Five Key Lessons To Improve Your Music Facilitation

Posted on

Over the past few months, we’ve been working with music facilitators and workshop leaders in our development course, Skills Lab Academy. We run these sessions regularly, with the aim to empower, build confidence and allow leaders to share their experiences, with the ultimate goal to nourish the sector and keep the musical ecosystem alive.

This year’s sessions were led by composer and music leader James Redwood. In this round, along with giving participants a toolkit of musical practices to use in their work, we also brought in three guest leaders to focus in on different topics:

  • Vocal Leading, with composer/lyricist, choral conductor, performer and co-founder of Filament Theatre
  • Music Technology & SEN, with Ben Sellers, author of the ‘Teaching Music with Garageband for iPad’ textbook
  • Using Repertoire as a Starting Point for Creative Music Making, with Rosie Bergonzi, percussionist and music leader, winner of an RPS Trailblazer Award

Here are some of the key takeaways that we learnt in the Skills Lab sessions…

Collaboration is key

The creative collaboration displayed by music leaders in each of the sessions outlined the importance of bringing a group together in music. Participants embraced teamwork and collaborative creativity, and showed a great level of support.

Each session began with engaging warm-ups and icebreakers, designed to establish the group and build confidence as a collective. Group exercises like clapping games, movement-based exercises and improvisational storytelling are great to engage each individual participant in a shared experience and shift their perspective from thinking individually.

Confidence can be built through empowerment

Performance and improvisation can often feel quite daunting, particularly to those who may not have had much firsthand musical experience. Techniques such as the massed drone singing we heard with Osnat Schmool allowed participants to sing freely, without judgement, in a harmonic framework.

By interacting with others using games and exercises, we saw how leaders can empower smaller groups and soloists in a unintimidating way, always discussing how audiences of different ages and experiences may react to the approaches.

Collaborative composition can be aided by techniques such as the ‘invisible voting’ introduced by James Redwood – participants voting anonymously about the direction of the musical creation – which can make sure that every voice in the group feels valued.

Adaptability is essential

In our session with Ben Sellers, we explored the social model of disability. Discussing taking music leading into SEN settings highlighted the importance of adaptability in your leading when working with different workshop participants. A music leader’s approach needs to fit the needs of individuals rather than expecting them to conform to traditional workshop structures. Using simple strategies such as introducing different modes of communication like body language, visual cues, and Makaton can enable your music sessions to be enjoyed by a wider range of individuals.

Pre-written music can unlock creativity

Throughout the sessions, we experimented with both established repertoire and collaboratively composed music. With Rosie Bergonzi, we discovered that taking apart just a small section of a pre-written work can be a catalyst for groups to decide what it is about the work that connects with them individually. This is a great way to inspire imaginations and can be an effective tool to break down any perceived barriers to creativity.

Knowledge comes through experience

Through bringing together music leaders from across many different practices, we discovered that listening to the experience of other facilitators is the easiest way to improve your own approach. Our experienced course leaders even took the opportunity to learn from others in the session, taking on new approaches that they’ll use in their future leading. The combined force of leaders in the room meant there was a plethora of knowledge to learn from. Connection with other musicians is vital on your journey of development!

Always take the time to reflect on your practice

No matter which stage you have reached in your career, there is always room to develop and learn new things as a music leader. Reflecting on what went down well in a session and highlighting the challenges you faced in the particular setting is important. Our leaders taught us that being equipped with an array of different approaches to leading and having the flexibility to balance these within a group can be the key to success.

We’re excited to see how our Skills Lab alumni will take the knowledge built in these sessions with them and facilitate music making with a range of different audiences.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this round of Skills Lab Academy – stay tuned to hear about future development opportunities!

Share