Sound workshops

Six of our new sound recordists turned up for the sound workshop gig.  For the first time, one of our events was run completely by the young people themselves.  They set up the equipment, did sound checks, introduced the event, ran it and tidied up afterwards.  Two bands performed, None of the Above and Little Buffalo Men, six male musicians and about 25 family members and friends came to listen.

We were lucky enough to receive a grant from the Big Lottery to run confidence and performance skills workshops and sound workshops, for young musicians, including young people with disabilities and autism.  
In June and July we ran the sound workshops.  We held an introductory session on 10 June for young people with autism, to show them the building and room and for them to meet the teacher, and then the sound workshops ran for four Fridays, from 17 June.  These were followed by a sound workshop gig on 15 July.
Four young people with autism attended the introductory session, all boys.  Eight young people attended the sound workshops, all boys again.  Session one concentrated on balancing the sound of singer, drums and other instruments and the young people started writing songs.  Session two concentrated on setting up the mixing desk and working on rhythms and drumming patterns.  During session three, the young people worked with a synthesizer and learnt about wave patterns.  In session four they concentrated on different styles, harmonies and chords, using mixer, keyboard and two guitars.