Community Project Reflection

The following report is a critical reflection of the project I organised at Drake Music Scotland. The
workshop, entitled 'Creating Digital Sounds' used synthesisers as a tool for various creative
activities. This project was designed to facilitate those with learning impairments and aimed to
encourage the artistic and creative development of all participants involved, with the objective of
them gaining in confidence and social skills. Within the sessions I wanted to maintain a good level
of group coordination, creative opportunities and create an environment where participants felt
comfortable.
Session 1
During the first session, the primal aim was to give participants the opportunity to get to know me
and Lesley and their peers. We conducted an ice breaker activity at the beginning of the session,
where participants were able to talk about what music they liked and musical inspirations they had.
I felt this activity was really beneficial in bringing the group together, the fact that this activity was
optional, meant there was no pressure for those who felt uncomfortable talking in group
environments. I have learned this is important to consider when conducting group activities,
particularly when facilitating to those with autism.
Session 2
Within the second session, participants were given the opportunity to explore the synthesiser in
greater detail and given the task of creating a melody. This session as a whole was successful, the
solo activities gave them a great opportunity to be more creative than in the previous session. I feel
confident that this was a very inclusive session. Everyone got a comparable level of support, such a
consideration was important to me as I did not want anyone to feel ill-fitted within this session due
to the various amounts of musical capabilities each participant had. It was difficult to create a
balance among the participants due to the level of disability each participant has, however I tried to
facilitate to those needs. For example one in particular suffers from semi-paralysis and found it
more challenging to play the keys on the synthesisers. In order to solve this problem we used the
arpeggiator setting on his synthesiser to make this easier for him.
Session 3
In this session participants were given support to create a chord progression along with numerous
group activities, primarily playing together as an ensemble. The main focus of this session was to be
more group oriented. I designed this session in a way that would encourage communication among
participants, with the intention of further establishing a relationship amongst each other. This was
achieved through numerous activities getting them to work together to create a fuller sound, aided
by my supervisor on drums and me on bass. The activities did work and I noticed a significant
change in their abilities to communicate amongst each other.
Session 4
This session was mainly focused around the idea of free playing and improvisation. We used a bass
line created in the previous lesson and asked participants to create a sound which matched this bass
line. I wanted to give participants opportunity to discover a way to express themselves through the
sounds available to them. I felt it would be a good opportunity for them to understand layering

digital music and how they themselves with aid could create a full sound by improvising over the
loop. Although some did find this more difficult than others, the activity was successful and we
were able to record some of these bass lines using logic. I particularly enjoyed this lesson, as I felt a
lot of time was given to creativity and the process of creating sounds.
Session 5
During this session, I wanted to encourage them further by creating a melody over the bass loop
which we created last week. Unlike the other session, I tried to make this lesson more structured
with clearer aims, to see if this method worked better for them. The intention was to bring these
sounds together in the near future, through a recording using Logic. It was also agreed for this
session to be an hour longer, which I felt was a necessity so we were not as rushed for time. This
session was a success and I believe everyone benefited a lot from listening to various styles of
digital artists. Many participants were inspired after listening to the variety of sounds possible with
the use of a synthesiser.
Session 6-7
The primary aims within these sessions were to produce three recordings created by participants.
Each recording was to start off with a loop that was created by each participant. Out of all the
sessions, participants seemed to enjoy this one the most. This was mainly due to the fact that these
were the last sessions and all the practise and learning were coming together. Participants had
something they could take home with them, created by them. I was very happy with the recordings
and felt they all achieved very well. They met the objectives of the project and more importantly
adapted well to social situations.
We successfully produced a material copy of a recording, however what I have learned from this
workshop, is the greater goal was watching them develop in confidence and social skills. I think in
this speciality of community work the goals and aims of a workshop are different, one should be
sensitive and open minded about the goals achieved considering the level of each participants
condition. For example If someone who suffers from a condition that makes it difficult for them to
socialise or leave the house, then I believe it is just as important for them to participate in the
workshop as it is to meet musical objectives. It has helped them overcome certain barriers that have
been caused by their learning impairments. I myself have adapted my teaching styles to this kind of
environment. I have learned that in order to conduct a successful workshop or lesson it is important
to be flexible with your lesson plan. There have been many times where my aims and objectives of
the lesson had to be reconstructed in order to facilitate to the various conditions each participant
had.
I feel I could have benefited from more time to carry out the objectives within the workshop. This
workshop was only scheduled over one term, and would have benefited from an additional term, in
order to meet additional aims.
I have overall enjoyed my time spent at Drake and have been asked to be included in a few other
projects after the summer break.