:Title: Is Music any use for International Development? :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2008 03:25:34 PST :URL: http://www.ned.com/group/nigeria/news/4/ John Powers prompted me to develop a thread on this subject and I hope a few people find it stuck out in the cobwebby Kaduna thread, I started. In the NED Meet and Greet I claimed to be a musician, with a bit of talent. I have been playing piano since I was 3 and I played trombone to a decent standard. I played professional piano on a cruise ship and was also pianist for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra for a short time 20+ years ago. I also studied composition under Oliver Knussen in my teens at the Royal College of Music. I'm not a technical player, nor am I particularly well qualified in music, but I know I am quite exceptional as a musician. I'm a jazz musician mainly and although I am interested in world music, I'm nowhere near an expert in this field and would struggle to support in anything other than the basics in this area. All this means nothing really, because if you have a talent and don't use it very much, then why have it? Currently I play infrequently in jazz groups and I no longer musically direct any shows. When I went to Nigeria last year to my chagrin I was unable to do any music at all, other than a brief pressured ten minutes on the Butterfly Project (see the other thread). Nigeria has a number of gospel choirs and there is a massive desire to create vocal music. One of the reasons I guess is the dearth of musical instruments out there and in lack of reliable electricity for keyboards, amps and the like. The choirs I heard were enthusiastic, but not very creative and the few musicians there did not impress. I apologise for the comment here - it's not a criticism, simply a comparative judgement and nothing sparked me, that I saw and I did not have much time on this subject, so my experience was limited. I do know, however, that there is a uniqueness to the style, which is interesting, but this is more often "tainted" by overseas styles. The rural education system isn't going to mend soon in Nigeria, so I doubt that musicianship is going to improve overnight. Some singers use backing tracks and one in particular did a very good job, although the track she chose was pretty awe-inspiring! I talk about all of this, because I want some ideas about how I can use my ability as a musician and social entrepreneur to develop a project to make a difference. I've explored the possibility of training up gospel choirs (Christians, naturally), which is a possibility, and I have developed a concept we call the "Streetkids Theatre Company", which local government seem keen to support. The type of theatre I am considering is musicals and it is designed more for an outreach to bring the young streetbeggars (mainly Muslims) into doing something positive and encouraging them back to school. Those who follow what I'm doing know that I am pretty new at this and I am ready to learn what works in Africa. So, there we have it, at least for starters. Can anyone help by posting good links, ideas or good practice or simply a hello on the Kaduna group! ---- **Comments** :Author: John Powers :Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:44:57 PST Wow Ben there's a lot to you post. And as unusual what it prompts in my mind is a little off topic. On TV here in the US for many years--over 30--there was a children's program called `Mister Roger's Neighborhood`_. The show was intended for 4-6 year olds and was slow paced. As my mother might say, "about the right speed." But the quiet Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers, was viewed with suspicion by some adults. It was as though his television personality didn't conform to American masculine types. But Fred Rogers knew his audience was children and really did know how to talk to them; and kids understood. Rogers worked with some of the most renown experts on child development and was himself an expert. He also studied music in school and wrote over 200 songs for the show. His wife is a concert pianist. The show was produced here in Pittsburgh and I know quite a few people who worked on the show. What made me think about Mister Rogers and you was the music director for the show. `Johnny Costa`_ was an accomplished Jazz pianist. He was also a family guy, so after making a stab at his musical career in the mid-1950's and early sixties decided he really wanted to live without travel and the limelight. When he was approached for the Mister Roger's show he was pretty skeptical. Fred Rogers had given him the music he'd composed for the show's opening. On the set while stuff was being moved around Costa began improvising on the theme and Rogers told him to play it just like that. Fred Rogers never wanted to dumb down the music, he respected kids too much. So for hundreds of shows Costa and his trio performed the opening "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" live while Fred was singing, and never the same way. They also performed the music throughout the show and made the sound effects. I went to YouTube to see if I could find some examples. (Don't feel you need to link to any of these videos.) This first video is simply Mister Rogers saying `goodbye`_ after the final taping of the show. Here's the `opening`_ of one of the shows. Those videos give a flavor for the show. If you search Mister Rogers on YouTube, at least half are spoofs. There is something about him that brings out the kid and cloacal humor in people. This `mashup`_ of segments from shows with some records Mister Rogers made in the late 60's is quite creative and creepy. But Fred Rogers wasn't creepy and kids react very positively to the shows. Going through some of the segments uploaded to YouTube, basically looking for some examples of Johnny Costa's musical genius, what impressed me was how rich and varied the artistic offerings were, for example here's `Andre Watts`_. I really didn't find good examples to share about Costa's playing. It's embedded in the show, throughout. But something that shows the music had an impact are videos of people playing stuff from the show. Here's the `trolley`_ sound. And here's a guy `messing around`_ beginning with the trolley and then the intro to the beginning song. For an awful lot of Americans Mister Rogers' songs are embedded on their brain. But also is the idea that song are never exactly the same. Imagine, Johnny Costa thought of himself as a real Jazzer, and he certainly was, but spent most of his career making music for a children's show. He was inspired to make it as beautiful and right as could be. The very long-winded and off topic ramble is to make what point? Well first I think about the idea that music is the international language. I think that is true. But music is also one of the primary ways in which we as people differentiate ourselves, marking all sorts of boundaries. I found of something `Pete Seeger`_ said: "Songs are tricky things, they can cross borders." There is something in the example of Johnny Costa's music making crossing borders by being true to music and not playing to people's presumptions. If music is the international language, we have to let the music speak. But there are all sorts of cultural issues. `Daniel Bareboim`_ and La Scala performed in Ghana for the 50th Anniversary celebrations. Lots of wringing of hands about the $500,000.00 it cost to bring them all there. People asked whether there wasn't a better way to spend the money? The question rather bugged me. As Ben points out, talent is rare. I don't for a moment think that lack of talent should prevent people from making music! But I do think that great talent and accomplishment is something to be celebrated. would a half a million dollar donation for charity been a better way to honor Ghana? Perhaps, but I don't think necessarily so. There are so many great programs which make music and culture come alive in developing countries. I do hope that people will share stories and links here. There are a couple I'll offer tonight and then shut up. The first is the `Kampala Music School`_. By now you've probably gathered that I'm always full of ideas. The problem is I can never tell if the ideas are good ones or not. There are many reasons why American Jazz started in New Orleans, or maybe better to say there are many streams which fed the birth of Jazz. One thing that happened was the Spanish American War. It was a war built on the propaganda of yellow journalism. The American engagement in the Philippines is a long and sad story, but as far as the imperialism in the Spanish Caribbean the fanfare was over fairly fast as these things go. And as a result a shipload of army band instruments found their way into New Orleans schools. Riffing off that idea, and trying to think of ways that ordinary people could make a difference for good for not too much money I came up with an idea: Harmonicas for Africa. Workable harmonicas are $5 or less and I thought that thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people through small donations could flood the continent with harmonicas. Okay, so I know Harmonicas for Africa is not such a great idea. But it's through that idea that I became acquainted with the Kampala Music School. You see, that school came about through the more ambitious idea of Pianos for Africa. The idea of making instruments more available is basically a sound idea. `Samite`_ is an Ugandan musician in the USA. He's formed an organization called `Musicians for World Harmony`_. These grass roots organizations never are able to do really big things. But lots of small efforts do make something big. For me watching the video at the site and seeing children with instruments presented to them simply fills me with joy. There are many wonderful programs to show. But as promised, I'll shut up for now. .. _`Mister Roger's Neighborhood`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Rogers'_Neighborhood .. _`Johnny Costa`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Costa .. _`goodbye`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcvRMHz4mb4 .. _`opening`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmNQ5VgFAfc .. _`mashup`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3yZjb_O-M .. _`Andre Watts`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq_ea5RgvOI&feature=related .. _`trolley`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j38phJHgBhA .. _`messing around`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXmuc1s6TpA .. _`Pete Seeger`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Seeger .. _`Daniel Bareboim`: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6592317.stm .. _`Kampala Music School`: http://www.kampalamusicschool.com/ .. _`Samite`: http://www.samite.com/ .. _`Musicians for World Harmony`: http://www.musiciansforworldharmony.org/ ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:23:47 PST Wow, John, those links are interesting. You've certainly captured my view that music currently fed to children is far too dumbed down right now - just look at "The Simpsons" to see how music should be done and how kids lap it up. It looks like their idea of a new musical (and visual) opening for every show came from Mr Rodgers! No time to respond properly right now, but I will later on. ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 05:11:41 PST Ok, I will try to respond on this. I've been thinking about this the last couple of days, hence my lack of response. My focus is on developing a social enterprise, rather than running an educational project. My personal objectives of bringing money into rural Africa to economically infuse are paramount. I think a SWOT analysis is probably what is needed, so here is a go at it: STRENGTHS: - Massive enthusiasm for music and, in particular, song - Local pride in cultural heritage - Not much competition globally for African Arts - Me - someone who can assess talent quickly and easily and, if necessary, provide backing. - High quality NGO WEAKNESSES: - Lack of local training and, in most cases, professionalism of output - Lack of utilities, recording studios and equipment - Lack of internet for selling and playing back - Political instability - Lack of clearly-defined indigenous music (i.e. sheet music) - "Trust" issue OPPORTUNITIES: - World enthusiasm for supporting African projects - World enthusiasm for indigenous African music - song and rhythm - Massive on-line music community - Tapping talent will bring new global African stars - Original printed music sales locally THREATS: I'm going to leave these out:) So, to tackle this project, we will need: A recording studio - needs building or hiring A very good internet connection - must be possible Fundraising - Me Project Marketing - possibly a competition (and prizes)- NGO have already planned something similar A centre - we have SKaRDIA in Kachia, but it needs lots of renovation - for people to rehearse and meet A methodology and channel for acquisition and distribution of equipment (instruments/recording etc.) - my focus would be on keyboards and bass guitars (and possibly drums) provided with solar powered amps. Other instruments can come later. A "youth" arm for "up and coming" talent, with attendant trainers - link to Butterfly Project. A "polishing" arm to upgrade the existing talent and musical material to a marketable status overseas. This is less about commercialism than quality of production, musicianship and material, as we have a niche product. A sustainability plan - this will come from levies on sales, fundraising, recording and rehearsal fees, local government support An implementation plan and project manager It's all very general at the moment, but any comments/advisal of ommissions would be appreciated. Would it attract funding, do you think? ---- :Author: Allison Coyne Carroll :Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:19:39 PST Ben, Thanks for posting this. I think there is a tremendous potential for community building through music. I've seen it happen again and again through my life. I have a music ed. degree, have been a symphony chorus manager, and work for a visiting artist series. When asked "Why do you do what you do? (wdydwyd)" my answer remains "because for me, every performance feels like world peace; achieved in 2 acts, with a 15 minute intermission." Just see `my profile`_ for more info. Here is a recent `NYTimes article`_ that might be of interest to you. *America’s Music* *Shared Song, Communal Memory* By BEN RATLIFF Published: February 10, 2008 "From Hawaii to the Philadelphia suburbs, community sings, or singalongs, draw together the average-voiced and bring old songs into common memory." (See the `NYTimes article`_ for more.) .. _`my profile`: http://www.ned.com/user/u983740906/ .. _`NYTimes article`: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/arts/music/10ratli.html?ex=1360386000&en=4ce71090aab0cc4b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 04:17:38 PST Thanks, Allison - that's a really interesting and thought-provoking article. Putting together a choir to sing non-sacred songs in Nigeria might well be a way of crossing the religious divide, but I wonder whether people would come to it, with the religious zeal that people feel over there. I hope they would. The article made me want to cheer at some points and cringe at others. It's putting music as a mechanism for "inclusion", which I cheer about. I cringe when they say "scrap a song if it takes more than 45 seconds to learn." I couldn't run anything like that. It seems to ignore the "self development" desire that people like to have and the ability that improving in music has in developing self confidence. Maybe I am a bit zealous myself, but having been involved in lots of amateur shows I know the sense of achievement that people get from singing barbershop harmony for instance, when they have never done it before. Still, I think you are right - developing a community choir across religious divide is a wonderful idea and I will put it to NFI for their view. ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:40:18 PST :Modified: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:50:34 PST As usual I'm not thinking too straight. I already started one of my long rambles on this topic and deleted it. It's tough to put music and creative arts together with money. One of the very exciting things to me about the Internet is how it is both a read and write medium. Generally when people talk about the Internet for developing countries the tendency is focus on the read part and not the write part. For lots of reasons I find the write part far more interesting to talk about. Of course one of the big challenges in developing countries is that electricity is scarce. This really is a challenge at both ends: read and write. Paper is obviously one way to move stuff from and electrified online computer. Digital cameras, UBS sticks, and MP3 players are also ways to interact between devices. MP3 players are quite cool. And one way that I believe they can be especially effective connectors between the Web is that a tiny radio transmitter can be attached so they can be played on any radio. Also a microphone can be attached to many models so they can be recorders as well. I've also been impressed with the sound and video quality of these new toy videocams. One of my friends has several old radios. I've enjoyed listening to his MP3 player on a variety of his radios. One of the most fun times was sitting in his backyard around a fire listening through an old miniature transistor radio. The point of this is we tend to think about music publishing in the broadcast model--you know the next Beatles or something like that. But even in the West the music publishing model is changing. And I believe it does pay to look at the `longtail`_. It's possible with computer software for amateurs to create programming without a mixing board. Most bands nowadays never see the insides of the studio but publish recorded music for others to hear using their home computers. I can envision micro-local "radio" programing distributed via MP3's where there's a mix of music and information presented. And with a mike on the MP3 the potential for interaction. For example a salon or other venue might have a weekly program, or churches might. Where is the money? Well there are some approaches, nobody will get rich, but they might sustain them over time. But in the main the content will be created for the love of creating and sharing. My thoughts aren't very straight, and I'm old enough that I should have learned by now not to run my mouth. Tonight I watched some YouTube videos of Sacred Harp music. An example `here`_. Sacred harp is also called shape note singing. It was named that after a book of music written in the mid nineteenth century. The music is noted with shapes--sometimes four shapes (fa sol la mi). It's an interesting `musical form`_ and `practice`_ (those links may be reversed). What interests me is that I think this music could jump borders. Generally the first round is sung using fa la sol mi and then the second round the words. But singing without the words is handy for cross language and even cross religious purposes. Words could be added to the tunes by locals. This type of singing is just for fun. It's a popular recreation in some circles. Of course the great thing about sacred harp is no electricity or instrument are needed. Here is a very beautiful example of sacred harp sung by a small ensemble, `Wonderous Love`_. Edit: fix link .. _`longtail`: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html .. _`here`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCC4Nrvvw0 .. _`musical form`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCC4Nrvvw0 .. _`practice`: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Harp .. _`Wonderous Love`: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKbH6Dga3zo ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 04:50:35 PST :Modified: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:24:11 PST Many thanks for this, John. It's a personal thing, but modal music doesn't interest me, not because it isn't good, but because I believe in "the challenge" and the power of "harmony". I taught youngsters with little knowledge of music to sing songs like "Rhythm of Life" and the adults struggled with and semi-mastered most of the songs from "Cats". When I worked on Scout shows, I avoided Ralph Reader, because I felt it lacked musicality and the power of good harmony. To me, if this harmonic interest isn't present, then the music isn't complete. As I say, I am a bit of a zealot in this respect. You asked me, John, about the music I like and so let me give you a little taster of some harmonically interesting stuff (I'll see if I can find links): Pretty much anything by Delius, but especially the Cello Concerto Michael Brecker (the world's greatest ever saxophonist) with a string orchestra (Cityscapes CD) - but I have a wonderful Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NGAAbpqj5M - it brought me to tears, knowing Mike is dead now - Don't miss this! Brecker again with some jazz fusion with Don Grolnick's "Pools", a number I play in my band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5OX3xXAx2U&feature=related Bill Evans - anything - the "changemaker" of jazz piano - it's very introspective, but here is something he wrote performed not long before he died: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSf5RTy70FI Grieg lyric pieces - Nocturne is a favourite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24shW29Hv_A I am also a fan of the Schubert piano sonatas Milhaud - I love his bitonal compositions (where he writes in two keys at the same time), due to the harmonic exploration - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3HfPEL2kNk Le Boeuf sur le Toit is not the greatest example, but it is quite a fun piece Pretty much anything from the Simpsons - some of the music is really touching, but not this! It was so easy to enthuse the kids to sing music from their favourite programme, however hard it was! