For those who were unable to join us at our ‘Festival of Making Music’ in Perthshire last October, we are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity to join award-winning educator Professor Richard Michael BEM for a day of creative music-making in Inverness. Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, the Highlands ‘Day of Making Music’ will take place on Saturday 13th May 2017.
Whatever your musical background, instrument or voice, you will join with Richard in exploring shared concepts of rhythm, melody and harmony using simple and familiar Scottish tunes as a basis for improvisation. Sounds scary? Don’t worry, mistakes are cool, and we can guarantee that you will have plenty of fun making them! And you’ll go away with new skills, new confidence, new friends and a renewed vision for your music-making.
About the day: the Highlands ‘Day of Making Music’ will be very hands-on with plenty of participation by the players/singers throughout. We will begin with a rhythm-based warm up session to make sure the mind and the body are both fully awake and ready for the day! The main session will be ‘The anatomy of a bonnie choon’. Using well-known Scottish tunes we will work together to identify the elements which make a successful piece of music, regardless of era, genre or instrument. Then participants will literally play around with these elements and develop ‘bonnie choons’ of their own!
The ‘Day of Making Music’ will be led by Richard Michael BEM, Honorary Professor of Jazz Piano. Richard has had a long and illustrious career as a performer and educator, with a personal musical journey which encompasses playing in Scottish dance bands; training at the RSAMD as a classical pianist; church organist and choir director; jazz musician and educator; and BBC Radio Scotland presenter, to name but a few! In the midst of it all, Richard remains one of the most down-to-earth, encouraging and humorous people you could ever meet. Richard will be joined by his daughter Hilary, who is an accomplished and highly regarded professional musician spanning the genres from baroque to jazz.
Cost: the fee for the day is just £20, which includes all tuition, teaching materials and tea/coffee. Online resources will also be available to participants after the event via the Making Music website.
Location: Highland
For further information, please contact ruth@makingmusic.org.uk (Ruth Irons), or visit https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/event/day-making-music
The deadline is Friday 12 May 2017 at 17:00.