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Make it !

MAKE IT!        Fundamental to Boka Halat’s work is its education programme, covering singing, instrumental music (including drumming) and dance, all from a creative and intercultural perspective. It takes place with schools, colleges, community groups, amateur and professional participants.

For schools’ performances, (approx 75 mins. duration and suitable for larger numbers of students), all the presentation is interactive, involving students in singing, chanting and rhythm work.

A popular format is for two or three musicians to work for one or more days with various school and/or community groups, using material from the band’s performance repertoire, culminating in a show by the full band line-up with workshop participants joining them on stage for selected items. The show can be in the school or a local village hall or arts centre and box office receipts can, of course help towards the cost of the residency.

Examples of workshops available......not exhaustive list, please contact us with YOUR ideas

Workshops based on singing

 BALLADS & BEATS

 English call and response ballads and shanties, with African drumming.

 A selection of English traditional call & response songs, eg shanties and ballads, which are easy to join in with and learn orally, are taught alongside African drum rhythms which fit them and, in the case of the shanties, probably inspired them. Participants try both singing and drumming and can even attempt the two together!

 Projects from half day to much longer series. One such happened with five schools in N. Hampshire, between January and September, 2008.

 Stranger in the dark, 
Fleet Ballads & Beats Group with an Updated version of the False Knight on the Road

Fleet Ballads & Beats Group sing their own words to John Kanaka

 SONGS, DRUMS AND DRONES

Ballads and Beats with the addition of drone instruments, (toombi and gopichand), from North Indian traditions, and including some West African and Punjabi songs, alongside the English ones

Music & Dance Workshops

THE AFROCEILIDH PROJECT

 For KS4 upwards, (or can include gifted and talented younger musicians), community groups, particularly folk musicians, guitar groups and drumming groups and dance groups from KS2 to adult. Festival workshops (leading to performance if required, or combined with a Boka Halat Ceilidh)

 Can focus on music, dance or both!

‘We loved the way you presented it. There was a lot of learning done’      - St John Offley School, Staffordshire

Dance workshops

English Moves – Global Grooves, combining the figures of English country dance with body movements suggested by African rhythms

A basic workshop for a class-sized group at KS2 introduces the elements of the fusion and their interaction. Three sessions are possible in a school day, 2 is more usual!

Longer series include the creation of new dance sequences by the students.

KS4 Dance/Performing arts students or adults (e.g. festivals) will include creative work in an approx. 90-minute workshop.

Music workshops

AfroCeilidh Orchestra, combining English dance tunes,

African drumming, African-style chords and riffs … and whatever individuals can add from their own music background

Band in a Day

Up to 20 musicians with some experience (e.g.: KS4, A-level, adult community group, festival attendees) can work for up to 4 hours to prepare a repertoire of 5 – 8 tunes and chord sequences, using 3 rhythms or rhythm combinations.

The emphasis is on learning by ear (but notation can be provided to support), listening to and interacting with other musical elements than your own and playing in a way which makes people want to DANCE! Pieces are created by fixing the harmonic/rhythmic structure with all players before melodic elements are added.

 At the end of the day, a performance, which can be in the form of a ceilidh (one of the artists is a dance caller), can be put on. This can even extend to a full evening (e.g.: PTA event, Festival ceilidh) with the trio performing part of the time and the workshop participants joining them for the rest. 

Band in a Weekend

As above but extended over one evening plus two full days, with the final event on the last afternoon (Does not have to be Friday – Sunday!), aiming for a repertoire of 10 or 11 tunes

2 hours first evening, 4 hours second day, 2 hours third day plus 2 – 2.5-hour practical session in the form of a ceilidh or concert performance

Longer band series

As above, but divided into weekly 2-hour sessions (afternoon, evening or weekend) x 6, aiming for a repertoire of at least 12 pieces and a 2.5 – 3-hour ceilidh or a 90-minute concert spot as the last session

Ceilidh in a Week

A week-long residency, e.g.: at a residential festival or as a summer school, combines band and dance projects to provide a ceilidh with home-grown music and original dance repertoire, by alternating artforms, e.g.: mornings music, afternoons dance and dance sequence creation.