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPGDxv7bzwI a top version of the theme Your comment on mini mp3 players and recorders is an interesting one. I guess we could give them out as prizes and then offer musicians the chance to load up their material onto the web. There might be some money in it, if the quality is high enough. I'll take a couple out, if and when I go, to see what it produces. The language issue is an interesting one. English is the Nigerian national language, yet most rural people don't know many words at all. Rural schools are supposed to teach in it, but they don't. My personal view is that it may take a little longer, but learning songs in English has many potential benefits, including helping learning english. I was astonished how quickly the Butterfly kids picked up english and they desperately wanted to learn it. Anyway, I hope you like the clips... EDITED: due to omission! ---- :Author: Linda Nowakowski :Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:21:11 PST Ben, you are in the UK and I am in Thailand from America spending time with my Ugandan friends (one of whom is from America) so I don't think it gets much more international than that. You developed my evening into a relaxing time with this music when it was posed to be stressed filled ....I guess you just proved the power of music for international development! ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:31:53 PST Thanks, Linda - nice to find some common appreciators. If you like the first link, then Cityscapes has 45 minutes of similar style, which many regard as Mike's very best work. I still listen to it all the time... ---- :Author: Daniel R. Comeau :Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:19:28 PST Music has been used for many resources through the millenia of its existence. Currently, we find music availability to be somewhat nerve-racking for the recording industry. Music soothes the savage beast, so make use of it. Singing songs to learn math and other important topics in school is common from kindergarden through to adult life. Memorizing music notes...Every good boy deserves fudge, etc.... Annie Lennox has a channel on You Tube and is currently in South Africa teaching the women to have a voice and "Sing". I am a subscriber to Annie's channel and find that she is making amazing headway into teaching women to make use of the music and their voices to harmonize rather than scream their needs to the world. Check her out by searching annielennox as one word. http://www.youtube.com ---- :Author: Mark Grimes :Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:27:12 PST You can also hear the song **Sing** here as well: http://www.songsofmassdestruction.info/annie_lennox/en/ ---- :Author: John Powers :Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:25:49 PST Here's the `Sing`_ Web site. I really like efforts like this, but I'm not sure they provide a model of what African efforts should look like. I think Ben is a lot more realistic than I am. Looking at his posts collectively, not just on this thread, Ben demonstrates he's a systematic thinker. I think he has some good ideas about using music for development. But his ideas are quite different from what I'm talking about. So it's a bit of apples and oranges; where Ben is talking apples, I ought to be too, but end up talking oranges. One of my pet ideas is that what many call the `gift economy`_ has a role to play in development. One idea for development and music is to make money from publishing music. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, nice work if you get get it, but I wasn't really thinking along those lines. In the video of Musicians for World Harmony a director of an orphanage in Northern Uganda talks about three gifts music brings: Comedy: Music makes us feel glad. Tragedy: Music brings sadness, but along with it understanding of the human condition. Hope: Music allows us to envision and work towards the world we want. I think that it's a good thing that the information and communications technologies which allow so many to be producers of content make their way in developing countries. But how the content is shared will probably be different form ways in which we in the West have become accustomed. The challenge is to find ways to share widely, especially within communities, and secondarily with the global interactive Internet. That's why I find the Mp3 player to radio such an interesting technology. Mp3 players provide a great bridge for sharing content produced with technology, but relevant to local life too. In many countries low-power radio stations have been hugely popular, but also frequent targets of governments to shut them down. No doubt that the small radio transmitters which connect Mp3 players to radios can be made illegal. But the general distribution method seems harder to control than low-powered radio stations. People everywhere do want to share their lives and information with each other. So a challenge in development is to figure out means of doing this that aren't so costly and can be sustained. I'm not such a systematic thinker as Ben. I certainly appreciate that he isn't interested in sacred harp music. But I want to connect a few thoughts about why it interests me in this context. There are many amateurs who enjoy sacred harp singing. In this form there are no spectators, people come together to sing together. So there is an online culture of people into it. It's a form of music intended for amateurs, so it translates fairly easily. Clearly nothing I say will interest someone in something they aren't interested in. But it is conceivable