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Asian Songbook

The Asian Songbook project has collected and preserved songs while there are still people around who can remember them from their native land.

These songs are for all children in Oldham so they can learn songs from the variety of cultures that make up our community.

These songs are from Pakistan or Bangladesh, rather than translations of British nursery rhymes.

The songs have been collected aurally, which means there may be regional variations.

Songsheets, lyrics and classroom activities

Bronchial Boogie

Bronchial Boogie was a project for asthmatic children that aimed to improve respiratory health and raise self-esteem in asthmatic children.

Bronchial Boogie provided asthma education, breathing exercises, wind instrument tuition and brought the children together for mutual support.

Six primary schools and one Children’s Centre were involved. During the sessions a trained asthma nurse and instrumental teachers worked with small groups of children.

The Bronchial Boogie project has achieved national acclaim and the results have been encouraging. Children demonstrated improved respiratory health, fewer sleepless nights, better school attendance, greater self esteem and increased ability to join in sporting activities.

The project was a partnership between Oldham Music Service and Oldham PCT.

Drumming Down Dyspraxia

The Drumming Down Dyspraxia project explored ways in which percussion work and movement to music might help children with Dyspraxia.

Dyspraxia is a learning disability where the information needed to perform movement is often not processed or fully understood by the brain. It affects around 10% of the population.

Oldham Music Service percussion staff and a Dalcroze Eurhythmics specialist teacher developed a series of workshops which took place every week over an 18-month period.

Although only a short project the results were very promising - read more in the Pilot Project Report below.

The project was funded by the Arts Council and involved the Music Service in partnership with the Physiotherapy Unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital, FDK (Fantastic Dyspraxic Kids) parental support group, and a Paediatric Occupational Therapist.

Hands and Voices

Hands and Voices uses songs and music to teach sign language (Signalong) to nursery and reception children to help their language development.

Hands and Voices teaches a standard set of signs and gestures so that teachers and support staff use the same ones.

Putting the signs to music uses both sides of the brain and so helps children (and staff) remember them.

Each session includes songs, instruments and listening to music and is linked to topics or to general classroom words.

This approach is especially suitable for nursery and reception classes who have some children with little or no spoken English, or who have children with language delays.

Hands and Voices is now used in a number of schools in Oldham.

Hands and Voices started as an action research project, funded by Youth Music, in two schools/nurseries.

Linking Project music workshops

Linking Project music workshops is designed to increase tolerance and build community cohesion.

The workshops involve children from schools with different ethnic backgrounds being brought together at the Music Centre to make music.

Each workshop has a specific theme such as space, animals or celebrations and the children sing songs and listen to music.

Children work with a movement teacher, the Soundbeam, and percussion instruments to create their own musical composition.

Every workshop finishes with a playground clapping game to encourage the children to integrate and ensure they have something in common when they next meet.

The project is a partnership between the Minority Ethnic Achievement Team and the Music Service. It is part of the Schools Linking Project.

Soundbeam Project

The Soundbeam kit is an ultrasonic device which produces a variety of sounds by reacting to movement - even movement as small as the blinking of an eye.

Originally created for dancers, the Soundbeam has been developed to be used with children who have special needs, particularly those with limited or poorly controlled physical movement.

Music Service staff have undertaken training in the use of the Soundbeam as a tool for creative music making and each year the kit is used in different settings both at the Music Centre and in schools.

The Soundbeam has also been used by pupils in the compositional elements of GCSE examination courses.