You are here: University of Huddersfield : Academic Schools : Music, Humanities and Media : Music & Music Technology : Outreach
You are here: University of Huddersfield : Academic Schools : Music, Humanities and Media : Music & Music Technology : Outreach
There are many opportunities at Huddersfield University to get involved with projects which work in collaboration with community arts organisations. We aim to provide students with the chance to engage with their local community during their time in Huddersfield through the creative and performing arts. Many of the opportunities are funded through the HEIF and TQEF funding streams.
Some of our regular partners include Slick Stick Sambastic (community samba ensemble), Kirklees Music School and Calderdale Music Service. We run a community arts festival each year in October and perform at Huddersfield Carnival and Mela. We have also undertaken projects with the North Stars Steel Pan Orchestra, Beaumont Street Studios and a number of other organisations. There are chances to perform, teach, work as a community artist and get involved in the arts administration and management side of things, too.
Some of the opportunities are voluntary, whereas others have a small bursary attached. Placements can be short or longer term and students undertake them for a variety of reasons, including gathering experience towards a chosen career path, adding value to their degree, giving something back to the community or as part of a module.
Email:Emma Cunliffe or
Tel: 01484 473753.
We have become integrally involved with the annual Black History Month programme in the area, running workshops in Reggae Band performance, African dance, African drumming, carnival arts, creative writing with music, rap and hip hop, gospel music and street dance. We now work closely with the local council on this project.
We have worked closely with both the main regional organisations that provide music work in local schools. Students have gone into schools in small ensembles to demonstrate instruments, perform, lead workshops, work with teachers and work on specific projects. We provide training for this and students are accompanied by a professional workshop leader where appropriate. This has included groups focused on classical music, jazz and pop.
This year the feedback from performances given by Huddersfield University Music Students at visits to various Calderdale schools has been extremely positive:
" An excellent idea. I wish I could have done this when I did my music degree! Your students presented themselves excellently, very professional demeanour - a credit to the Huddersfield University Image".
" Great experience for performers and audience".
"Very lively, up-to-date and child orientated".
"Would be keen to engage further with the University on similar projects following this good experience".
"It fully engaged the audience".
We run a weekly session in term time where students can learn Hindustani classical music, covering traditions mostly from the north of India and Pakistan. This was set up in collaboration with SAAUK, a group based in Leeds who specialise in this area. Students have the chance to learn tabla or sitar, and an ensemble rehearses and performs using a mix of western and traditional instruments, working on classical and fusion forms. The group has performed in our concert hall, as part of Asian Women’s Day, and has gone into schools to run workshops with young people. It involves a mixture of people from the local community and students from across the university, and is free to anyone interested, although numbers are limited. We own a number of traditional instruments, including tabla sets, sitars, tambouras, harmoniums and bansuris. Students can choose to play in the group as part of their course in years 2 and 3.
We have set up a community samba band that is a mixture of students and local people, anyone can come and join the group. It is now self-funded, following a successful grant bid to awards for all, but meets in the music building. We were able to purchase samba instruments that are used by the group and by our students, and have enough for about 50 people to play at once. First year students on some courses study samba to improve their rhythm, and second and third year students can play in the samba group as part of their course. The band perform in local events and make an amazing sound.
Our students performed last year at Huddersfield Carnival and Mela. We had a large marquee in the centre of the festival, with workshops, a stall with information, and a stage with performances by various groups. The Carnival is the main Afro-Caribbean festival in Huddersfield, taking place on a Saturday in the summer, and the Mela is a major festival focused on the local British Asian community, and happens the day after on the Sunday. We hope to continue to take part in the festival every year in future.
The festival has its offices in our building and many of its concerts every year are in our performance venues. We have run a number of education projects with HMCF, with young people composing and performing new music, with help from our students and highly trained workshop tutors and composers. Our student New Music Group performed in this acclaimed international festival last year, and we continue to develop new projects with them all the time. Students volunteer to act as stewards at the festival, and in return get to see many of the events free of charge, as well as gaining experience of working on event organisation and management.
We had students given mentoring training by local community recording studio and multimedia training company BSS, some of whom went on to work supporting some of their clients and doing some teaching.
North Stars are the national steel band champions. One of our research students composed a piece for our brass band and the North Stars to play together. The resulting concert was a great, and very loud, success.
We are currently developing a project with the SPNM, working with them on the National Composition Summer School. A number of students will work at the summer school, getting to be involved in it and sit in and take part in sessions. We also hope to develop this project and our involvement further in the future.
We run an orchestra, a number of choirs, chamber music groups, a brass band and symphonic wind ensemble, early music, experimental and new music groups, and local musicians sometimes take part in a number of our ensembles. We run jazz, funk, ska, reggae, folk and blues bands, as well as a Frank Zappa group. It is not always possible to take part in these groups as they are aimed at students, but we are always open to people asking.
This is just a brief list of the various projects we run. For more details please get in touch with us, whether you would like to take part in one of our music ensembles or projects, would like our students to work with your school or community group or are interested in some other way of getting involved with us we would be glad to hear from you.