Are you a visually impaired musician or singer? Would you like to explore music making in beautiful woodland, inspired by sounds in nature (including birds, bats and insects), and working with professional, visually impaired musicians? If so, the Sensing Nature project gives you that opportunity.
The project is being led by Jackie Walduck, who runs a London-based, nationally–recognised, visually impaired music group called Tactile. Jackie, together with Adrian Lee, a visually-impaired musician and composer, has been commissioned by the Waveney and Blyth Arts organisation to work with visually impaired musicians and singers from Suffolk and Norfolk between February and June next year. The result will be a ‘sound trail’, comprising instrumental and vocal performances, which will be performed to the public at Thornham Walks, a beautiful area of woodland near Eye in Suffolk.
For those interested in getting involved, Jackie and Adrian will be leading four ‘taster’ workshops between February 6-10th, at venues in Eye (Eye Community Centre, Monday 6th), Norwich (NNAB, Wednesday 8th), Bungay (Fisher Theatre, Thursday 9th), and Ipswich (High Street Exhibition Gallery, Friday 10th). The workshops are free to join and funding for transport is available; they will run from 10am to 3pm.
In terms of musical ability, we are looking for keen musicians and singers with some experience, but we’re not expecting professional or semi-professional standard. More important is an enthusiasm for performing in an outdoor space to the paying public, and to explore new ways of developing and making music and experiencing sound. For more information, please contact Mike Davison from Waveney and Blyth Arts on 01379 852501 or email davisonmike@outlook.com. To book a place on the Norwich workshop, please contact Mark Smith at the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind on 01603 629558 or email marksmith@nnab.org.uk.