to me that some people in Nigeria might enjoy coming together to sing sacred harp. Then there is an natural affinity with other sacred harp singers. LOL it's not such a great idea, but what I'm looking for are ways that people can connect which are not always, or primarily about money. My sense is that there are ways in which people's time and caring can be shared which are conducive to development. Actually finding those ways and putting them into practice is a bit taller an order. .. _`Sing`: http://www.annielennoxsing.com/sing.php .. _`gift economy`: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:58:07 PST Thanks for this (and the link to SING). I think we've observed from the discussions that there are two specifically different benefits from the introduction of music projects that we are exploring so far: a) Community development and conflict resolution I think this can be tackled in a variety of ways, which involve community music-making. The key focus for this will be "enjoyment and fun", "simplicity", "song", "many", "universal" A choir of some kind would be ideal, but it could also include dance, theatre, art even. Kaduna has a lot of choirs already of varying calibre, although there may be a way to broaden the horizons of an existing choir or develop a new one with a new perspective - sacred harp, perhaps. b) Economic infusion My particular interest in this area is because music when there is a value placed on it, the value is similar all over the world. A CD or DVD for instance will be £5-£15, assuming it is not pirated. Even when downloaded the costs of tracks are not much cheaper. Naturally £5 will buy me some fish and chips for 1 in the UK, but in Nigeria's rural areas, £5 represents two weeks income for a family, plus there's the economic circulation issue. There is no environment unfriendly transport to consider for the music, no language barrier, we all have the same ears, although they might be attuned differently and there is no less talent in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world, which to me is a critical aspect. It does have some banking issues, internet, education and technology issues to solve, but I think these can be joined up into the project. With regard to publishing, a colleague of mine makes his income in France from selling his compositions on the Sibelius web-site: http://www.sibeliusmusic.com/ Whilst traditional publishing from the past required contracts and commissioning, publishing through this "score writing" route opens the door to anyone capable of learning the Sibelius software, which I have to say is extremely easy. It's expensive software, but old versions can be purchased for less than £150. I think they do a schools version too, which is cheaper. I was also hoping that a swift letter to Sibelius may net us a few free copies, if we have a project to link them into. Stick an old version onto an old laptop - total £300 - give it to someone with some existing musical knowledge who writes songs or music on manuscript paper (may be hard to find someone) and they can upload their music to the Sibelius software for posterity every week. If they are making a fiver per download, then this seems like a cost effective investment. Add solar batteries and a panel to a low power computer and the costs goes up to maybe £1000, but then that equipment can be put into a rural location and Sibelius files can be passed across using USB drives onto the net, where the rural location has no net access. I've not fully researched the idea and clearly it needs testing, but it seems feasible. Naturally once there is a pool of score writers around, they can earn money themselves by passing on their knowledge. It's one of the projects that could be linked into the Butterfly project for young talent too. Any views? ---- :Author: David Bale :Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:01:17 PST Some great ideas here! Ben, I wonder if you've been watching the inspirational TV series on BBC2 on Friday nights: The Choir - Boys Don't Sing. It's about one man's mission to blow away the myth that, in the UK at least, it isn't cool for boys to sing at school. Now if you could get that man (Gareth Malone) on board with *your* project.... ---- :Author: Ben Parkinson :Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:56:53 PST Unfortunately I've missed both this programme on Fridays and tonight's programme on the Eco society, but have heard very good reports (on both). I'm awaiting NFI's agreement on the choir project at the moment, but I agree that the BBC could well be interested in featuring a programme in Africa with a similar title. Interestingly, boys don't seem to have any hang-ups about singing in Nigeria, so we'd have to pitch it somewhat differently. ---- :Author: Ndelo Peter :Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:57:27 PST many people are music and so music is so inspering, through music people learn different cultures. this can help for international development. I like this topic ---- :Author: Allison Coyne Carroll :Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:26:22 PST Sorry to drop back in mid-conversation, but I didn't want to forget to mention the `Creative Economy Initiative`_. It you are looking for funding or simply support from a local or government agency to support your program, the strongest argument to them is usually what it could do economically for the community. This resources can help with that argument. Check it out! .. _`Creative Economy Initiative`: http://www.creativeeconomy.org/ ----