Everyone is Music

Great to be back this week with another wonderful interview.This week I am talking with John Kelly. John is a musician, singer, actor, activist and much more besides.I first met John at The Orpheus Centre, Richard Stilgoe's residential creative hub for young adults with disabilities.John was program coordinator and I was running music technology sessions in the main.John has had an amazing career to date, working as a youth worker, music educator, actor - John toured the Ian Dury show "Reasons to be cheerful" in the Dury role.John made a surprise appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Paralympics opening ceremony, singing the sometime controversial "Spasticus Autisticus", Dury's banned anthem to equality.John talks passionately about the Social Model of Disability as opposed to the Medical Model. Some fascinating insights come from this including John's childhood exposure to Music Therapy as his only access to music.John talks about his role in shaping the National Plan for Music with a greater emphasis on both technology and mixed inclusive approaches.We talk about the development of the "Kellycaster", John's bespoke guitar/software system that was developed with Drake Music.John talks about wanting to address the expectations of disabled people in education and greater diversity.John has an album out soon and his new single, 'Which side are you on?' is out now, is challenging, beautiful and you really should listen and download!John Kelly's Linktree "Which side are you on?" - John's new singleEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I suffered overwhelm. Too many deadlines converging on the same week. End of term deluge! Something had to give and i promised that I would never compromise on editing and content on this show. Hence no show!Next week an amazing conversation with the wonderful John Kelly. See you there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 13.This week I am in conversation with Leon Clowes, a transdisciplinary artist. Using autoethnography, self-compassion and Brechtian techniques, Leon's creative practice is informed by lived trauma.This is a very honest conversation and I can only thank Leon for the integrity and openness that takes place.Our conversation begins at Drake Music, where we met in 1995 and quickly moves into addiction, growing up queer in the 80's against the backdrop of AIDS and then family trauma. Leon maintains perspective and humour throughout and it is a real testament to his creative practice and the formalising of this through his creative practice research PhD.I really believe that this is a very important conversation and although difficult at times, Leon's unwavering belief in the creative process is, ultimately, uplifting.Leon has just won a commission - The British Music Collection's LGBTQ+ Composers Open Call which is due to premiere in September 2022.Leon's WebsiteSoundcloudTwitterInstagramCommission detailsEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 12.This week my guest is Emma Hughes. Emma is the choir coordinator and director at Soundabout (Listen to Ep 7 with Clare Cook) and was instrumental in developing their work and delivery over Zoom during the Pandemic Lockdowns. Emma talks about the organic growth of her roles at Soundabout and particularly choir leading and setting up the tech.When I first contacted Emma, she was out on tour and I finally got to ask her where, what, with whom.Emma reveals that for the past 11 years she has been the live Bass player for Kate Nash and had been on tour with Kate in Germany. The portfolio career model is truly alive and very well. Emma talks about how she got the gig with Kate whilst an undergraduate studying performance and writing her dissertation on Music Therapy whilst on tour. Through working as a TA in SEN schools, Emma's interest in this area grew and she began to build her music practice over the ensuing years.Emma talks about the upcoming program at Soundabout and then we talk about Emma's journey into community music, the organic nature of this. We talk about music in society and how as working practitioners we begin to unpick formal training and develop new ways of thinking, playing and teaching through our work. Emma touches upon Christopher Small's idea of 'Musicking' and how all of the people surrounding music, the bar staff, the venue, the ticket seller, for example, all play a role in the activity of making music. I'm sure we can all resonate with this idea.As this episode goes out, Emma is on her way to Glastonbury Festival to perform 2 shows with Sam Brookes. I look forward to catching up with Emma in the months to come as I'm sure that her career in music will only continue to be a fascinating one.SoundaboutKate Nash Touring LifeSam BrookesEternal GuitarsAll My Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I am talking with Rachael Perrin from Soundcastle. Soundcastle are an amazing community music organisation, running sustained programs in community spaces, some of which are very discreet and 'Hidden'. Rachael describes this so well for us. Musical Beacons is a program for vulnerable families, often young women with children escaping from abusive situations. People's Music is a program all about