Services
Workshops
A room of people who have never played together, playing together by the end of the session. No instruments to bring and no experience assumed.
Workshops where a room of people who have never played together end the session playing together. They are built on African rhythmic traditions and the collaborative habits of jazz, and they need no prior musical experience from anyone taking part.
The work runs with schools, universities, community organisations, wellbeing services and workplaces. Some groups want a musical outcome; others want what the music does, attention, cooperation, the experience of contributing to something that only works if everyone holds their part.
Suitability
Who this is for
- Primary and secondary schools, including SEND settings
- Universities, colleges and music services
- Community organisations and youth projects
- Health, wellbeing and social-prescribing services
- Cultural venues and festivals running participation programmes
- Workplaces and teams wanting something better than a trust exercise
Scope
What a workshop involves
- Rhythm and ensemble work using body percussion, hand drums and voice
- Call and response, and the listening habits that make it work
- Group improvisation with no wrong notes and no solos required
- Building a piece collectively across the session
- Cultural context, where the rhythms come from and what they mean
- Optional sharing or informal performance at the end
- All instruments and percussion provided
Process
How a workshop is planned
No stage is a surprise, and nothing starts before it is agreed in writing.
- 01
Your group
We talk about who is in the room, ages, numbers, access needs, and anything that has or has not worked with them before.
- 02
What it is for
A musical outcome, a wellbeing aim, a curriculum link, a team day. The aim shapes the session, so it is worth being blunt about it.
- 03
The plan
A written outline: structure, timings, what is provided, what the space needs, and any risk assessment or safeguarding paperwork required.
- 04
Delivery
The session itself, adapted live. An outline is a plan, not a script, and rooms differ.
- 05
Afterwards
A short written reflection, any recordings made, and material for staff who want to carry the work on.
Benefits
What a group gets
Everyone plays
Designed so the least confident person in the room has a part they can hold from the first ten minutes.
Connection you can see
Groups leave having done something together, which is a different experience from having been entertained.
Culture with its context
Traditions are named and located, not flattened into a generic world-music session.
Ready for your setting
Session plans, risk assessments and access needs handled in advance, alongside whatever compliance paperwork your setting requires.
Practical detail
Formats, timings and terms
The answers to the questions that decide whether this fits your diary and your budget.
- Formats
- Single session, half day, full day, or a multi-week series
- Group size
- Typically 8–30; larger with additional facilitation
- Ages
- Primary through to adult, including intergenerational groups
- Where
- Your site across Manchester, the North West and UK-wide
- Provided
- Percussion and instruments, session plan, risk assessment
- Compliance
- Safeguarding and insurance documentation supplied with the booking
- Experience needed
- None, for anyone taking part
FAQs
Workshops, your questions
Specific to this service. General questions about booking, fees and logistics are answered on the FAQs page.
None at all. Sessions are built so that everyone has a part within the first few minutes, and the musical interest comes from how the parts fit together rather than from anyone's technical ability.
Also relevant
Often booked alongside this
Masterclasses
One-to-one and small-group teaching in composition, improvisation and Afro-jazz language, taught from practice, not theory alone.
Read more
Talks & Lectures
Talks, lectures and research collaboration on music, migration, cultural exchange and wellbeing, for universities, conferences and organisations.
Read more
Plan a workshop
Tell us about your group, what you would like the session to do, and your rough dates. You will get an outline and a fee.