Folk at the Farm

Programme Manager for Learning & Participation – Tamsin Oldham gives an insight into the Spitalfields Music Family Day that took place at Spitalfields City Farm on Saturday (18 June):

The Spitalfields Music team met at 9am ready to decant 15 tabla, 4 trestle tables, 20 storybooks, 2 boxes brimming with musical instruments, 1 very large drum, 20 gym mats, 1 canister of helium, 50 balloons and metres and metres of bunting into Spitalfields City Farm. The rain held off just long enough as we bustled around dressing the space. Our Musical Treasure Hunt composers (aka The Young Farmers) were also on hand as they carefully placed their masterpieces in hidden spaces for people to find throughout the day. You may also have spotted they were helpfully handing out drinks and testing microphones whilst preparing for a camping trip!

The rain held off for us while we set up and the musicians began to arrive, taking in the wonderful surroundings and introducing themselves to the animals who would also be their audience for the day. The first downpour came and we discovered two holes in the marquee roof… patched up and ready to go, Manjeet Singh began to test out his tabla over the PA.

As people started to arrive the sun came out and they began to explore the unexpected sounds of the Treasure Hunt, of which the favourite sounds were the bubbles of the underground fish in the potato beds! (Click here to visit Duncan Chapman’s website to hear them all). Meanwhile our pop-up musicians entertained wellied and raincoated visitors, sending their songs floating across the fields from the safety of the polytunnels and the early years marquee.

The second downpour arrived and with it an entourage from Udichi Shilpi Gosthi who were running a Bengali singing and dancing workshop in the afternoon. Taking the opportunity we ushered them to Jigjaw who entertained them through the rain with some English folk songs and step dancing! After rescuing our artists at the art table (and their already beautiful array of donkey ears) the rest of the day went by in a flash with over 250 people coming through the doors to enjoy the fun!

To round off the day we had a fantastic ceilidh and performance with The Imaginary String Band, Debs Newbold, Laurel Swift and Manjeet Singh with everyone whooping, clapping, laughing and singing… it was a wonderful way to finish a fantastically fun day!

Tamsin Oldham
Programme Manager: Learning & Participation

Photos of Spitalfields City Farm by Alys Tomlinson

Sing me a lullaby…

Still singing the songs and buzzing from our Lullabies experience last year, Rachel Louis from VitalArts invited Spitalfields Music to the maternity wards of the Royal London Hospital for a second time.  Just hours after entering the world with our newest fan just 14 hours old at the time, our musicians Zoe Palmer, John Barber and Sonia Mehta were singing, learning and writing lullabies with newborns and their families. We were so welcomed and supported by the staff on the Mary Northcliffe ward and during one session, we even had some of the staff singing and dancing along to songs they recognised!

Click on the clips below to listen to some of the lullabies from the sessions.

We worked with 43 mothers & babies, 35 fathers, 4 grandfathers, 15 grandmothers and many more in just 2 ½ weeks. Our musicians talked to the parents, encouraging them that singing to your baby can reduce stress, crying and improve their sleeping and feeding.  It doesn’t matter what, or how, you sing  – the familiar sound of your voice  has a naturally soothing effect and is something they always love to hear.

Through the success of Lullabies we will be continuing our work with VitalArts on the Grosvenor Ward in February. Musicians Zoe Palmer, Jack Ross and one of our trainees Penny Desbruslais will spend 5 weeks on the ward working with the babies, parents and play specialists. The project aims to provide a positive and soothing distraction from a stressful environment for babies in long-term care, and give parents and staff the confidence to use music as a therapeutic tool at the baby’s bedside on the ward and later, in the home.

“When musicians come onto the ward, there is an immediate, perceptible change in atmosphere – it becomes quieter, calmer and everyone seems at ease – and the effect lasts well after their departure.” – Christine Wood, Baby-friendly coordinator, Royal London Hospital

Click here to read Tamsin’s diaries from the previous Lullaby projects.

Tamsin Oldham
Programme Manager: Learning & Participation

What Makes a Great Fable?

What do you think makes a great fable? We asked a whole host of people involved in Fables – A Film Opera (composers, directors, workshop leaders and members of our team) exactly that! This is what they said…

Discover more videos on our YouTube channel!

Intern Diaries: My first two weeks… Part II

And so I arrived at Spitalfields Music on a bright sunny day towards the end of September to begin my six month Learning & Participation internship. The first week whizzed by – meeting staff, gradually learning how the organisation works and more particularly, scratching the surface of the many projects on the go within L&P.

A whistle-stop tour of the area took in the many venues Spitalfields Music uses for its festivals and L&P projects. A part of London I’m not very familiar with as yet, but Tamsin’s sneaky top tip of using the “big, fat, tall building on Bishopsgate” as a guide to avoid getting lost has proved helpful as I’ve navigated my way around. My timetable for the first couple of weeks was punctuated with meetings within the office to explain in greater detail where projects are and who is involved in them, and then putting the faces to the names as I met some of the people involved externally.

“Tamsin’s sneaky top tip of using the ‘big, fat, tall building on Bishopsgate’ as a guide to avoid getting lost has proved helpful”

One especially fun day was spent meeting the six new MAASers, the trainee animateur apprentices appointed for a year to develop their skills in workshop leading. An inspiring morning with Phil Mullan as he probed the MAASers to think about what qualities are needed to be a successful leader was followed by a lively session with James Redwood. James threw out some wonderful games and techniques to act as energisers and coolers for the MAASers to motivate and engage their project participants. What else would follow “roller”, “gingerbread house” and “night” than “coaster”, “come in my pretty” and “ingale” (it is the centenary of Florence’s death afterall!)?

At lunchtime, Tamsin and I ran back to the office to meet three artists having a creative brainstorming session equipped with their massive sheets of paper, brightly coloured felt-tips and of course the quintessential tub of homemade chocolate brownies! My second week ended with a lively conversation with the accommodating receptionist at one of our Neighbourhood Schools and an insight into Clare’s role as Programme Director of L&P at Spitalfields Music. A great beginning!

Caroline Went
Learning & Participation Intern

What does Spitalfields Music mean to you?

During this year’s Summer Festival we asked members of our audience, the local community and others with close links to us, what Spitalfields Music meant to them. Here’s a little of what came back:

[video by Andy Weir]

See more videos about and by Spitalfields Music on our YouTube channel!