Love Culture & Steeldrumbands VS Disability (pilot)

In England, 1.3 million blind and special needs children and young people (15% of pupils) face related difficulties in their lives at home, in education, and socially.

Naturally these children often suffer from low self-esteem and lack a sense of achievment.

We have teamed up with local steel drummers from Steeldrumbands.co.uk to, through fun and accessible Caribbean steel and African drumming workshops, improve the self-belief and confidence of our special children, encouraging them to have positive expectations, and pride in achievement. The music workshops will encourage the children to better understand themselves and what they are capable of, to help them reach their full potential in every aspect of their lives.

- Dr Alexandra Lamont - Lecturer in the Psychology of Music at the University of Keele

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How will it work?

* The music workshops will take part in a group scenario, helping the children to develop team-work skills by teaching them to play together in harmony

* Learning and practising together, and working towards a common goal will help boost confidence, and encourage the children to socialise and mix well with others

* Making music and achieving goals together, children can feel very satisfied and this can greatly improve their self-esteem

* Succeeding in activities usually reserved for more able children will encourage participants to realise that they can achieve as much as the other children

The Workshops

Lasting 45 minutes in total, a workshop will cater for up to 12 children and young people.

Our aim is to raise enough money to conduct 18 workshops, reaching out to over 200 children local special schools.

These 18 workshops are part of a pilot project to measure and prove the success of the programme, so that we may apply for government funding and funding from charities such as Children in Need, to do the project on a bigger scale.