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.

To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk

Posts tagged “MENTAL HEALTH”

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Jazz in our community

Posted on 31st January 2024 at 15:26

When the Watford Jazz Junction was founded in 2020, its festival put inclusion and mental wellbeing at its heart. (It’s one reason we at the Music Workshop Company didn’t hesitate when we were asked to be involved, and we’re delighted to be back this year delivering a special workshop for young people aged 4-12).

Each year, Watford Jazz Junction works to ensure its events represent the various communities it serves, offering people of all backgrounds a way to connect and express themselves. With the organisers busy preparing a diverse programme for 2024, Chris Newstead, the festival’s Director and Founder, took time out to tell us more about the ethos behind the event.

(Image: participants at the Music Workshop Company's 2023 workshop at Watford Jazz Junction.)

Generation Interrupted

Posted on 17th March 2021 at 15:25

Why Children Need Arts Subjects More than Ever, and Why Teachers Need Support to Provide Them.

As children get back into the swing of school after successive UK lockdowns, one of the main concerns is that they should ‘catch up’ with their education. After a year with little connection with peers, and little structured learning, some of the most vulnerable children have suffered the most. At the same time, areas of the curriculum normally aimed at supporting those children have been hugely depleted.

Music Award for Young People Highlights Mental Health

Posted on 18th June 2018 at 14:00

Summer 2018

Applications are open for a music award that supports young musicians from South East London.

Designed for artists between 16 and 25 years old who display musical talent, performance skills, business acumen and are passionate about forging a successful career, the Ed Renshaw Award was set up in 2012 in memory of an accomplished young guitarist who tragically took his own life aged just 30.

Renshaw was a gifted musician. Born in Greenwich in 1981 and a student at Thomas Tallis School, he began learning guitar aged 10. Music broadcaster Sandy Burnett called him: “a supremely talented jazz and classical guitarist.” But Renshaw also suffered with bouts of depression, and in 2011 he lost his struggle.

Addressing the Challenge of Mental Wellbeing in Music

Posted on 14th December 2016 at 13:00

Christmas is fast approaching. It’s a time associated with happiness and music, lights, gifts and laughter. But Christmas can be a dark time for some, particularly those struggling with mental health issues.