The Music Workshop Company Blog 

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs. 
 
We embed multimedia content in many of our blog posts, if you have rejected cookies for this website, you may have white spaces where the multimedia content should be. This is due to a recent change of policy by YouTube, Spotify and other platforms. We are in the process of updating all our posts. If you come across white spaces in a blog post, you can open the link in another browser or private browser and approve cookies to access all the content. We are sorry for any inconvenience this causes. 
 
To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk 
As the end of term, and probably the end of term concert, approaches, here at MWC we have been thinking about exactly what it takes to make a great show. 
 
You’ll be able to read all of our ideas soon in our new resource pack on concert organising, but for now, here are some of our top tips for a successful evening… 
Booking a music workshop can be tricky if you aren’t a music expert. Many of us have a vague feeling left over from our own schooldays that music “isn’t our thing,” or we can be confused by the range of options. We want to book a workshop that will deliver an educational, skill-building, fun experience; one which justifies its chunk of the budget and more; but it’s not always easy to feel confident what to expect. 
Our Samba drumming workshops here at MWC introduce the instruments and rhythms of Brazilian carnival music. Participants form a Samba band using a range of traditional drums, and within half an hour can be playing exciting music together, achieving new levels of communication and performance skills and enhancing team building in an energetic, informal way. Samba drumming is a really inclusive way of creating music; perfect for participants of all ages and abilities. Add an experienced workshop leader and you have a session which is enjoyable and interactive right from the start. 
A music workshop is the perfect way to approach the emotive and valuable subject of Black History Month, which is coming up in October. 
 
Here at the Music Workshop Company (MWC) we have been busy creating some brand new workshops designed to explore the culture and history of the African people through the universal, recognisable medium of music. 
The Music Workshop Company (MWC) joined forces with Stevenage Symphony Orchestra last month for an exciting composition project with three Hertfordshire primary schools. The orchestra, which is for amateur musicians in and around Hertfordshire, won a grant last year from the BBC Performing Arts Fund to commission the work, Legends of the Tor, from composer Alison Wrenn, and to fund workshops in local schools. 
This month our blog is about a two-day composition workshop in Orpington, which has become an annual event. 
 
The workshop participants are students from years 7, 8 and 9 at Newstead Wood School, an all girls’ school where up to 30% of the children take regular instrumental lessons. The school was graded as “Excellent” in a recent Ofsted report. MWC has run at least one project a year at Newstead Wood since 2003. 

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