A FundaMental Health Music Mentoring Services
Providing Music Production and Songwriting Sessions for Hospitals and In Reach Patients,
Community Programs, Service Users and Commercial Recording Artists.
* Music Production Sessions offer one-on-one songwriting and recording, musical
collaboration, singing and rapping, creative and musical mentoring and finished
mixed and produced tracks.
* Music Performance Sessions include open mic group sessions, one-on-one singing
sessions, and overcoming nerves and performance anxiety
* The Music Workshops include beat making and music programming, songwriting, and performance.
* Up to date approved DBS.
Do The Mic Thing in Youth Services
DTMT provides a music mentoring programme with young people in half term and summer camps providing positive songwriting, music production and recording sessions across West London.
This year DTMT has worked with The Dalgarno Trust, London Sports Trust, Rugby Portobello Trust and The Harrow Club with a creative space for young people to navigate mental health issues in the creative process of a music studio.
DTMT at London Sports Trust Summer Camp (Canalside)
The young people create the beat, the music and write their own lyrics with the support of myself.
As a group, they find a common subject that they can all write about and relate to. the process allows young people to express their thoughts and feelings in their generation.
Young people are encouraged to write music and lyrics that are true to their lives and write about their hopes and dreams. It's only natural that young people are inspired by their favourite music artist or genre of music.
For instance, some young people feel the need to copy and emulate what they hear in the current Drill music culture but at Do The Mic Thing we discuss the mental health issues in the genre of violence, misogyny, drug use and the moral implications of what is being said in records to the listener. You are what you eat and words have feelings to. We emphasise care in how we use words and in songwriting and the story teller has a responsibility to explain themselves as either fact or fiction but understand the affect their song may have on young influential minds.
At DTMT we encourage music collaboration with young people and that music is not a competition.
The music industry has created reality tv shows like X Factor and the Voice pitting artist against each other rather than working together. Music is a shared experience where we develop our ideas and talents together.
There are more solo artists than there are bands today because computer music production is more accessible to everyone, with music software’s on our mobile phones, tablets and computers.
Young people working together on their music builds confidence and a collective support of each other, they are able to find solutions to problems and build respectful relationships where everyones opinion is valid towards a shared goal.
Listen to the finished song......
DTMT at The Dalgarno Trust Half Term & Summer Camp Sessions
DTMT has delivered sessions at Dalgarno Youth Club Half Term and Summer Term programmes for the last 3 years.
The young people have developed their songwriting and recording skills and have found their voice to articulate life as a child and what the Dalgarno and holidays mean to them.
Supporting Each Other
To make a record, its important to create a team or group that supports one and other. By finding a common theme to write about, the group are able to relate to each other and share ideas on he subject with the aim of making a good record. The young people help each other with finding rhyming words and practice their vocal delivery and timing of the words.
Doing The Mic 🎙Thing
For some young people, the first time they hear their voice on the mic can be a little strange. it can take a little time to get use to what you think you sound like and the reality.
I relax young people on the mic by letting try out lots of vocal effects and generally have fun on the mic with reverbs and delays.
Music is for Everyone
The young people can all take part. The can sing, they can rap or they can make beats and get involved in the music production. My job as a Music mentor and Music Producer is bring discipline and structure to their thought process and to make sure they are enjoying themselves.
The proof is in the listening here is some of the music made with the Dalgarno Youth Club.
The Rugby Portobello Trust
Do The Mic Thing was at Rugby Portobello Youth Club's Summer programme and had worked with some fantastic young people from aged year 6-8. They created the basic drums and sample hook for the track and wrote a wonderfully catchy chorus. Their little minds put together a song about 'Bad Days'. The song is based around 7 days in a young persons life with each young person given a specific day to rap about from Monday morning to Sunday morning.
The young people were full of creative endeavour and each week they would spend all day with me in the studio enjoying the creative environment. Listen to the end result......