The Island of the Self was a creative music and mindfulness project with Year 4 classes from two of our neighbourhood schools, award-winning ensemble Engines Orchestra, music and wellness experts Mindful Music, and musician, composer, and educator Raph Clarkson.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment with open awareness.
The project was based on the concept of ‘The Island of the Self’ – a place to go to when we experience difficult emotions – and aimed to highlight the importance of mindful practice in exploring self-care, identity and kindness.
The project placed mindfulness and wellbeing at the heart of schools’ KS2 Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) curriculum and was guided by both teachers and artists who shared expertise in working with mindfulness.
Each class engaged in a range of mindfulness activities and, over the course of 4 online sessions, the students created one original song and learnt one written by Raph Clarkson. At the end of the creative sessions and rehearsals, each class was filmed performing their songs, accompanied by 6 musicians from Engines Orchestra who recorded themselves at home.
The project culminated in a school assembly performances on 6th July 2021 and the creation of a ‘Mindfulness Corner’ – resources for family audiences as part of Spitalfields Music Festival 2021, which can be found on our website here.
To watch the project video, see Related Events and Media, linked below.
