RSBC co-composition project

In August 2022, Handel Hendrix London facilitated a three day music programme with the Royal Society for Blind Children. Composer Ben See came together with a small group of young people at the RSBC to explore singing together and to devise a new piece.

 

The young people rehearsing with Ben See.

On the final day of the project, NMC Recordings and members of The Sixteen choir came together with the young people and Ben to record their new creation. Recording engineer Adaq Khan was present to record the performances, ensuring that everything was sounding brilliant for the digital release, and giving the young people a taster of the kind of work that goes on in the music industry to make an album happen. 

Members of The Sixteen choir recording the young people's piece.

On the day of the recording, Creative Director of NMC Ellie Wilson also came in to give a presentation to the young people about NMC and the recording industry. They then worked with another member of NMC, Joanna Ward, to come up with an album cover which represented their piece of music for its digital release. The young people also chose a name for themselves as a group: 'The Creative 10', after the vocal group The Sixteen who had come in to record their piece.

The album cover the young people created, featuring three doors, the middle of which is open showing a person holding balloons stood before a brightly coloured wall. The cover has the title 'Show Yourself' in bright bubble writing above the doors. The cover has the blue NMC strip at the top with 'The Creative 10', the name of the young people's group, on the left.

You can listen to the young people's piece here: 

The words of the song are as follows: 

Open up your book,
Find a new story to tell
Look inside yourself
Then you'll find that life goes well.

Open up your heart,
Find your own story to tell
Look inside yourself
Then you'll find that life goes well.

It's a brand new day
(Nothing can stop you now)
And sometimes things can go wrong
(Let the light shine through)
Wipe the tears away
(Nothing can stop you now)
And always stay strong.
(Let the light shine through)

Come together, work together,
Yeah yeah, many questions to think of.
Come together, work together,
Yeah, yeah, where are the answers?

You may have barriers in your way,
But there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
There might be paths which will be hard,
Challenges to overcome slowly.

Come together, work together,
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Be true to other people,
Be true to other people,
Always be there for your family and friends,
Always be brave on every path you choose.

So be excited about your life,
And live with joy,
Show yourself.
(Be brave about being on your own,
Be brave about being alone.)

So be excited about your life,
And live with joy,
Show yourself.
Show yourself.

With thanks to Handel Hendrix London for facilitating the project; the Royal Society for Blind Children for hosting the project; Ben See for leading the workshops and co-creation of the piece; members of The Sixteen for singing on the recording and working with the young poeple; Adaq Khan for recording, mixing, and mastering the piece.