project news
MEHEM UpRising Resource Balloon
Update: November 2023
We're proud to be featured in MEHEM's Resource Balloon, bringing together videos of music projects and music-making resources from across the East Midlands. This has been nominated for an Expo Award!
You can access the Resource Balloon here.
Ashmount's Accessible Ensemble feature is here.
Training Project with Shaun Crate
August 2023
Shaun Crate is a musician with disability who volunteers at Ashmount School on our accessible ensemble project. We have planned a training project to enable him to pursue his dream of becoming a drum teacher in a special educational setting. We're currently looking for funders to enable this. The project will focus on using improvisation as a basis for learning, exploring and developing communication methods for both Shaun and his students. This will be a pilot project focussing on developing a model which can be reprduced to benefit other musicians with disibility who are currently vastly under represented in our workforce.
Shaun will explain more below in his video...
Ashmount Accessible Ensemble Project
Update: June 2023
Our performance of 'Autograph' (a work composed by the students using their names as a basis) in Jan 2023 was a huge success and seems far behind us as we've continued to grow the project.
Our original ten musicians have grown into a bigger group now featuring younger players and we have started to compose new music for our next piece. We are delighted to be working with Digit Music's 'Global Sound Culture' sample pack to incorporate African instrument sounds into our work.
I have been observing classroom music delivery ready to develop the CPD component of the project from Sept 2023. The evaluation of the first year of the project is finished and is available to read below.
Ashmount Evaluation- final.pdf
Adobe Acrobat document [1.9 MB]
Musicking for the Terrified
Jan-Mar 2023
Elle was asked by MEHEM Uprising to contribute to a series of online sessions offering CPD training to non-specialist teachers in special school settings.
Through a series of online interactive sessions, delegates were able to learn basic instrumental skills for the ukulele, conducting and composition for group work and song repertoire to use in the classroom.
The group were able to share their experiences of trying out the tutors' ideas and gain confidence in developing musical activities.
Resources/ session recordings coming soon....watch this space!
MEHEM Annual Conference
June 2023
Shaun and we are delighted to have been invited to speak at the MEHEM (Music Education Hubs East Midlands) annual conference in Nottingham.
We presented a session entitled 'How to Create an Accessible Ensemble in your SEND setting', reflecting on our work with the Ashmount Accessible Ensemble Project and giving a practical demonstration of our approach. Our session was really well attended with lots of positive feedback and stimulating discussion with other settings interested in setting up their own ensembles. Also a great networking opportunity to meet colleagues old and new!
Find out more abour MEHEM here.
Ashmount Accessible Ensemble Project
April 2022
I have been appointed as the Musical Director of an accessible ensemble project with Ashmount School, Loughborough. The current phase involves a group of ten students using a range of traditional and accessible digital instruments to compose a piece of music to be premiered in Jan 2023.
The project has a wider scope; we will use our composition as a basis for a scheme of work for classroom use and CPD for non-specialist staff to train in delivering accessible ensemble opportunities across the school. This will help Ashmount School to implement recent updates to the National Plan for Music as well as contributing to their Platinum ArtsMark journey.
I am excited to be working again with Cmpsr, an accessible digital instrument pioneered by Si Tew at Digit Music and Ben Sellers at Transformance Music who will be supervising and feeding into the CPD component of the project.
District Musicians CIC
Arts Council England funded Music in Healthcare project
In 2019- 2020 Elle worked alongside fellow Musicians in Healthcare, Sophie Fishwick and Nick Davis to deliver accessible music inerventions for older people in a secure dementia assessment unit. They secured Arts Council England funding through successful bid writing and set up the company together.
The project set out to establish a new service in a specialist setting, using supervision and other reflective approaches to trial new ideas and improve creative practice.
Elle's work with District Musicians CIC concluded in July 2020 to focus on her work in specialist music eduction, however the service contiues with Sophie and Nick.
Opus Music CIC
Arts Council England funded Music in Healthcare apprenticeship
In 2017/ 2018, Elle was selected to complete a nine month long paid apprenticeship with Opus Music CIC. Elle was trained by established Music in Healthcare practitioners Nick Cutts, Sarah Matthews, Oli Matthews and Richard Kensington to deliver high quality music interventions in clinical settings. Elle trained in paedicatric, neo-natal, geriatric and HDU wards in hospitals across the East Midlands.
Able Orchestra & Able Lite
Inspire Culture accessible music projects
Since 2016, Elle has worked as a freelance specialist musician for Inspire Culture, facilitating projects for young people with additional needs in Nottinghamshire. Elle has worked alongside composer Angus McLeod to produce collaborative performances inspired by young people using iPads and a wide range of other tools; Taiko drumming and dance, orchestral instruments and voice. Elle has facilitated research and development into virtual accessible instruments and sound packs developed by composer Si Tew, trialling them in special educational settings and performance venues.
Leicester-Shire Schools Music Service
Composition & Soundscape Project
In 2017 Elle was comissioned by LSMS to design and deliver a series of accessible music projects for SEN schools in Leicestershire. A short pilot project was delivered in the SEN unit of Brookside Primary School, followed by longer schemes in Forest Way and Oaklands schools, producing soundscape compositions based solely on the students' contributions recorded during workshops.
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