These sociable groups are especially suitable for adults with learning difficulties or disabilities. The music chosen will be varied, with everything from pop songs to classics. The singing session will include a break for refreshments.
Come and sing with Open Voices!
Music Leaders: Victoria Barlow, Pip Flewitt, Cliff McArdle and Sarah Trevers.
Open Voices West Bridgford – Term starts on 21st September
Tuesdays, 10am – 12pm at St Luke’s Church, West Bridgford
Open Voices Beeston – Term starts on 21st September
Tuesdays, 10am – 12pm at Middle Street Resource Centre, Beeston
Open Voices Sherwood – Term starts on 24th September
Fridays, 10am – 12pm at St Martin’s Church, Trevose Gardens, Sherwood
No particular theme for today’s #MfEMonday, just another place to share some news!
As always, please continue to send through your events & happenings to admin@music-for-everyone.org as would love to feature them.
Summer School You can now book your lunchtime recitals and concert + buffet tickets online and through the MfE Box Office.
Open Voices At Friday’s Open Voices Les Misérables concert over £200 was raised through generous donations. Thank you so much, and huge congrats to Open Voices. Here’s to your future!
Third Party Events page Playing in any concerts? Looking for new members for your group? Want to see events happening near you? Our Third Party Events page on our website is chock-full of upcoming concerts and opportunities. Email admin@music-for-everyone.org if you have anything you’d like to advertise for FREE!
My last #MfEMonday… “It has been my absolute pleasure to work for MfE as Adult Programme Assistant/Marketing Officer for the past 6 months. Angela + the office team have made me feel so welcome and I will forever be grateful for my time here! Rest assured I will continue to be a part of the excellent courses + concerts for as long as I can, but oh, how I will miss writing the #MfEMondays!!! All the best for the future, see everyone at Summer School!”
#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.
A Tuesday #MfEMonday for you (it’ll make your week feel shorter!)…
Yesterday the MfE Office was dominated with the upcoming Summer School– music has been sent out to 150 excited participants, in preparation for three glorious days of music-making at Nottingham High School this August!
I’m sure you’ve all heard about our Summer School, and this one certainly is not one to miss. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, we have a stellar repertoire list everyone can enjoy, including Strauss’ Also Sprach Zarathustra, the theme from The Onedin Line, an arrangement of Jupiter, Ola Gjeilo’s Across the Vast, Eternal Sky, the classic Fly Me To The Moon and more!
We also have talented special guests Scaramella, Hilary Campbell, the Miyabi Duo and Zephyr joining us to take workshops and recitals.
There is more information with a full repertoire list on the Summer School website. We are super excited for our 5thSummer School and hope to see you there!
On another equally as exciting note, Music for Everyone is delighted to announce that we have received a grant for our Open Voices initiative, all thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund!
This grant will support the group as it grows and continues to enlighten the lives of individuals and their communities.
Keeping the space-theme, we are OVER THE MOONto accept this grant!
#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.
Music for Everyone is thrilled to announce the NEW Autumn course & concert, The Armed Man. Be a part of the Nottingham Festival Chorus and perform Karl Jenkin’s powerful The Armed Man (A Mass for Peace), and Mack Wilberg’s moving arrangement of All people that on earth do dwell.
Plus, we are delighted that guest conductor, Martin Van Der Brugge will be bringing his choir from Holland to join us for this special concert!
Course: Saturday 5, Sunday 6 October Concert: Saturday 12 October Full enrolment fee £40. Benefit claimant/student £30. Music available to hire/purchase. More information & booking details on the web page.
Can’t wait until October? Join the Nottingham Festival Chorus this Saturday for a day of singing and strawberries! TheNFC English Romantics workshop daypresents a rare opportunity to explore the choral delights of the English Partsong, including Pearsall, Elgar and music set to Shakespeare texts. Places still available! Music available on the day. Book now online or by calling the office on 0115 9589312.
A huge congratulations to Freya Whitfield on winning Lincolnshire’s Young Music Maker of 2019! Thank you to everyone who voted for her following our 3 June #MfEMonday. We look forward to welcoming Freya to our Big Youth Music Experience weekend in July.
