so strong, we cannot escape them. We understand how feelings are not always bright and happy.  This project - and the things we are discussing - has been endorsed by the organisations below:

Lonely Bird from original by JJ

PERIL S O S

A bold new way of looking at an old hymn, maybe?... Using it as an intro, then hurling it over a precipice and letting modernism and minimalism take it somewhere else?  Some 7-9 year olds have been shaping our new multi-arts workshop piece into something tumultuous: "For those in peril...S O S".

Live music at Victoria Park Baptist Church

 

Have a listen to our early workings and the skills we're learning:  A first attempt at public violin-playing, learning to play cymbals and hammering out a distress call in Morse Code on the piano...It's all part of the fun.

CELEBRATION AND REFLECTION

I'm glad to say our Christmas 2016 Multi-Arts Workshop material will feature in the *Christingle Service* on December 11th at Victoria Park Baptist Church, South Bristol, UK.  

It's all quite simple this time - I'll be playing Melodion and Shruti Box and musicians Paul Midgley and Monika Kralj will be playing other wonderful instruments - and participants, from local Primary and Secondary schools, will be dancing....a folk dance to match the Folk genre of this carol, known as The Sussex Carol.  By way of contrast and as referenced in the title of this post, I've written a slow, reflective section for the middle of this piece (not included below).

The tune of the Sussex Carol  - below - was discovered and documented by Cecil Sharp at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

SHORT SONGS WITH A SHRUTI-BOX

Shruti Box from shrutibox.co.uk

First of a series of recordings: 'Short Songs With A Shruti'. We sang this song in church, a while back...and I thought, this hymn is special - why's it special? Anyway, it transpires that it's a traditional spiritual. I don't know who wrote it, but it ended up in the hymn book.  

I'm hoping to create some exciting, immersive multi-arts workshops soon, centred around this music.  But, in the meantime, here's a little singing practice - just the Shruti Box...and me: