What happens at our workshops?

What happens at our workshops?

Blog by Milly March

I have had the pleasure of being NW Live Arts’ Marketing Manager for almost a year. It’s been a fantastic role, and I’ve been so inspired by the concerts – Where Will I Be? and Finding My Voice – we staged in 2022. One of the parts of our work that I had not yet had the opportunity to see was the creative workshops that form a huge part of each project. I was fortunate enough to be invited to an R&D workshop on 25 January at WAC Arts, which formed part of a consultancy funded by Arts Council England and I wanted to share some of my thoughts…

Callum introduces the workshop

Callum jumped in straight away, inviting us to all share our names and one word or sound that described how we were feeling. Being able to share how we were all feeling in a way that was true to how we all expressed ourselves immediately made everyone in the room relax – some folks clapped or used gestures, some said a word, others made sounds. This wasn’t the dreaded “let’s go round the circle and share an interesting fact about ourselves”, this was so much more relaxing than that! I immediately felt comfortable saying the first word I felt without really thinking or planning it, and I got the sense that others in the room did too.

Callum moved the session on with some great storytelling games – we all took it in turns to share one word per person, creating our own story. Of course, it was hilarious because you really couldn’t prepare – you just had to wait your turn because things could suddenly shift direction depending on which word the previous person had said. Bringing us all back together we discussed how all our different ideas came together to gradually form some sense of a narrative. He then passed round prompt cards, which had an environmental focus, and everyone shared their reactions to them – from humming like bees to veering dramatically away from the subject written on the cards, everyone shared in their own way. There was no right or wrong, it was just lovely to see others’ perspectives.

Participants read their cards before sharing any thoughts it prompted.

Kuljit led a drumming session on music and rhythm – accessible for all no matter whether they consider themselves to be musical or not. Like many people who have worked in the music sector for many years, I don’t subscribe to the view that a person is innately ‘un-musical’; I’ve seen Category A prisoners, tiny children and people living with conditions like dementia prove that everyone has music in them in some way, if they are just encouraged to express it in a safe and welcoming environment. If enjoyment and autonomy is put at the heart of community music-making, no one needs to feel they can’t ‘do’ music – and for me that’s what these kinds of workshop are all about.

Kuljit invites everyone to start drumming together.

A highlight for me was Hyelim’s amazing playing, which combined the drumming from earlier with some of the storytelling we’d been doing earlier. She improvised the most amazing music on her taegum (a South Korean flute, which I had never seen before), which made us all want to clap, drum and stomp along. Hyelim then passed the floor over to each person in the room, giving them space to improvise (musically and verbally) – telling a story, interacting musically and just having great fun with it. 

Hyelim plays her taegum

Finally, Eileen led a storytelling session which felt like it encompassed everything we had done so far. Firstly she told a beautiful story about a man getting lost in the desert and being rescued, and finally shunned by a community. Everyone shared their reactions to the story, and which parts stood out for them. Despite being such a small group, almost everyone had a different part of the story that resonated with them personally. To finish things off, the group then re-told the story (with some fantastic musical interludes from Henrietta, Hyelim and Kuljit).

Eileen tells her story to the group.

What struck me was how moved I was by how much respect everyone had for one another – we all listened when someone was speaking or playing music, and we all engaged fully with the workshop. Any barriers that might have been imposed by the presence of ‘professional musicians’ and ‘professional storytellers’ were soon broken down – we were all musicians and storytellers sharing our creative ideas as equal partners. For me, that’s what makes NW Live Arts such a special thing.