In collaboration with Sherwood Art Week and Daytime Voices, our Open Voicesgroup are excited to share their inspiring energy in a fun and enjoyable performance entitled ‘Songs from Les Miserables’! Join them for FREE at St Martin’s Church in Sherwood this Friday. More information can be found on their Facebook event.
#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.
Vicky McClure’s ‘Our Dementia Choir’ has touched the hearts of many people, including many here in Nottingham.
To celebrate a member of our Open Voices group featuring in the documentary, Bernard, for this week’s #MfEMondays we thought it would be lovely to share some quotes from some of our volunteers and some inspiring case studies – but first, a behind-the-scenes clip of the Dementia Choir rehearsing!
Member Case Study – Zoe Zoe has started attending every week with her carer. Initially, Zoe needed two carers to accompany her when she was visiting anywhere because her behavior is unpredictable. Previously, Zoe has found it very difficult to be with others as she hits and kicks out. This unpredictable behavior causes her to be socially isolated.
Zoe’s carer has recently noticed a huge improvement in her behavior. She now only needs one person to accompany her. She is able to sit at a table during our drinks break and she interacts with others in a positive way. Zoe has formed strong bonds with two of our volunteers, Tom and Val. She remembers their names from week to week and actively seeks them out to join in conversations with them. Zoe’s carer said this was a huge step forward. Zoe enjoys the music and sits in the room with everyone else. Zoe’s carer said: “For Zoe to come in each week, and sit at the table, is a fantastic achievement”. Zoe’s carer is continuing to see huge improvements in her social skills as well as her behavior and this is enabling Zoe to become less isolated socially.
Member Case Study – Ruth Ruth told one of our music leaders herself that she would not have had the same confidence or social skills before coming to Open Voices. Ruth’s carer told us that Ruth particularly enjoys the social aspects of Open Voices. She looks forward to seeing her friends each week and she is one of the first to get up and welcome newcomers. Ruth feels confident to do this. She also feels confident to come to the front to perform to the rest of the group. She particularly enjoys songs from Jungle Book and will act out the role of the snake and the monkey. Ruth’s carer went on to explain that although it takes a little time for a group dynamic to build up, Ruth now knows everyone, and this gives her the confidence to perform. She feels she is performing to friends. Both Ruth and her carer said they would be devastated if the sessions did not continue as they form an important part of Ruth’s social life. Without them, she would be much more socially isolated. She loves coming and interacting with her friends.
You can catch up on ‘Our Dementia Choir’ on the BBC iPlayer website or app (Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure, BBC One 02/05/2019 – you can spot Bernard at 00:51:05 when Vicky calls him on stage!)
For the flyer and more information on Open Voices, click here. If you are interested in getting involved or volunteering, please email admin@music-for-everyone.org.
Here at Music for Everyone we feel passionately about including a dementia choir element into our adult programme of music-making, so watch this space.
#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s new weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.
This will be very short because we’d love you to hop over to the blog of Open Wings and discover what Open Voices means to their amazing community. Take a tissue with you.
But before you go… Have you voted to enable us to form more Open Voices groups in other locations, to take music into the Teenage Cancer Trust unit at Nottingham Children’s Hospital, QMC, and for other music for wellbeing projects? Thank you if you have, but if you haven’t you have ONE DAY left! Voting for the Aviva Community Fund closes first thing Tuesday. So vote, vote, vote. CLICK HERE to do it now. Ask your family, your friends, your cat (who just needs an email address) etc to do it too.
A message from Music for Everyone’s Artistic Director, Angela Kay MBE
Hello everyone
As many of you know, last year we were raising money for a project to provide music making opportunities for adults with learning difficulties.
Our first meeting of Open Voices (the name we have given the group) took place on Friday 29 September in Sherwood and I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that about 18 people came along (this number included some carers). Everyone enjoyed a morning of music making and they all say they’ll come back next week!
Looking to the future – our plan is to start a 2nd group (probably in West Bridgford) in January and then a 3rd group (probably in the Beeston area) after Easter – the idea being that all three groups come together for a performance in July.
Please do keep spreading the word about this new initiative.
