Building International Connections

 

Chief Executive Thursa Sanderson writes about a recent visit to Drake Music Scotland by the Southern Danish Conservatoire…

In April Claus Skjold Larsen the Director of the Syddansk Musikkonservatorium – the Southern Danish Conservatoire – came to Scotland to visit us along with two of his colleagues, Fredrik Søegaard, an expert in music education and community music, and Claus Gahrn, lecturer in electronic music and sound art.  Together with another colleague Anthony Brooks from Aalborg University, they are planning to set up a new project ‘Inclusion in a Musical Context’ focusing on using the potential of new technology to enhance access to music.

‘Inspiring Engagement’

Claus came across Drake Music Scotland’s website while doing research into organisations working in our field and was impressed by what we are doing. He and his colleagues decided to make a trip to Scotland to see what we do at first hand. Luckily the dates of the visit co-incided with our Developing Potential Day at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland on 20th April, meaning that our visitors were able to attend the lunchtime concert in which two of our musicians performed a new piece devised with a group of RCS students who took part in a short course based on our approach using new technologies to compose and perform. They were also able to attend the afternoon’s Developing Potential discussion and hear the views of many of the musicians with disabilities we work with and be involved in conversations about the development of their musical careers.

The next few days were spent at our base in Edinburgh, observing various groups including Live Heart, Audability and the Digital Ensemble, and learning more about the technologies and how we use them.  “We’d like to extend our warmest thanks and gratitude for presenting your amazing and visionary work to us”, commented Claus.

We look forward to developing our link with the Danish Conservatoire, and to strengthening our links with other international partners as we work towards creating the International Centre for Inclusive Music.