Can playing in an Indonesian percussion orchestra help people who’ve been unemployed for years to build confidence and get more work-ready?

Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire District Jobcentre Plus piloted an extraordinary programme this October with 20 long-term unemployed clients, 78% of whom considered themselves to have a disability or health condition. The group learnt to play an Indonesian tuned-percussion orchestra (called a Gamelan) from scratch, culminating in a live performance and production of a professionally-produced CD at the end of the week. 75% of participants completed the full course.

This Department for Work and Pensions’ Flexible-Support-Funded pilot tackled a stubborn problem in the Hastings area; that despite unemployment rates falling, many long-term unemployed people remain far from the labour market.

The programme was delivered by national charity Good Vibrations, whose patron is Bill Bailey. JCP’s District Provision Manager, who went to the end-of-project performance, said: “It was a very positive visit, with much evidence shown by participants of distance travelled towards the labour market.”

Through learning to play Gamelan as a group, participants developed transferable skills, which will help them socially-participate more confidently; 88% of completers developed team-working skills and 71% developed communication skills. Most participants said they now feel more comfortable in group settings. A Work Coach commented: “The improvement in confidence is amazing. One guy never talked to anyone, except his wife before, and the way he spoke to the audience was incredible.”

Participants became more motivated and open to change by the end of the course: ”My new thing since Gamelan is to say yes. I have fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalitis, which cause chronic pain and a host of other symptoms. I get anxious travelling further than my local town, experiencing new things and meeting new people. The Gamelan course allowed me to overcome my fears. It helped me feel good about my abilities, instead of feeling useless. Since then I plan to do a Reiki course and have re-joined the local library, both of which are enormous steps for me.”

One man said the course helped him a lot; “I’ve been looking for positives – I’ve had a lot of tragedies recently.” 76% of completers said it improved their well-being, and 74% their resilience, which suggests the experience will support people to handle everyday challenges and set-backs better.

Last week’s Spending Review, showed the Government is focused on supporting people with disabilities and health conditions who have been unemployed for a long time, to return to, and remain in, work. It is introducing a new Work and Health Programme and a real terms increase in funding to support this area of work. Good Vibrations’ Gamelan programme has real potential to support this agenda nationwide, and has the added benefit of helping claimants to trust JCP more – “I was anti-Jobcentre, but now I’m pleased with it.”

To find out more about the pilot programme, please email Jane at info@good-vibrations.org.uk requesting a copy of the condensed project evaluation report.

London Jamelan

On Tuesday 15th December 2015, Good Vibrations is hosting the second of its musical improvisation extravaganzas, courtesy of the support and generosity of RCM Sparks at the Royal College of Music.

This will be a day of music-making open to everyone from past participants, professional musicians, students, complete novices to members of the general public.

The aims are:

  • To create some cutting-edge, eclectic music that fuses a multitude of styles and unlikely instrumentation combos
  • To raise money to sustain Good Vibrations’ impactful work with people with complex needs facing challenging circumstances
  • For Good Vibrations to make more new friends and contacts and to let them know all about our work and how they can be involved

It’s on from 1-7pm in the Royal College of Music’s Recital Hall. You can:

  • Get sponsored to do some non-stop improvising on the day
  • Drop in for an hour at any point for free (although voluntary donations would be gratefully received)
  • Come along to the concert and launch of 3 new pieces of academic research on Good Vibrations’ work (with sex offenders, older people and women) at 5.30pm

To find out more visit, https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1017455 or contact Greg, our wonderful volunteer Event Manager on volunteer@good-vibrations.org.uk.

 

We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

 

York Jamelan

On Wednesday 18th November, we are running a fundraising event at the University of York. It’s called Jamelan and it’s a fun, improvised, marathon, music-making day.

Sponsored players will work together over a 10 hour period to create an ever-changing soundscape with a variety of instruments and styles, focused around an Indonesian instrumental orchestra (Gamelan).

Participants can play for a minimum of one hour but are encouraged to play more! The event will run from 9am to 7pm in the University’s music department. At 6pm there will be a performance featuring the best of the day’s improvisational journey.

