Making Tracks project day 1

June 15, 2015July 21, 2015Leave a comment

Our eighth Making Tracks project started today and here is the moment where Holly, seen here with Helen (Making Tracks mentor) and Lorena (Open Academy Trainee), realised she had found the perfect line for her song!

Hermione spoke to her at the end of the day:

ITT: How did it go today, Holly?
Holly: I think today was amazing and I think I made it stronger with my voice. I can see how much higher I can go and what other talents I can use with my voice and I can obviously use it for the future.

ITT: How are you feeling about the gig?
Holly: Really excited – like REALLY excited!

ITT: What do you think people will think of the songs you’ve created?
Holly: They might get emotional or they might want to get up there and dance with us!

Please come along and support (and dance with!) the young people this coming Thursday, June 18th at 7pm. St Mark’s Kennington is opposite Oval tube.

One week until Making Tracks project

June 11, 2015July 21, 2015Leave a comment

Only a week to go before the next Making Tracks gig. Hermione, our Personal Development Manager, has been to meet some of the young people involved prior to the intensive project and sent back this report…

“Excitement is building ahead of the big gig next week! Here’s a sneak peek of some lyrics created by new band recruits today:

“Where’s the kindness gone?
We’re meant to say hello
Community’s what matters
But here the story goes.”

Come along and see how these lyrics develop and support a group of fantastic and brave young people in what is likely to be their first public performance! Thursday 18th June, 7pm, St Mark’s, Kennington, SE11 4PW. Opposite Oval station.

Next Making Tracks gig is Thursday June 18th – join us!

May 27, 2015Leave a comment

The next Making Tracks gig will be on Thursday 18th June, starting at 7pm, at St Marks, Kennington, SE11 4PW (opposite Oval station).

If you would like to attend, please email: hermione@irenetaylortrust.com

VISITING INFORMATION FOR ST MARK’S

Bus

Take one of the following buses to the ‘Kennington Church’ stop:

Camberwell/Vauxhall/Victoria: 36, 185, 436
Clapham: 155
Brixton: 3, 59, 133, 159, 333
Elephant: 155, 133, 333
Waterloo: 59, 159

Train

Take the Northern Line to Oval. St Mark’s is directly opposite when you come out of the tube station.

You can also go to Vauxhall (Waterloo mainline and Victoria line) if you don’t mind a 10 minute walk!

Photos from Making Tracks gig in March by Robert Mcelroy

March 26, 2015Leave a comment

Making Tracks gig “powerful and moving”

March 26, 2015March 26, 2015Leave a comment

Huge congratulations to all the young people who took part in the Making Tracks cohort 7 intensive week. 13 made it through to the project performance at St Mark’s, Kennington: Bradley, Che, Daniel, Emmanuel, Kevin, Jody-Ann, Maya, Nathan, Pedro, Perry, Safa, Samuel and Tolani.

The new band wrote four original songs over just four days. The gig also included two tracks by returning Making Tracks alumni Helen and A-Lanskey, who both took part in cohort 6. A-Lanskey performed a moving live lyric over a recorded backing-track, while Helen performed a beautiful song she had written during the week as part of her Arts Award Silver (having achieved an Arts Award Bronze when taking part in cohort 6), accompanied on the piano by Kat. The performance went down a storm at St Mark’s. Here’s a taste of the feedback received from the audience:

“Very powerful and moving lyrics and a great band. Hope to hear you again. Keep up the good work.”

“Loved it! You (participants) showed a lot of courage, I admire that. Amazing how you got the songs together, and right from the heart. It was an uplifting evening.”

“Amazing. Congrats. Keep making music!”

“Fantastic! Professional, exciting, committed and lots of other words too.”

“You were all, every single one of you, captivating and brilliant to watch.”

Special thanks to Helen for returning as a mentor for the intensive week – the project team were greatly impressed by her professionalism and she did a fantastic job supporting the new cohort – and also to St Mark’s for kindly providing the venue for the intensive project and performance.

Following the intensive project, the young people will now have the opportunity to engage in a series of special sessions to further explore music-making and hone their new skills, including an introduction to studio recording, vocal and lyric-writing sessions, and individual instrument lessons. Our project partner is the Prince’s Trust Fairbridge Programme, which provides a range of development opportunities to young people to complement Making Tracks.

You can hear some of the wonderful original music created on previous Making Tracks projects below by clicking on the Soundcloud icon.

Making Tracks gig in March

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015Leave a comment

Exciting news! The date of the next Making Tracks live performance has been confirmed as Thursday 5th March 7pm. The project venue has been kindly provided by St Mark’s, Kennington – details of how to get there are below.

We’d love you to join us to enjoy the brilliant original music written during the project week. You can hear examples of the high quality of original music created by the young people involved in Making Tracks here and see three short films made during a project here.

If you would like to attend, please email: hermione@irenetaylortrust.com

Making Tracks is kindly supported by:

The Wates Foundation

VISITING INFORMATION FOR ST MARK’S

Bus

Take one of the following buses to the ‘Kennington Church’ stop:

Camberwell/Vauxhall/Victoria: 36, 185, 436
Clapham: 155
Brixton: 3, 59, 133, 159, 333
Elephant: 155, 133, 333
Waterloo: 59, 159

Train

Take the Northern Line to Oval. St Mark’s is directly opposite when you come out of the tube station.

You can also go to Vauxhall (Waterloo mainline and Victoria line) if you don’t mind a 10 minute walk!

Special Christmas delivery from the Prince’s Trust

December 1, 2014February 3, 2015Leave a comment

Our team in the office at the Irene Taylor Trust were delighted to receive a special delivery from our Making Tracks partner The Prince’s Trust Fairbridge Programme today. Young people at the Kennington Centre made 1,500 in 2 days to share with the local community and project partners. Yum! Thanks guys!

A night to remember

September 5, 2014February 3, 2015Leave a comment

Last night was very special. Not only did our current cohort of Making Tracks participants put on a brilliant show with five original songs written since Monday morning, but their tracks sandwiched a special set from Sounding Out graduate Adrian Harrison, aka Tru Star (aka Fudge) celebrating his BBC Performing Arts Fund fellowship.

And what a celebration it was! As well as Adrian’s own fantastic material, on three songs he was joined by previous Making Tracks participants to perform songs he’s helped them to write/perform during his fellowship. Heritier, Chains (aka Shallise), Nirobi and Paradox (aka Terell) all truly shone. It was delight to see them again.

We’re feeling very proud of our very talented and fearless participants. They always go for it on ‘gig night’ and the results were just beautiful.