Week 12 at CME

On Monday Billy and I helped Clara pack and post some instruments we had sold on eBay which was interesting as it was the first time I had ever sent something through the post office. Billy and I then spent the day doing random admin tasks like, adding loads of people to the CME contacts database.

I spent Tuesday morning clearing up the hallway to CME after the yard sale we had on Sunday. Then we observed and helped with the Foundation Learning group. After lunch Billy and I spent the rest of the day shredding paper, which needs to be done regularly for data protection purposes.

Wednesday came and I didn’t realise how much shredding actually had to be done, I spent all day shredding paper.

On Thursday Billy and I observed and helped out with the Foundation Learning and then we spent the afternoon writing our blogs.

Sunday I found very interesting. I went to a junk workshop which was accompanied by loads of other groups and companies. There was dance groups and beat boxers and even the Army where there with a paintball firing range. It was an interesting day for me as I was left to tend CME’s electrical equipment while Carl and Jo (CME tutors) run the junk workshop. That was good as I felt like I was in charge of the electrical corner and felt like part of the team, even if I wasn’t with the rest of CME.

Week 11 at CME

Billy, Jean and I went to a workshop at CNS school for a Short Breaks workshop for children with complex needs. I thought the day went really well because the participants took interest in every aspect of the day. All the music went down really well and all Jean’s arts and crafts and animation went fairly well aswell. We spent time after lunch outside playing football and some chasing games till it got too hot. We went inside after and finished with a nice cool down session.

On Wednesday Billy and I helped Paul and Jo (CME tutors) with a rock school workshop that was held at CME. This was the first rock school workshop I had attended and it was really fun. I was really impressed with how the participants aged  7 – 12 in a group of about eight came together and managed to make a song in just three hours. I was very impressed with the participants' skills with their instruments which most of them brought with them. The day went really wel,l no one had any arguments which I expected as there will always be one guitarist that thinks he is god but there wasn’t. They worked very well as a team and in the end they put on a little performance for the parents.

On Friday Billy and I went to another rock school to help out Carl and Jo and the age group was 12 – 18. There were also about eight participants there who all brought their own instruments. This workshop was help at Access to Music. We split them up into two groups and they went into a room each to make up a song. I was incredibly impressed with the songs they had made in such a short amount of time, especially the group of three, they worked so well together and made a really good song as an outcome. At the end of the day they had a little performance for the parents which went down really well.

The tenth week at CME

Tuesday was fun, Billy and I spent most of the day practising our acoustic set for the yard sale on Sunday. We had a meeting with Mark Howe, CME Service Delivery Manager, and he was telling us about upcoming workshops. Rock school was one of the workshops he mentioned and I'm really looking forward to going to it and seeing what it’s like. I haven’t yet been to a workshop that’s focusing on a specific type of music yet.

Billy and I spent all day on Wednesday catching up on blogs and trying to get further with our contacts data base, which is proving to be a long and really drawn out activity. Although at the same time it’s constantly helping me improve my phone skills and confidence.

On Thursday Billy and I spent all morning helping Paul and observing the Foundation Learning which was fun as I feel I'm starting to connect with the participants and we seem to get work done and have an awesome time whilst doing it.

Friday again, Billy and I spent pretty much all day doing random bits of admin and the contacts data base that we needed to catch up on and generally helping anyone out that needed help.

Week 8 at CME

This week was interesting for me, on Monday Billy and I started the day of with a little bit of admin based stuff then Clara asked me and Billy to design a poster for one of the courses we are promoting called Rock School. This was fun a quite challenging as we were not used to the computer programmes we used to make the poster but when we had finished Clara, (CME events and marketing)  was quite pleased with our work. After this Billy and I started to finish more of our song of.

Tuesday was quite a fun day, Billy and I had to deliver loads of the posters we had made the day before. We walked all over Norwich on a lovely day handing out leaflets and putting them in shop windows and we spent most of the day doing this.

Wednesday was really cool on my part as Billy and I had to write a press release and this was the first time either of us had ever done it and had no clue what to do, so Clara helped us then left us to write this press release, this was hard as we had to put so much information in such a small piece of writing.

