Sound Therapy

 Before Christmas the Music Gym had a visit from Mark Knowles of the BBC. He stayed several hours, talked to members and support staff and thoroughly immersed himself in the spirit of the Music Gym. The film he made, although very short, reflects his interest and his understanding of what happens there.

If you didn’t see it when it was shown on South East Today it’s here

 Some time ago local writer Kay Green came to visit the Music Gym. She was intrigued by the link between playing music in pubs and working with people with different ways of communicating. This article was the result - I enjoyed it but unfortunately it didn’t find a home with any of the larger papers so Kay is now publishing it for general consumption. I hope you enjoy it…….. 

Amongst the squash courts and practice nets at Horntye Sports Centre in Hastings is the Decoda Music Gym, an area designed for experimenting and playing with music and movement. For the physically able there’s an interactive bouncy castle, dancing-boards that trigger music, or the opportunity to dance with your shadow on a large screen. For the less able, or less energetic, there are Soundbeams, vibro-acoustic seats and cushions, bubbles, and switches to operate film. 

The Gym is overseen by popular local blues musicians Tom Smurthwaite and John Ballard. Its clients range from people with profound disabilities to conventionally able but playful or curious adults and youngsters - but this isn’t a mere leisure activity. When administrator Sue Heath invited me to attend one of their regular Friday sessions, I was in for a morning of surprises and learning. 

Sue says: “Years ago, as a Relate counsellor, I was surprised to find that mentioning a client was a musician would trigger smiles all round. The label ‘musician’, I discovered, was taken as shorthand for totally unable to communicate except through his/her music. The film The Commitments bears this out - a band delivering Irish soul music on stage and beating nine bells out of each other in the dressing room.”  Continue reading ‘The Music Gym article looking for a home’

A huge thank you to the Rotary Club of St. Leonards for offering to sponsor two Music Gym members for six months each.

 The Music Gym is a costly facility to run with the equipment involved, the hall hire and the setting up and dismantling. As we don’t receive any funding that cost is therefore carried by the members. Although the numbers are growing and parents and carers tell us it’s worth every penny of the fee, we don’t want anyone to be excluded on the grounds that it’s beyond their means.

 That’s why we’re constantly seeking sponsors. The Rotary Club of St. Leonards joins the list that includes Blatchington Court Trust (for young people in East Sussex with visual impairment), the SwanFest, the Smugglers’ pub in Hastings and the Premier League Creating Chances scheme.

If you look after someone in St. Leonards who you feel could benefit from a bursary to come to the Music Gym then please contact us, by phone on 01424 444322 or by email. Also, please get in touch if you’d like your company or organisation to be added to our list of sponsors.

It was party time at Lets Do Business in Hastings yesterday when we distilled the Music Gym from 5000 square feet down to 50 square feet. In that small space we were still able to convey the sense of movement affecting visual imagery, sound and vibration.

It was an opportunity to let people know that the Music Gym is now available to hire in its entirety, or separate parts, for parties, weddings, corporate events - the possibilities are endless. Continue reading ‘The Music Gym at Lets Do Business’

Here’s Lucas Neill, the captain of West Ham and Australia, making someone’s day at the Music Gym last week. What a delightful guy. He was endlessly patient, whether it was signing another picture of himself, standing for another photo or having another discussion with George about his relationships.

If only he’d got to see the Music Gym in action it would have been a perfect day. We had it all set up as usual with everything working, we’d even inflated a kangaroo in his honour. At the last moment, as he arrived, the music stopped on the bouncy castle. As it had never happened before we couldn’t trace the problem until he’d left. What are the chances of that then??

The hall was so quiet without the interactive castle. Plus there was no-one on the dancing squares, operating the shadow wall, or using the sensory gazebo as they didn’t want to miss what Lucas Neill was doing! Judging by the photos the poor man was usually having his ear bent by me explaining what goes on there when there ISN’T a celebrity in the building.

And, despite all that, everyone had a great time. We just hope you did as well, Lucas. We entered the Premier League’s Creating Chances initiative to generate publicity for the Music Gym and in particular our sponsorship scheme, to ensure that no-one’s excluded from coming to the Music Gym on the grounds of cost.

If you can help with that, or you’d like more information on this facility for people with profound disabilities please email us or phone us on 01424 444322

Barring accidents and unforeseen circumstances, Lucas Neill, the West Ham captain will be visiting the Music Gym this coming Thursday, September 20th.

