Five years in Japan: Some questions and answers
In this post, Ben shares key questions to ask when taking on a long-term workforce development programme, based on learning from Drake Music’s five-year partnership with Kawasaki City and the […]
Ben Sellers’s blog
Five Approaches to Inclusive Improvisation
The Community Music Gods were smiling on the day that we were invited by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and British Council Japan to return to Kawasaki, a city just south […]
Working in Japan – From student’s heart to conductor’s baton
In this piece, Ben Sellers shares methods for collaborative composition with pupils with additional needs, discusses how to avoid tokenism, and describes how to use video to support pupils to […]
Music:Response // Eight ways that MEHs can support specialist schools’ music provision without ‘being in the room’.
At its best, creative music-making in special schools is collaborative, multi-sensory, visceral, connected. A container in which each person in the room can express their truth in any given moment, […]
22 Tips for Inclusion & Accessibility in Music Education
Following on from my last blog – Two approaches to musical inclusion – here are some practical tips that I find maximise participant engagement. Additions, revisions and questions most welcome […]
Inclusive Music Making – 2 approaches
“I am preparing a music project for young people with additional needs. I am not sure what to expect, what success looks like, or how to plan sessions. I have […]
Top 5 iPad Apps for accessible music making
Great apps for use in music-making, opening up access to music.
‘Inspire, support, agitate and share’: Reflections on Drake Music & Exchanging Notes
The first year of our Youth Music funded Exchanging Notes project was ambitious, involved many unknowns and experiments, yet was a real success in terms of participant enjoyment, learning outcomes, […]
Sharing Practice Fast: DIY Video Lesson Plans
My time at Drake Music, visiting schools of all shapes and sizes, has consistently demonstrated the following: 1. There is always something to learn from watching a classroom teacher or […]
#DM20 Commission – The Day of the Music
As a musician and workshop leader with an understanding of music as a process, a state of mind, and a tool for growth, I believe that focussing too much on the ‘final product’ of a project can sometimes be counter-productive.
