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Is there an age restriction for anyone attending the workshop?

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No, though I am aiming the first workshop at children. For that reason, things are likely to go most smoothly if everyone's around the same age as they'll be working closely with one another, but it's more important that everyone's of the same approximate ability when it comes to their understanding of music theory. That said, it is important that anyone attending the workshop has a reasonable attention span, as there's a lot to squeeze in during the three days!

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If you are an adult and this sounds of interest to you, please do let me know. If there's the demand for it, I'm very happy to put on additional workshops. I'd love to be able to make this a yearly or twice-yearly event, and there's absolutely no reason that the workshop couldn't be tweaked a little to work equally well for adults.

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Are there any other restrictions?

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Only that anyone attending has passed grade three theory or above. However, even that's not a hard-and-fast rule. Anyone with a real passion and natural affinity to music is welcome. It doesn't matter whether you sing or play the flute, trumpet, violin, guitar or piano, etc. You just need to bring your instrument or voice along with you – unless you're learning the piano or drums.

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Does it matter where I'm based?

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No. If you or your child is interested, please do get in touch to let me know! I can't promise I'll be able to arrange workshops miles away from home in Sandy, Bedfordshire, but if there's enough interest from fellow musicians in the same area, then I would definitely not rule that out.


What kind of music will the students be writing?

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That's up to the students! There's a few reasons I chose film music as the foundation of the workshop, but perhaps the main reason is that it is an incredibly eclectic form of music with very few stylistic restrictions or presumptions. I suspect in all likelyhood it'll be an orchestral or instrumental track, maybe with some electronic and "hybrid" elements.

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Who will play during the recording sessions?

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I will make sure everyone on the workshop is involved in the performance and recording somehow. In terms of the professional musicians, that depends on what the students end up writing. I suspect it's likely to involve recording parts for instruments such as solo violin or cello, but if the students choose to write for theremin and cimbalom, I'll do my best to find some players! (I can't make any promises there, though.) This is part of the reason the workshop is unlikely to be arranged over three consecutive days, as I need to make sure there's enough time to arrange things appropriately for whatever each day's events may involve. I'd like the students to have some influence over the direction the workshop takes, at least musically speaking.

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Will each student have their own individual pieces recorded?

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Sadly, that isn't feasible. There's a lot to cover within the three days and I am consciously trying to keep the costs down as much as possible so anyone who's interested is able to attend. It will be a group composition, but I will make sure that everyone involved has equal input towards the piece. I won't allow anyone who's a little shy or quiet to miss out either, as I've had my fair share of being overshadowed over the years for that very reason, and I know how frustrating it can be!

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Won’t my child get bored with three days of music theory?

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No, that’s not in any way what they workshop is about. I understand that children typically find music theory boring, but that’s because of the way it is so often taught. A pupil’s instrumental or singing teacher will usually be responsible for “getting them through” music theory exams, and this is the fundamental problem. This is by no means a criticism of teachers, but rather the fact that there’s often so little time left to focus on theory that all you end up being able to do is go page by page working through the tuition books. I absolutely agree: that’s boring!

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Crucially, it’s not music theory itself that’s boring. In an ideal world, music theory would be taught practically, just as an instrument or singing is. Working through four pages on the rules of beat grouping? Pretty dull. Producing a part that’s well laid-out and clear to read at sight so that a real musician can come in and play/record your music? Exciting! Learning the circle of fifths parrot fashion so you know how many accidentals there are in B major? Useful, but not not very interesting. Using the circle of fifths to work out how you might harmonise a melody you’ve written? Motivating and fun! The students won't being learning music theory per se. It'll rather be the basics of composition techniques such as melody writing, motivic development, harmonisation, orchestration, voice-leading etc., which implicitly cover many areas of music theory.

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It’s the same with any subject, maths being another victim that typically suffers from very similar issues. I didn’t particularly enjoy maths at school because all I did was go from one SMP workbook to the next for four years, with the assumption that I’d be able to understand everything simply by reading the books. (I didn’t.) Now I find maths fascinating and I’ve got a lot better at it, if not only because I have friends who are maths graduates from Cambridge and Oxford who have explained things to me with real-world, practical examples and analogies. They’ve taught things to me in ten minutes that were simply taken for granted in four years of schooling.

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I have some more questions. Can I get in touch with you directly?

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Of course. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions at info@michaeleastwood.co.uk. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

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