Brilliant Music Sessions happening every where this week .... get involved!

Please spread the word Make Music Now now has a complete session list for its young peoples music making activities throughout Torbay.

The sessions are designed to engage any young person and focus on young people being able to make the music they are into or want to create.

We don't work in a classroom style so its great for all learners. The focus is on  getting young people working together in a social environment with music at its core.

We look forward to seeing you, spread the word and help us Make Music Now!

Half Term Musical Goodness 26th October and on ...

We thought it would be a lovely idea to get some Musical Goodness into Half Term Week particularly as the last dregs of summer fade and the weather people are promising winter is going to hit in spectacular snowy style maybe as soon as the end of next week! Eek!

So as an antidote to the rain and the wind and not knowing whether to get the sledges out or not we thought a hefty helping of community based music making would be soup for the soul.

So if you're aged 13 to 19 and want to start learning or improving the skills you need to make the music you want to make or just fancy trying it out come down to the Acorn Centre in Barton, Torquay on Tuesday October 29th from 12pm or to the Edge in Brixham on Friday November 1st from 12pm.

All the sessions are taster sessions for you to come and explore music making and instruments, work new music out with our music leaders and meet new friends who want to make music too. They all feed into our community workshops that are now happening weekly around the Bay in the same venues with one new one going live at Paignton Academy after the half term week.

If you'd like more info then please either contact us on 07957930196, by email at futureshores@btinternet.com or through facebook at MakeMusicNow.

Jam sessions kick off on Wednesday August 7th at Parkfield, Paignton from 1pm

Bob Marley sang 'we're jamming, we're jamming, we're jamming' loads of different times at loads of different speeds until eventually it stuck in our head as musicians we should be jamming and getting as many people as possible to jam however and whenever they wanted.

Jamming is musical goodness. Its not taught much as people aspire to the great and heady heights of grade 8 exams, but jamming is where musical creativity lies. The text books about what you should know as a musician and how that knowledge should look are great but jamming helps put it all together in a way that makes sense to you containing your imprint.

We like jamming a lot at Make Music Now ... so come down and jam with us on Wednesdays and Fridays through August from the seventh. We kick off at 1pm upstairs, just follow your ears.

You'll be able to jam with some great musicians whether its just one chord or a whole symphony of sound, break off into groups, write some new material and kick back with some old.

Its also good for the soul.

Community Invasions kick off today!

So it's Wednesday, its Paignton Carnival night and yes, in true Devon style, its raining! Not hard, the clouds will be saving that for the grand procession later.

To bring some sunshine to your day though the Make Music  Now team of 8 music leaders are heading over to the streets of Brixham for our first Community Invasion. They'll be making music in lots of wonderful ways, from loop pedals to sound bending and the amazing Emily Howard ( Check out her new album 'Where Do I Go?' it's awesome!) will be showing you a few tricks with a rubber duck......

Make Music Now is two projects in one. Songstress is for young women who want to make their own music, with other young women, in an environment where they don't have to fight with the boys for the instruments and Make Music Now is for everyone to explore what kind of music making gets as many young people involved and banging out some tunes across Torbay.

Two words are really important to us right now 'YOUTH LED'. This is project is you telling us how it should be. Then over the next few months we'll put on workshops and gigs and events that allow you to explore what that means.

So come down to Brixham and get involved!

And dont forget our amazing Launch Party at Parkfield in Paignton

Community Invasions coming to your doorstep in August ....

At Make Music Now we have a crack team of five music leaders and 3 music leader trainees who will be taking you on a journey to make your own music in Torbay over the next 12 months.

Over the next four weeks the music leaders will be heading out to Torbay neighbourhoods to talk to young people about the music they are into, making music right on your doorsteps, outside your shops, in your skate parks and anywhere else they think you might hang out.

We're doing this as we think its important to find out what kind of music you are into, how you want the project to look and how you want it to develop rather than us telling you how it should be.

For example one of the things we are trying to work out is 'where should a music making group set up home in Torquay that feels like a comfortable space for everyone and everyone can get to?'

All of this will lead into an amazing Make Music Now Launch Party on August 31st at Parkfield Torbay with an all day line up of amazing bands, workshops and we're hoping the wonderful WI will bring their stall to keep us all in tea and cake.

From then there will be music workshops in each town every week as well as opportunities for performance and recording, gigs and festivals.

So come along and tell us how you want it to be!

MAKE MUSIC NOW - it's time.

Make Music Now is a new music project in Torbay. For years now we've been banging on about how getting young people to make the music they are into will hook them into music making and all the other benefits that come from doing that. 

Up until now, not many people have been listening - even with the seriously loud noise that leaks out from our workshops and performances.

This year though, we're being funded by Youth Music to run two projects over two years. 

Songstress, in partnership with Agatha's Closet will work just with young women. It recognises that those teenage years are really tough on girls and they need activities which boost their confidence, get them thinking about their identity and raise the bar on their aspirations and what they can achieve. We think making music with other young women, creating, playing and performing will go along way to get them thinking about bright sparkling futures. 

Make Music Now is going to be our flag ship brand. We think embracing youth culture is really important when you're working with young people. Gone are the days when you can tell young people what to do and have them get on and do it with no say in what happens. We recognise music underpins that culture. It influences how young people dress, speak, hang out and relate to the world. That has to be captured and used so we can work effectively with them. We say music is a collection of sounds you put together in a way you like; its not about genre. Its a project that explores new skills to make music so any young person can learn how to make the music they want to make and gains the courage and confidence to try new ways of putting it together. 

Both of the projects are going to be youth led. They'll roll out to the 3 towns in Torbay and get as many young people from as many places and communities together. There are launches, tea and cake (which we're really looking forward to!) roof raising performances and loads of opportunities for young people to tell us how it should be. Workshops will happen weekly, and we will be training up young people and community volunteers to be the music leaders of the future so it all doesn't have to stop just because the money has. 

If you'd like to get involved - email us at futureshores@btinternet.com.

Website coming soon!