This is part of the Premier League’s Creating Chances initiative. We had to describe our project and what we would ask the player to do there. That wasn’t difficult as it’s very rare for someone to try out the Music Gym and not enjoy it. So, we’ll be running an extra session for our members and ask the player to simply join in. Then we’ll take lots of photos of him looking ridiculous and finally be able to have our own building through the blackmail money. (Lucas’s agent - that’s a joke.) Continue reading ‘Date agreed for West Ham player’s visit to the Music Gym’

On Friday we came to the end of our second year of the Music Gym and there was a party atmosphere at Horntye Park. People of all ages, from 8 to 70, turned up to try out the Music Gym.

Councillor Vivienne Bond paid us a visit. She turned out to be a special needs teacher specialising in dance (students of synchronicity - don’t you just love it when something like that happens?) so she was particularly interested in the dancing boards.

It was also the first outing for the Underwater gazebo, the vision of Kim Lapworth, our talented designer.

The idea of the gazebo is that it will appeal to all the members but be of special interest for those with a visual impairment. Funding for the gazebo, the fabrics and other fittings came from the Blatchington Court Trust in Hove.

There were some unusual guests lurking in the gazebo - the “Spiney Normans” made by Chris, taking time out from designing his teddy bears.

So, a day that hopefully everyone who came really enjoyed. The Music Gym is taking a break now and will be back in mid-September. When we resume we’ll be open for longer, continuing until 3.30 in the afternoon. That means that people who’d like to visit but live further away will have the opportunity to fit it into a day out in Hastings.

If you’d like to know more about joining the Music Gym please email us or call us on 01424 444322. We look forward to seeing present and new members in September. Have a great summer in the meantime - I hear it’s about to arrive.

We’ve just heard that in September a West Ham player will be visiting the Music Gym. This is down to a new Premier League initiative called Creating Chances, designed to bring the country’s top clubs closer to their local communities.

We took part in the “Places for Players” schemes which will see 60 Premier League stars make personal appeances during this September - and one of them, from West Ham, will be coming to the Music Gym. I wonder if it’s because I mentioned the opportunity to try out our inflatable football boots and gloves?

On a personal level, there’s a touch of irony here. I was at the final game of the season at Bramall Lane, in May, when Sheffield United were relegated and grown men wept in the stands. Now Sheffield Utd. have argued that West Ham should have been relegated  and not them, but if that had happened we couldn’t have applied for a player as West Ham is the only club within the required 90 minutes’ driving distance. So every cloud has a silver lining………

We’re very excited as it’s a wonderful way to publicise this facility for people with profound disabilities. Hastings Hammers, watch this space - we’ll have more details in September of an opportunity to meet the player.

Now, where’s my Argentinian phrase book?

For more details about our work, visit our website or email us or call us on 01424 444322

Who’d have thought it? While caravans floated on rivers in Worcestershire, in Lamberhurst the sun shone and everyone had a wonderful time at the SwanFest. It’s the perfect setting for a small festival - in the garden of the pub that was voted best freehouse wine pub and beer garden in the South East of England.

So, a huge thank you to everyone involved - Gez and Donna at Four Seasons Events; Sean, Vanessa and the friendly staff at the Swan; the bands; all the businesses who made a contribution. The proceeds go towards the Music Gym, the facility for those with profound disabilities.

Finally, an interlude where we attempted to demonstrate how the Soundbeam works. As Alison’s hips moved she triggered music: this can be an unnerving moment for a dancer who’s used to keeping in time with the music, not creating it. She clearly handled it very well and inspired others to join in………

If you’d like to know more about our work then visit our website or email us or call us on 01424 444322

Here’s the second of our occasional films showing in more detail what goes on at the Music Gym and how we set it up.

We call this section the Dancing Boards because we use wooden boards to locate the “hot” areas and that’s where people dance - so it does just what it says. Movement on the boards triggers music and also images, creating a club-like atmosphere. We find it becomes a social area where members of the Gym play together.

It’s particularly good for those whose disabilities requires them to use a wheelchair. Where their wheelchairs are motorised they have a lot of fun spinning themselves on and off the boards.

If you’d like more information please email us or phone us on 01424 444322.

Apologies - we’re currently experiencing a glitch in directly accessing the youtube films. Please bear with us for the moment - copy and paste the link - I know, it’s so tedious and low-tech, but it’s a bit of exercise for the fingers……