Teens living or attending school in Islington can now easily spend their holidays learning about music, as a free Easter holidays music-making workshop, led by music industry pros, is coming to a youth centre in Highbury for the first time this year.
The Easter Music Makers’ Lab – provided by a collection of organisations that includes the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (the UK’s number one arts, drama and music school, found in the heart of London) – will run at the Highbury Roundhouse community centre from 2-3 April, at 10am-3pm.
Students aged 13-18 who live or attend school in Islington can come along free of charge to put together their own band, and learn about rapping, singing, performing and composing, regardless of whether they already play an instrument, or have never done so before. The Lab will end with kids giving an informal performance. From trying out bass guitar, to having a go on a djembe drum: the bands are free to play whatever and however they like.
Sessions will be led by bass player and musical director Yolanda Charles MBE, with support from musician and dancer Annette Walker, West African percussionist Mohamed Gueye, and bassist and band leader Giovanni Cresseri.
Some instruments will be provided (drum kit, djembe drums, electric guitar, and bass guitar), but people interested can bring their own instruments, or let the organisers know what instruments they would like to access, so the organisers can try and find one to bring along.
Though the Easter Music Makers’ Lab has been running elsewhere in Islington for five years now, this is the first time it will be running out of the Highbury Roundhouse.
Dr Mirjam James, the manager of Music Education Islington (MEI) – the Islington Council-Guildhall partnership coordinating the borough’s music education for young people, including these workshops – told Islington Now: “Just through a different location, you can offer something to children that, before, didn’t have anything.”
Dr James was “excited” to team up with the Roundhouse, saying the centre “has a long experience in after-school and holiday provision”, so she knew it would be able to “spread the word about the activity to young people”.
Additionally, there are several secondary schools near the Roundhouse – including City of London Academy Highbury Grove and Highbury Fields School – “so there are young people of the age we want to reach” based nearby, Dr James added, whereas “they probably wouldn’t have been within walking distance” of their previous location.
Dr James said many children who’ve previously participated in these holiday workshops have gone on to join the National Orchestra For All (NOFA), a national youth orchestra welcoming all abilities, backgrounds, and instruments, which take kids on residential trips to perform in Birmingham.
She said: “There are children that haven’t really left Islington a lot, then their first trip was to Birmingham for a residential. It was great being the stepping stone to go to something like that.”
Dr James concluded: “The spirit behind these activities is still ‘we’re creating something as a team’, and whatever your contribution is, how big or small, it will play a big positive part.”
‘The spirit behind these activities is still ‘we’re creating something as a team’, and whatever your contribution is, how big or small, it will play a big positive part’
Dr Mirjam James
She would love children to come away thinking “maybe music is something for me, even though I’m not yet on this high level, and maybe I will never be, but I still enjoy the collective-music making”. It’s about learning “team-building”, “working with others”, “persevering”, and “just making friends”, “skills which are so essential for the rest of life”.
MEI is the Music Hub for Islington, a network of schools, local authorities, charities, and other organisations that work together to provide music education for children and young people. There’s a Music Hub for every area of England. They’re funded by the Arts Council England, the government body which provides investment for the arts.
Islington’s is led by Islington Council and the Guildhall. The Hub is delivered in partnership with the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, which was originally founded in Highbury.
MEI runs other musical activities too. It works with 95% of all Islington schools in one way or another, Dr James explained, providing everything from whole-class lessons, to individual instrument lessons, to music therapy, to access to online music teaching resources, and more.
It also provides services outside school, including drop-in sessions at the Highbury Roundhouse, and Lift Islington youth hub in Angel. Ten sessions run per school term, but young people don’t have to commit to coming every week. Kids aged 13 or over, of any musical ability level, can come along and join a band, free of charge, writing their own songs or performing covers as they prefer.
If you’re interested in attending the Easter holiday session, you can register your interest at the following link: https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/easter-music-makers-lab-0.
News reporter for Islington Now and freelancer across other outlets. ENO Responder 23/24. Ex-Editor-in-Chief at The Tab Cambridge.