I enjoyed Thursday quite a lot, we started of by doing the usual admin then Billy and I spent about 3 hours working on an acoustic set for our yard sale. Which I'm looking forward to as it will be difficult for me because im not sure how many songs Billy and I will be able to play together. At the end of the day Billy and I spent about an hour loading up a van with loads of scrap metal from our old building.

Friday was a very quiet day, there was only Billy, Liz and me here the whole day and after we had finished our general admin we had a few cleaning tasks to do from Liz. We trimmed a hedge back and tidied around the building. After lunch Billy and I spent the rest of the day practising our acoustic set.

The seventh week at CME

I’ve really enjoyed this week. On Tuesday we finished some observation write ups and general admin but after that the Learning Foundation group came in and we watched a film with them called Spinal Tap which was really good. After we watched it we discussed the film and took part in a question and answer session.

On Wednesday Mark (CME service delivery manager) asked us to make our own activities for workshops which im finding difficult at the moment because I can’t think of any new ideas that haven’t already been done. We also had to compose another song for an age group of our choice. Billy and I have chosen to go with a scary sounding jungle song which is turning out to be pretty good but we are uncertain of which age group to aim it towards as of yet.

Thursday was good, we started to get some lyrics for our song done and then we had a meeting with Paul Weston at Access To Music. We started off by getting a tour of the building from the staff then Billy and I showed them around CME. After that we all had a chat about how we are getting on, our weaknesses and strengths and some training we needed. I came away with free piano lessons and some training on special needs and mental illness.

Then on Friday Billy and I spent the whole day adding more to our song and I’m excited to see what the finished product will sound like.

The sixth week at CME

This week we helped clear out CME's old building on King Street.

We loaded up the vans, broke down tables and spent a while peeling tape of the floor and Blue Tack off the walls. It was probably the hardest week I’ve had to do here physically which is no bother as I'm used to manual labour, I was happy to get it done and move on to the next exciting  task we get set.

This is the great thing about CME though, there will always be something different to do, which is one of the things I'm enjoying at the moment, the variety of things that go on at CME.

The Fifth Week At CME

On Tuesday I went to a Short Breaks workshop for children with disabilties in Attleborough. It was almost the same group as before so it was easy for me to join in again and I felt like I had some sort of interesting vibe about me because all the kids were more interested and found it easier to engage with me.

We started off with the usual hello song and dance and some musical activities, then, after lunch we set up a crash mat assault course and a human bowling area on which I was the guy getting knocked over most of the time! After the kids got bored of that we finished the day with a goodbye song and dance.

On Thursday I went to a Short Breaks workshop in Great Yarmouth and I wasn’t the least experienced there! I felt like I had an advantage over someone, ha-ha. I started off by setting up the touch pads which was a little difficult as it was my first time. Then we set the rest of the equipment up. There was a separate room filled with loads of arts and crafts and animations which really interested a couple of the kids. After lunch we went outside and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit and the kids had an awesome time running around. After that we had a massive cool down period, listening to classical music while making animations with play dough.

Week 4 at CME

Tuesday was really cool as Mark took me and Billy to a Short Breaks workshop in King's Lynn. Even though we were only there for a short time I had a really good time interacting with the kids. One of the tutors there (Blake) had set up a ‘loud corner’ which consisted of a couple of amps, a keyboard and a few touch pads. If we didn’t have to leave I could have stayed on the touch pads all day long. The variety of sounds and music recordings they had on them was amazing. You could create a song with just three rubber pads. I found it really fun and especially when the kids where doing beats in time with the music, it made me feel like we had really accomplished something that day.

On Wednesday Billy and I wrote an observation of what we saw at King's Lynn for the first part of the day. After lunch we spent the rest of the day doing odd jobs such as guitar maintenance and various cleaning jobs. I also researched a few new bands on the scene to see what they were like.

Thursday was one of the best days I’ve had working for CME. I went with CME tutor Rob to Attleborough for a Short Breaks workshop. It was a big surprise for me as I did not expect there to be so many adults there to help. It was almost two adults to every child. This was really good as the carers where always at hand to help. This was good as it meant I felt like I could interact more and get more stuck in. It wasn’t just me and the tutors trying to engage the kids, because in every activity all the carers got really involved.