For more information about the event and how to take part, please have a look at our Jamelan fundraising website at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1017455. You can also set up your own fundraising profile.

If you would like to support us by attending this event or donating to it, please contact us at info@good-vibrations.org.uk.

We hope you can support us – or join us – for this amazing musical experience! All players, instruments and styles are welcome!

Annual General Meeting

We are holding our AGM on Thursday 22nd October at 6pm at our Head Office in London. If you would like to come along, please contact info@good-vibrations.org.uk.

This is an opportunity for us to present our Annual Report and Accounts. It will be followed by a Q&A session with staff and trustees attending. Refreshments will be provided.

Good Vibrations at the House of Commons

Good Vibrations was thrilled to be invited to the UK launch of the ASEAN Insight campaign and to celebrate the appointment of Richard Graham MP as Trade Envoy to the ASEAN Economic Community on the 29th September. We put on a chamber Gamelan performance to an invited audience of ambassadors and international business leaders.

The UK-ASEAN Business Council promotes trade between the UK and Southeast Asia, improves understanding of the business opportunities in the ASEAN region and gives practical advice to businesses.

Good Vibrations at Work – ‘stress release; bond with coleagues’

On 9th February we supported 15 teachers at a Barnet primary school to develop their creativity, leadership, communication, problem-solving and team-working skills through a Good Vibrations at Work Team-Building Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYFjnZ8yHnY

The feedback we got from participants about the day was:

• ‘Stress release; bond with colleagues.’
• ‘Made me think about team work and communication.’
• ‘Great to spend time as a team in a fun way.’
• ‘Enjoyed making music with other staff. Great to sit down and lose myself in the sound.’
• ‘Collaborative, creative, inclusive and non-threatening.’
• ‘Totally different from anything else we do together.’

Their thoughts on Malcolm, our facilitator:

• ‘Brilliant. Very clear and guiding in a safe and fun environment.’
• ‘Enjoyed his passion and enthusiasm.’
• ‘Excellent – really lovely teaching style.’
• ‘A highly motivating person.’

They said it had given them ideas to apply in their work to do with ‘listening and directing’, using ‘different mediums to communicate’ and ‘allowing a group to find its natural creativity without interfering too soon.’

Do get in touch with us (07535 145 797 or katy@good-vibrations.org.uk) if you’d like to find out more about having one of our Good Vibrations at Work days in your workplace.

 

Bill Bailey has come on board as our new patron

We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that Bill Bailey has come on board as our new patron.

Comedian, actor and musician, Bill Bailey has been one of Britain’s most influential celebrities of the 21st Century. With an eclectic career spanning three decades, he had a long-running captaincy on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, a breakthrough role in the ‘Black Books’ TV series in 2000, and was voted The 7th Greatest Stand-up Comic by Channel 4 in 2000 and 2010.

An accomplished musician and composer, “Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra”, had nationwide success in 2009 and used humour and popular music to make the orchestral world more accessible. He is passionate about environmental issues and has made recent documentaries, such as “Baboons with Bill Bailey” and “Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero”.

We are honoured that Bill agreed to become our patron in 2014, given his long-standing support of our work. Of Good Vibrations, Bill says:

“I think it’s a fascinating and worthwhile project … many aspects of it strike a personal chord with me. I have a strong connection with Indonesia – I’ve travelled there for many years and during one of these visits I was taught the basics of gamelan and played with a gamelan orchestra.


I’m drawn to the otherness of it, the strangeness and the fact that playing it is unlike any Western musical form. It ebbs and flows, has no real beginning or end, and while playing it I find the concentration required combined with the rippling sound is akin to meditation. It is relatively easy to start playing and get pleasing results, so I can see how it could provide a sense of achievement.”

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Photography by Toby Madden/The Independent, Osman Deen/South London Press, Camilla Panufnik, Elspeth Van Der Hole, GDA Design, Gigi Chiying Lam, G. Bland, Alan Bryden, Mark Carlin, Rachel Cherry, Francois Boutemy, Andy Hollingworth, Rebaz Yassin, and Guy Smallman.

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