One of the bands I’m in, Tangential Trio, has just released our second CD and download. It’s another EP, containing five tracks. musicsongs is a collaboration between Tangential Trio, singer Brigitte Beraha and community musician Ian Brownlie, working with the disability and music organisation Musical Keys.
Ian and our trumpet player Chris Downing ran a series of music workshops with two groups of people, Wymondham Dementia Support Group and Parkinson’s UK Wymondam Support Group. They explain:
What do we remember about music? How is it connected to our memories of life? What stories can music restore, at a time in life where memory may be fading?
We explored some of these ideas in musicsongs – a songwriting project that took place over the summer of 2024. We listened to music that is connected to the lives of the participants, on a portable record player and more often a Bluetooth speaker.
We also sang along to some favourite songs and played percussion. Through this process, we wrote lyrics and melodies.
These lyrics and melodies were brought to us and our special guest Brigitte, and together we rehearsed, arranged, and recorded them over a September weekend. The song lyrics you hear are the words, stories and poems of participants in the workshops. We think they are wonderful, full of everyday power and the authority of people living with Parkinson’s or dementia.
I’m really delighted to have been involved in this creative community music / music therapy project. Do listen to the songs. You can download it from bandcamp, or buy a CD (with original artwork) from the band.