Sound It Out has a strong reputation for providing relevant and quality training and development opportunities for musicians and those involved in delivering music work in both educational and community settings. We have an annual programme of ‘core’ training courses but also understand that musicians benefit from more bespoke courses and creative/ experiential opportunities allowing them to meet and reflect on experiences with other musicians.
2008 saw some exciting developments within Sound It Out’s Training & Development strand, including an expansion into regional delivery.
Musical Forté? was a new training programme delivered in partnership with Staffordshire Performing Arts. Musical Forté worked with Key Stage 2 non-specialist music teachers to develop their confidence in teaching music within the classroom and in working with community musicians. Feedback from teachers about the impact of this new initiative was excellent and, as a result, the programme is due to run again specifically in Rugeley from early 2009.
Additionally, Sound It Out continues to deliver our successful New Horizons professional development training course in instrumental and vocal teaching. The course is for proficient community musicians and performers from diverse cultural backgrounds and has been developed to provide knowledge and awareness of working within the formal education sector. Delivered and developed in Birmingham (in collaboration and with the support of Birmingham Music Service) over the past 8 years, this programme has now expanded regionally in partnership with local Music Services and Business Link West Midlands (see projects links for further details and course application information).
Finally, in 2008 Sound It Out began delivery of our VOLume project (VOLunteering Using Music to Engage), with funding from v (the national volunteering organisation) and Youth Music. VOLume is a volunteering programme for young people aged 16-25 and aims to increase the diversity of young people volunteering and increase the range of volunteering opportunities available to young people. VOLume includes training and support for Peer Mentors and provides other volunteering roles within the organisation. Further details can be found within our Youth section.
Please get in touch for further information about our Training & Development strand, or to request an application pack for any of our courses.