Earlier this year, we partnered with Edinburgh College of Art and the Reid School of Music on the 2023 UNESCO Week of Sound.
We ran two online seminars, and also supported an in-person with musician Michael Begg:
- The Sounds of Feeling Well, Feeling Cared For: We shared the findings of a co-creative research project which explored understandings of mental health for care-experienced people in order to develop an innovative training for residential workers. The seminar included experts-by-experience alongside academics and a sound artist.
- Music-Making Beyond the Classroom: This seminar brought together community practitioners and researchers involved in music and music-making in settings outside of the classroom. Part celebration, part call for action, it showcased the wealth and energy of music initiatives working with, and for, young people.
- Sounding the Ice Factory: Beginning with the proposal that in the 21st century data has become the common vocabulary of science and art, Michael Begg described the processes through which he arrives at his compositions, considered the differences between data sonification and data composition, and invited discussion around what value or insight may be revealed through consideration of sound and music in research activity. He also explored solastalgia, the acute anxiety arising from living through climate change, and what these new forms of musical expression may contribute to addressing that condition for listeners, and for researchers.
Thanks so much to all of our amazing speakers, and if you’re interested in our session on Music-Making Beyond the Classroom, you can watch the recording below.
Watch the recording
We recorded our seminar about music-making in unusual spaces. You can watch the seminar here:
If you enjoyed the seminar, here are some links to the amazing work of our speakers so you can follow up, and connect with each other:
- Dr Katie Hunter (University of Strathclyde) and some of the research she presented: Widening the gap? The challenges for equitable music education in Scotland
- Ryan McGlone at Granton Youth: Granton Youth Mixtape Club and Gifted young Edinburgh musicians produce EP to raise funds for youth work
- Jed Milroy at Tinderbox Collective and We Make Music Scotland
If you would like to follow up on the seminar, or want to share your own work, please get in touch with our co-director Emma Davidson.
What next?
We hope this is just the beginning of a conversation on this topic, and are planning more events in the coming months (hopefully with some young musicians).
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