The third week at CME

Monday: starting my third week was just as fun as starting the first, last week we were making a small song and putting a video together using Windows Movie Maker. We took loads of pictures of each other and put them into a slideshow. It was really funny because after we took the pictures and arranged them it looked like we were doing robot dances. I found Windows Movie Maker really user friendly and just a good program to get along with.

Tuesday: Billy and I started off Tuesday by finishing of some write ups. One was about a primary school on Colman Road the other was about a day care centre in Sprowston, then Billy and I observed the learning foundation. After lunch we had to learn a computer program called Logic and it’s like a version of Garage Band but has just been pumped with loads of steroids. I really like Logic as it seems the possibilities can be endless but I first need to learn how to use it properly.

Wednesday: Billy and I began Wednesday of with some of the contacts data base, then we spent the rest of the day exploring Logic which I had a great time doing.

Thursday: We started observing the learning foundation course until lunch, then, after that we had to start writing a primary school song we done up until 2 o’clock the Billy had to leave and I had a support meeting with Paul Weston and that helped me out a lot, especially as I’m now getting a few training courses from that meeting.

Friday: Billy and I spent all day Friday finishing of the primary school song which was good as we got more experience using Garage Band and had a little more (well needed) singing practice.

 Above: Billy practising our Boris the Bumblebee

 Right: Me practising Boris the Bumblebee

Week 2 at CME

The second week at CME

On Monday Billy and I had to copy some dvds in the morning with a dvd copier, we also had to put covers on them and put them into plastic casing. That was cool as I have never mass produced dvd’s before. We also spent a long time updating our contacts database which so far I’m finding is making me more confident speaking to people on the phone. After lunch Billy and I started to write our first blog which was interesting as I have never done a blog before that.

On Tuesday we had to go to a few shops and grab some equipment. When we got back we had to restring a guitar and observe the learning foundation group which I find interesting and fun because I like to see how different all their music styles are and where they are trying to go with them. After that we went to a primary school on Colman Road and observed what the tutors, Ian and Jo, where doing with the kids which I liked as I have now experienced working with most age groups.

On Wednesday we spent some time tidying the music equipment and storage room. Then we started on the contacts database again and made some headway with that. We also had to restring some guitars which I like doing as im starting to see a wider range of guitars and how they have been made. For the last part of the day we made a song on Garage Band and we are in the process of making a slideshow video for it and we also put it onto CD.

Thursday was exciting as we done a little observing of the learning foundation then I went to Sprowston to observe Ian and Jo with their workshop. This was really good for me as all the participants encouraged me to get more involved and I started to sing a little bit which was a massive confidence boost as I never really sing in front of people but because everyone else was getting involved I felt comfortable enough to join in.

Friday was really good, Billy and I went to a Crash Course in the Music Industry training day and the speaker went on for ages about copyrighting but it was really good as I learnt a lot about it and believe I have taken something away from that.  He also spoke about how to make money in great depth. And then he spoke about the best ways to build yourself a fan club and finally spoke a lot about social media. 

My first week at CME

From the moment I started working at CME I have enjoyed every moment of it. Besides the fact that there are instruments everywhere you look and always something to play on, the reason for this is mainly the relaxed atmosphere and the really easy going user centred education ethos. I personally feel that this is the best way to teach at CME because it encourages the individual students to push for what they are working for. All the employees here at CME have an amazing attitude all the time and are all keen to help out.

This makes a very easy and comfortable environment for me to work in and am often wondering why I never looked for work in the music industry before. Even though I’m only now starting my second week I’m starting to feel a lot more friendly and comfortable here. I like the way the students have so much choice compared to mainstream education. For example, the classroom is kind of wherever you like it to be, they get the freedom to sit and interact with whoever they want but know that they have to get on with their work.

The first day I had an induction followed by me observing a bunch of students who are doing the Learning Foundation course. The group was split between digital media and DJing. The group upstairs had to design album covers and the group downstairs were using Garage Band to make or remix there songs and a couple of people were on the decks. These all worked well together because the group downstairs made the music and the group upstairs made the CD cases. After we had observed we had to sum up a report on what we had seen and found out.

The following days were very similar but helped me get to know the workplace a lot better and understand what’s going at CME.

I went to a meeting with Paul Weston, director of Music Leader, which opened my eyes to a lot more, for example,he talked not just about music but about art and multimedia and lots of different things that happen with these.