Royal Academy of Music: Open Academy
From September 2022 to July 2023, I worked as the Open Academy Assistant at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM). I worked on over 30 projects in this role alongside professional workshop leaders and Academy students and Fellows in a range of settings.
About Open Academy
Open Academy is the ‘Community and Participation’ department at RAM. My role was a year-long post where I helped organise a series of projects and musical workshops in a range of settings including early-year settings, primary schools, people living with dementia, care homes, hospital schools, children living with autism, and pupil referral units.
Hold the Drama
In February 2023, I assisted ‘Hold the Drama’ in their workshops for a newly-composed musical titled ‘The Royal Academy of Detectives’. Hold the Drama worked with a local primary school year 3 class (7- to 8-year-olds) who performed their musical on the Susie Sainsbury stage at the Royal Academy of Music.
Read more about it here: https://www.ram.ac.uk/news/netley-primary-school-perform-new-musical
Camden to the Caribbean
In April 2023, I performed at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the ‘Camden to the Caribbean’ project. Open Academy worked with Camden Music Hub and Kinetika Bloco to teach children about music from the Caribbean. Kinetika Bloco helped the children to compose a ten-minute piece, which they performed from memory at the Royal Albert Hall. It was an incredible experience to help as a supporting musician.
More information can be found here: https://www.ram.ac.uk/news/camden-to-the-caribbean
Wigmore Hall Learning
In this role I had the opportunity to work withith Wigmore Hall Learning and Participation. We worked with their world-renowned ‘Music for Life’ programme for people living with dementia. This included music workshops, titled ‘Music for Thought’, a choir called ‘Singing with Friends’ (led by Izzy Adams), and a virtual workshop for people living with rarer forms of dementia called ‘Out of the Ordinary’ (led by Caroline Walsh and Hermione Jones).
In February, ‘Music for Life’ celebrated their 30th anniversary. Read about it here: https://www.ram.ac.uk/news/thirty-years-of-music-for-life
I also assisted in the organisation of ‘For Crying Out Loud’, a concert series for babies under the age of 1.
Music for the Moment
I assisted in the organisation of the ‘Music for the Moment’ concert series for people living with dementia, and their families and carers. The concert series is organised in collaboration with Wigmore Hall, St Marylebone Parish Church and Resonate Arts.
Ensembles that have performed in the series include:
Intesa (https://intesaduo.com) - duo of viola de gamba and voice.
Aqua - piano trio.
Polipetti - historically informed woodwind ensemble.
Read more about it here: https://www.ram.ac.uk/news/music-for-the-moment-series
Early Opera Company, March 2023
I worked with ‘Early Opera Company’ on a project inspired by John Blow’s opera, Venus and Adonis. This was the earliest opera written in the UK (c.1683). EOC workshop leader, Alice Poppleton, worked with children in a local opera to perform scenes from the opera and to compose their own scenes and soundscapes inspired by the Great Freeze in London.
As part of the projects, they recorded their soundscapes and I edited a short film featuring the children’s work. The film also featured EOC musicians performing works from Blow’s original opera and pictures of the Great Frost Fair.
Primary Pupil Referral Unit, March 2023
I worked with five year 6 pupils from a local pupil referral unit to form their own class band. I worked with Dr Phil Mullen and Ann Jones, alongside Academy musicians, to help the children compose a series of works inspired by outer space.
One particular highlight was a punk song where the lyrics depicted a ‘portal to another universe’, with pupils fronting the band and backed by trumpet, french horn, percussion and drum kit. It was an incredible week!
Photo Credit: NASA. Blue Dot Photograph.
