Ways to wellbeing
The Radical Luddites (at this moment in time known as The Bad Bargain Band) were in full swing. Meeting every Tuesday morning, the group worked towards creating original material. Upcoming gigs remained a key driver, so when Jasmine Howard – a Ways to Wellbeing Coordinator for social action organisation York CVS – made contact to invite the band to perform at York Festival of Ideas for an event considering social isolation, the group said yes. This invitation was pertinent for two reasons. First it was timely. In the weeks preceding the invitation, band members had requested more performance opportunities to showcase their new tracks. Second, it was an appropriate performance platform since band member Sinbad came to know about Tang Hall SMART through Ways to Wellbeing. Sinbad also featured in a short film documenting the work of Ways to Wellbeing that was to be shown at the event. It felt particularly important to hear from Sinbad, not just on screen, but in person – so within the band’s set, he performed a powerful solo spoken word piece which connected to the event theme and later participated in a Q&A with the audience.
Video made by an audience member at The Bad Bargain Band's York Festival of Ideas performance, Ways to Wellbeing event, June 2018, York, UK.
Performing at York Festival of Ideas presented as a critical incident on two fronts. First was the get in. As the event took place in a neighbouring community centre gymnasium, all instruments and amplification equipment required was to be transported from Tang Hall SMART’s base a short journey away. In my professional practice this was something that I, or the organisation I was working with, would usually set-up in advance of participant arrival. However, at the time of this gig I was pregnant and avoiding strenuous lifting. In addition, Graham had prearranged annual leave, so there was an unavoidable stepping back. All members of the group were involved in loading cars, lugging gear into the space and unpacking. I remember feeling quite concerned about this, particularly with regards to some band member’s health and found myself in a quandary between a responsible check in and being patronising. I also wondered whether involving participants in this part of the process was the ‘right’ thing to do. Was this, for example, some kind of overstepping of boundaries? Or could my previous facilitator approach to set-up be understood as a positioning of participants as client or junior to have things done for not with, leading to their undermining, alongside missing a teaching and learning opportunity, both of which may contribute to disempowering practice?
On this occasion, the get in as collaborative effort seemed to strengthen a felt sense of band between members; they were doing it, making it happen, owing it. Discussion during this process about ‘making it big’, having ‘techies’, and having to play a lot of gigs before reaching that point, were testament to this. On reflection, this moment highlighted the significance of ownership of both music made (as in the tracks), and ownership of the mechanisms involved to make music, such as negotiated group rehearsal processes, negotiated performances, and now logistics in terms of transporting gear and setting up. As band members took on more responsibility this was perhaps their way to wellbeing, individually and collectively.
The second way in which the York Festival of Ideas performance presented as a critical incident, was through a palpable buzz at the end of the event. After performing the energy was high. Band members congratulated one another, there were smiles and backs patted. Unlike previous gigs where band members were unsure of their performance, this gig was recognised and celebrated as good. If the performance at Orb’s Feva Festival had sparked the becoming of a band, this event seemed to turbocharge it. There was a sense that the success of this performance was evidence that the band could do more, could go professional. I enjoyed this moment, but was also reminded of a persistent troubling. I wondered, what is the fitting balance between supporting and encouraging growth in participant confidence alongside appropriately addressing expectations? And, within an interventionist frame, to what extent can the aim of my practice be, as Kathryn Deane has articulated, ‘to write [my]self out of the script’ (2008, p.306)? And is this indeed possible within an interventionist framework necessary for the current music making ecology?
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Thank you to Dougie for joining us in lieu of Graham.
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References:
Deane, K. (2008). ‘The ethical community musician’. Sounding Board, (1), 9–11.