Take the Learning to the Learners

It’s only fitting that as I write this I’m listening to some music and singing along to Bjork’s It’s Not Up To You. I’m sure Nick Ponsillo, Head of Learning and Participation at Manchester Camerata, would approve (although thankfully, he’s out of earshot). I have to thank Gurdeep Thiara from the People’s History Museum for suggesting that I meet Nick. She thought we would work well together, and she’s right!  Our meeting this morning, went really well. Manchester Camerata have a very similar educational ethos to WEA: take the learning to the learners. They deliver workshops on all kinds of music-making for children and adults and pride themselves on providing the best musical learning opportunities for a diverse range of people.

Admission of an omission

Today’s meeting was rather handy for me, as I had made an omission in the bid. I completely neglected to mention, or factor in, the need for some specially commissioned short musical scores for the film soundtracks. Oh dear.

You see, if you want to put short videos on You Tube and you inadvertently use music that is copyright, even if it’s on the radio in the background for example, You Tube will state “There are no honors for this video”. This means that there will be no stats: no countries map, no viewer numbers, no web analysis etc. This is what happened to Liam Norcott’s engaging video about his front room. He had a song from Monkey Journey to the West playing in the background, so You Tube removed all of his viewer stats. Shame.

Anyway, Nick and I are going to think of ways in which we can work together to provide one or two of the films for the festival with bespoke musical scores. The learners will make and compose the music themselves with the expert guidance of freelance musicians and composers supplied by Nick.

Manchester Camerata is based in the Royal Northern College of Music. Nick can see my office from his, and vice versa. Handy for meetings.

It was really nice meeting Harriet Findlay too. She is the new intern and will be working with Nick for the next year as part of her degree placement. She plays cello and the double bass. Nick plays the trumpet.

To Do:

1. send email to Julie Ballantyne re: Manchester Camerata delivering workshops in Cumbria. (31/08/11)