Lincolnshire music project brings schools together

Posted: 13 August 2009

SoundBYTES enables free music tuition and brings together 24 schools across the county

A creative music project drew to a close this term, having brought 750 children together from 24 primary schools around the county to share in the making, mixing and recording of a unique set of musical experiences.

Youth Music Action Zone, soundLINCS – Lincolnshire Music Development Agency – and Lincolnshire Music Service have been working in partnership to deliver the soundBYTES project in two phases over the last academic year. The project was part of the KS2 Wider Opportunities programme (whole-class instrumental tuition) enabling free music tuition and opportunities for children across the county.

‘We were determined to create opportunities for Key Stage 2 children to learn and share music production skills,’ explains Allison Jackson, who has been managing the project for soundLINCS. ‘So we’ve got them involved in not just recording and sampling sound-bites, but also in using this material to create something new. Our facilitators have been really impressed at how quickly the children have become adept at making their own musical collages using laptops, keyboards and professional production technology.’

Over the course of the last two terms, the 24 selected soundBYTES schools have visited and partnered schools currently participating in the Wider Opportunities programme delivered by Lincolnshire Music Service. The aim was to create a bank of recorded material from the instrumental and vocal programmes within these schools. The groups have then worked with soundLINCS Music Facilitators to use the raw recordings as the basis for their own tracks, which have been preserved as a CD unique to each school. To close and recap, each cluster of schools met for a sharing session which mixed live performances with play-backs of the digital compositions.

soundBYTES follows on from the success of 321, another collaborative project run by soundLINCS and Lincolnshire Music Service. 

‘soundBYTES has created the opportunity for pupils and schools to generate a real understanding for the Wider Opportunities programme using music technology as a base for exploration. It has also enabled both staff from soundLINCS and Lincolnshire Music Service to work in partnership in an enjoyable and unique project’ explains Jennifer Mckie, Senior Music Adviser.

Details regarding Wider Opportunities or other music initiatives across Lincolnshire schools are available from Lincolnshire Music Service - visit www.lincsmusicservice.org or call 01522 553238.

For information on soundLINCS community music-making opportunities around the county, and on the agency’s other collaborative ventures with Lincolnshire Music Service, visit www.soundlincs.org or call 01522 510073.

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