I’ve have an incredible few weeks meeting and getting to know my community collaborators. I’ve got the privilege of working with a really diverse and dynamic collection of groups from my four wards. So far I’ve gotten to know some members of the South Aston URC history and ramblers group. They’ve given me some 1st hand story’s of their experiences growing up or moving to Ladywood district and given me a unique insight into the cityscape that occupied Birmingham a few decades ago.
I can’t wait to draw inspiration from and document these invaluable stories. Meeting up with the Vianova choir at the Woodman Pub for an informal meeting was great. They were so eager to get to know the other community groups and are really buzzing about the creative ways in which we can channel the information generated by the other groups to make some awesome music!
Finally, I’ve had the time of my life working with the awesome young people at the Deaf Cultural Centre, they’ve been so great to work with and are totally engaged and keen to get stuck in with everything I throw at them. Their natural curiosity is truly inspiring and their unique spin on things really challenges and pushes me to think outside of the box when it comes to writing this music. The James Watt School that is literally down the road from where I used to live are super excited to be working on the project and I can’t wait to get things underway with them. For now there are still many unknowns and I can’t wait to see what direction this piece heads in as I spend more time with the groups!