adult mental health recovery. Soundcastle's work is often in gaps in current provision and is all about mental health and wellbeing.We discuss the challenges of attracting funding when much of your work, by its very nature, must remain invisible.Rachael tells us about The Soundcastle Community, an online space for community musicians to connect with other but also offering extensive training programs. Rachael describes this as a kind of online Arts centre.Soundcastle also work in sector development, consulting on inclusive practice and lots of training provision, including Mental Health First Aid.It was great to hear about Rachael's own journey into community music and her passion for the work.I was so impressed by our conversation and I raise a glass to Soundcastle's commitment to transparency in all that they do. Happily sharing their business model and all that they have gone through to get to where they are now. True community spirit.Soundcastle websiteThe Soundcastle CommunitySoundcasle LinkedIn All other social media use @SoundcastleTeamEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 10. This week it's me. I wanted to take a pause to reflect on the last 9 episodes but also to say something about my journey. Talking with guests about their journeys always makes me reflect upon my own and in this short episode I talk about responsibility and awareness of intimacy in our work. Music is emotionally powerful at times and relationships are built through participation.I also briefly talk about my journey through drugs and rehab and discovering community music and my subsequent interest in wellbeing.I will be dropping some bonus episodes on wellbeing and I hope that you will benefit from these.Thanks as always for being with me and please do get in touch and share your stories.Michael My links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week I am joined by Bruce Dickinson, co-founder of WaterBear, The College of Music.Bruce is cut from Rock and Roll cloth and I felt it was so important to hear this perspective of music education and thinking on our podcast.Bruce was also a co-founder of BIMM but became aware that due to the incredibly rapid growth that he no longer felt in control of where it was headed and for Bruce it had become too big and so, in 2012 Bruce sold his interest and then in 2013, reformed his band, Little Angels for a Download Festival and subsequent tour.However, Bruce felt that he still needed to be giving back to education and so in 2018, along with Adam Bushell, founded WaterBear, the College of Music. A WaterBear, if you don't know, is a Tardigrade, an incredibly small yet incredibly Resilient creature and indeed, Resilience and Mindfulness are components that are built into all of the curricula at WaterBear, The College of Music and student numbers and class sizes are also kept to tight limits.Bruce and I discuss this plus reality shows, portfolio careers and opportunities within music.Bruce also treats us to an exclusive reveal on a new venture for WaterBear .....WaterBear The College of MusicEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my guest is Dr Nick Sorensen, Jazz musician, writer, educator and academic. We talk about Education and Nick's belief that the best teachers Improvise - rather than learning to improvise, improvise to learn. Sound advice.Nick's business is The Improvising School, so you can see how passionate Nick is about improvisation. Indeed, Nick is a close friend and colleague of Rod Paton, who featured in Ep 04 and has also built a career around improvisation. Nick is currently working on research and a scoping paper on 'silence' - There currently seems to be very little actual data on silence and Nick and his team are keen to change this. Nick is presenting a series of interviews with various musicians around their perception of using silence in their own work.Nick is also following up on the Quote attributed to Miles Davis, "what you don't play is more important than what you do play" by looking at many performances of 'Round Midnight' to see how Davis has approached the intro and developed silences within.Nick SorensenEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week my guest is Clare Cook, outgoing CEO of Soundabout, a wonderful charity dedicated to inclusive music making with PMLD groups.Clare is an incredibly enthusiastic administrator who doesn't consider herself a musician, however just listening to Clare speak you quickly see that her creative vision is second to none and why she was drawn to work more directly with music.Clare gives a historical perspective on Soundabout before taking us through her work with Soundabout and the introduction of using choirs as a framework for delivery in inclusive settings.Clare acknowledges the growth that the pandemic has brought about by having to embrace a digital, online approach and being able to reach many more participants and remove more barriers to participation.Before Soundabout, Clare co-founded the Missing People Choir who went on to be Britain's Got Talent finalists and Clare takes us through her work with the charity, Missing People and how she integrated her personal love of community choirs into her work with the charity. This is a moving account