'SO WHAT GOES ON IN A WORKSHOP?' We Explore The Practical Aspects of Making Music. It’s a Hands-On experience using Turntables, Microphones, Synthesizers and Keyboards, Guitars, Lap Top Production Systems and Percussion. The activities kick off from the start! Making music is easy, fun and accessible to everyone involved. You just have to enjoy it! To get the most out of each session, we ask individuals what skill they would like to try first and then make smaller groups centered on each skill. They can try everything, and are free to change their choice and move group. 'WHAT IF YOU'VE NEVER MADE MUSIC BEFORE? Everyone, as some point, has hummed to a tune, tapped, clapped or clicked to a beat before, so everybody has musical potential within himself or herself. We operate an informal approach, giving participants a relaxed atmosphere were they can really Go For It! The sooner you get going the more you learn. We understand how difficult it can be to summon up the courage to perform in front of people. We never force anyone to perform or record if they don't feel confident about doing so. Sometimes young people, who are not yet confident enough to participate, learn as much from just watching. At times we will pull a participant to one side and have a one to one chat about other outlets, be it guitar, percussion or DJ decks. Sometimes all that’s needed is a little confidence boost. Many young people have huge amounts of un-channelled talent, we will always take the time to identify these young people and ensure that they get the most of our workshops. 'BUT I CANT PLAY INSTRUMENTS!' This has been said countless times. After we've shown the Young People basic techniques, they can't argue.........It's easy. Ok you might only learn something simple but simple is almost always the most effective i.e. catchy part of a song. BREAK DOWN OF EACH SKILL DJ Skills: After a very brief introduction we get the young people behind the decks trying out what they've just seen and heard. We guide them through different techniques. A tutor will stand where the audience would be so they have full control and access to the decks (as they would at a gig). We maybe suggest different songs/styles they could mix. For example a Drum & Bass track mixed with a Hip-Hop track (because it’s half the speed). During the initial stages, (depending on group size) it's more about making sure everyone gets a go at the basics. Just because DJ's get paid loads and are supposedly 'cool' this doesn't mean that it's hard to DJ.   Getting teachers/youth workers involved easily proves this. Production/Recording (Recording studio): We use laptops with programs that allow us to build/write a piece of music. We usually start with drums, building the song by placing ‘blocks’ (visual representation of recorded sounds) of single drum hits BOOM, CLICK, CLAP etc until we have created a good rhythm. The Defcon Team will do most of the technical stuff while participants choose the style of music and tempo they want. Then they choose what sounds/samples they like and where they want them positioned in the song. You just have to use your ears to decide whether something sounds good/fits with the other sounds. We can add live instruments and percussion as well as sound effects and synthesizers played in through a midi keyboard. Finally we record vocals via the microphone. The main aim is to create an original piece of music by the end of a production/recording workshop. This will have been written, recorded and performed by the young people and be available for them to take home/download. MC’ing/Creative Writing: Often as an icebreaker we sit with the young people and create spontaneous rhymes based around their names. This is fun and shows that being funny is more original and effective than aggressive and moody “gangster rap”. Then, having got the young people to develop on their name-based lyrics, we might get them to brainstorm a topic that interests them and concentrate on this (spider diagrams are useful for this). Often the young people have already written some lyrics or can rap/freestyle and just need help polishing their techniques, such as timing, delivery, tone and confidence. There are no specific rules to this and different members of our team will have their own take on what works best. The main thing is that the young people feel confident with their artistic skills and can perform/record their work.  Singing Singing workshops use experienced vocalists to share their exercises and techniques with students. Students will learn to warm up their voices and will engage is some group singing. This workshop can be combined with a production/recording session where we record vocals along with music.  At the end of a session, students are given handouts to take home outlining much of the information covered in the workshops. Other subjects we can cover include: Beatboxing, Percussion and Musical Instruments like Steel Pan.

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