of the power of music and how it really brings people together.Finally Clare tells us about her new adventure and how exciting an opportunity this is but I'll let Clare tell you all about it .......SoundaboutThe Missing People ChoirLondon Gay Man's ChorusEternal GuitarsMy Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week in the UK it's Mental Health Awareness Week and I am joined by Stuart Mills, creator and manager of the Noisy Brain.The Noisy Brain is a rapidly growing Online community for those with mental health issues wishing to find a form of expression and an outlet for their feelings through writing. The community then invites musician to create songs/soundscapes and musical/lyrical collaborations with those writings, some of which remain anonymous. This is a wonderful space with so much potential for both creativity and healing and I was immediately drawn to the Noisy Brain when I stumbled upon it whilst scrolling on Instagram. Stuart is incredibly passionate about raising the profile of mental health issues and it is frustrating that there is still negativity around this important issue. I know through my own experiences how powerful music and song can be in transcending the troughs of poor mental health and I hope that you will want to know more about The Noisy Brain and ultimayely help spread this important piece of mental health infrastructure.The Noisy Brain Eternal Guitars All My LInks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode I talk with Holly Radford-James, Producer with MAC Makes Music. Based at The Midland Arts Centre, MAC Makes Music are a truly inclusive arts organisation and one of their strategic consultants and trainers is Phil Mullen, who is featured in episode 2.Holly begins by taking us on a mini tour of the arts centre before talking about the award winning program that is MAC Makes Music, its inception and development.The total commitment to a young person centred approach is so inspiring and through our conversation I come to view MMM as a Music "Super" Hub, offering a blueprint to the future of inclusive music making and education in England and beyond.Holly talks about working through lockdowns and their relationship with the organisation, Soundabout and how together they have developed online choirs and the community that those choirs are providing.Holly describes for us the many groups being engaged by MMM and the wealth of genres of music being made by the choices of the young people.We talk about Open Mic nights and how these sometimes lead to larger live music performances. We return to discussing online activity and how vital this has become to the musical landscape.Our conversation moves on to music playing such a role in social and personal development as well as musical development of course and Holly tells us how important this is in the work of MAC Makes Music.The MAC Makes Music program is inspiring, inclusive and driven by the needs of the young people being engaged. Follow the links for more.MAC Makes Music websiteFacebookTwitterEternal GuitarsAll My Links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I talk with Dr Rod Paton, musician, writer, composer, educator and creator of the Lifemusic method.We chatted in my car after meeting for lunch the day after I attended one of Rod's Lifemusic workshops.I start the conversation by asking Rod about Lifemusic [4:10] and Rod talks about how he came to begin its development via some time researching community choirs in Germany. Rod talks about the folk song tradition in Germany at that time, playing in a community ensemble there and his realisation about a way of making music that bypasses commercial and traditional classical music models.Rod talks about grade teaching [7:18] and particularly singing traditions and deciding that he wanted to explore improvisation and its inherently inclusive properties.Improvisation [7:53] is, as I say in the intro, at the heart of Rod's work and we talk more about this.Rod discusses notation [9.43] and the different parts of the brain being used and what can happen when you take it away creating "risks" [10:41] and the freedom that can be found.I then ask Rod about "rules" and "holding forms" [12:23] and how he came to create them. The term Holding form comes from a book by Robert Witkin , The intelligence of Feeling.We discuss recording our work [16:18] and recorded music in general and what a recent phenomena it is within the history of music. Rod equates it to the the Observer Effect [17.43] (we both confused it with the uncertainty principle! We meant that when you observe a thing it changes from a wave to a particle) in that when you know that you are being recorded you will move into "performer" mode rather than pure "feeling" mode. Rod talks about the industry of recorded music and how we may look back on this period as a mere blip within music history.Rod talks about his love of and relationship with Moravian folk music [21:43] and with the Czech Rebublic.Rod then mentions his Tedx Talk and how he discussed that sometimes consumed music can feel like a drug [24:23] and because we have so much recorded music, like inflation, it becomes devalued and does not meet music's real function [27:48]Rod then talks about his love of Bach [28:18] and how he developed a workshop piece out of this.Finally Rod expands our knowledge of the Lifemusic Holding Forms [31:07]Lifemusic websiteRod's Tedx TalkEternal GuitarsMy linksOpen Mic Improvisation - NB as we talk about in the show, recording Lifemusic sessions changes the dynamic. This improvisation was made in a performance context and therefore is not an example of a Lifemusic session but certainly a good example of improvised music making. I mention the musician Keith Sutton in the intro, however his performing name is "Drone in the Woods" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I talk to Stephen Langridge, Artistic Director of Glyndebourne, the amazing opera house in East Sussex.Stephen talks about taking on his new role just as the pandemic hit and how he navigated through the lock-downs and into now.Before taking on his current role of artistic director, Stephen was based at Gothenburg Opera in Sweden and I ask Stephen about his collaboration with the Inclusive Arts organisation, Share Music and Performing Arts in creating a new piece of opera/music theater.We talk about how Stephen became involved in Opera. Stephen's father was the great tenor, Philip Langridge, who, it turns out, also spent time working at Glyndebourne. We talk about inclusive arts practice and we share some stories about our experiences of working together in this field and how it has shaped us both - personally and professionally.Finally, Stephen tells us about the coming weeks and what you will find at Glyndebourne this season.You really get a sense of the passion that Stephen has for Opera and very much for Glyndebourne.Glyndebourne websiteGlyndebourne Learning and EngagementEternal GuitarsAll my links Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode I talk with Dr Phil Mullen. Phil is just a giant when it comes to thinking around music education and young people's creativity. As I say in the intro, Phil demands action when he is working and he is so clear about his aims and objectives that it can feel overwhelming but he will guide you through it all.My path crossed Phil's when I was at my lowest. I was in a rehab dealing with drug addiction and one of Phil's students from his old course in community music skills at Goldsmith's College, London came to run a workshop. Bang! I just had my lightbulb moment and it really was like a cartoon. It was sudden and very definite - I finally knew what I was going to do with my life.I managed to enroll on this wonderful course and so began my journey into inclusive music making and inclusive arts practice.Phil speaks so clearly and passionately about the personal, social and societal impact of music and about his aim to really develop a Musically Inclusive Pedagogy.Phil also talks about his interest in Self Determination Theory and leaves us in no doubt as to his pedigree in leading the charge into change.All My LinksEternal Guitars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Episode I talk with singer-songwriter, Sam Brown who had a massive hit all across Europe and the UK with the song, 'Stop!'.The sub-title of this episode is 'In the beginning ...' because it was close to the start of my own career in music that I worked as a tape op on Sam's debut album.Sam talks very openly about her career, her departure from her record company and a move to making the music that she really wanted to make.Sam says that all of the promotion of 'Stop!' became a full time job in and of itself and took her away from the thing she loved most; making music.Sam has had an amazing career as a singer, not only as a solo artist but also as a highly praised backing singer, working and touring with Pink Floyd and of course, her stunning work with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.Sam talks about the devastation of losing her mum, Vicki, to cancer and how it shaped the music she was writing at the time.Then, Sam mysteriously lost her voice and has still not discovered how or why and talks of the emotional pain of this loss and how her hopes have risen and fallen with each attempt with a coach or therapist to bring back that amazing voice.Sam has beautifully given her time and expertise in coaching others by running Ukulele groups both in person and over the internet and has a myriad of stories to tell about her wonderful students and her relationships with them.A new album is also on the way; a very different approach because of Sam's vocal restrictions but a delight is certainly in waiting for our ears.All my linksEternal Guitars Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Everyone is Music podcast. This short trailer explains why I'm here and what all this is about.Music is one of the greatest activities on Earth and so much more than just commercial music in all of its forms and genres. Music is fundamental to being Human and this is why I'm here. To talk about that.Inclusion and access to music is what I am extremely passionate about and I want to explore this in depth.I also set out the first 3 episodes which are coming very soon and hope that you will be as excited as I am to become a part of this community.Get in touch through one of the links below.Links Here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.