VIBE ONLINE

CREATIVE LEARNING ROUND-UP

VIBE ONLINE

VIBE Online Particpants, July 2020

I HAD NO IDEA HOW VIBE ONLINE WOULD WORK, BUT NOW I’VE DONE IT, I THINK I’VE ENJOYED IT MORE! I FEEL FREE TO TRY THINGS OUT IN MY OWN SPACE. MAKING A MISTAKE ONLINE IS NOT AS WORRYING TO ME AS MAKING A MISTAKE IN FRONT OF A GROUP.

VIBE Online Participant

SCO VIBE is a fusion orchestra for young musicians of secondary school age, led by renowned animateur and guitarist Paul Griffiths. VIBE is open to singers and instrumentalists of all levels, from any musical background, who come together with Paul and the SCO team to create and perform their own music collaboratively.

Due to Covid-19 we were unable to run the usual live VIBE courses in July and decided instead to pilot an online course using Zoom – aiming to maintain the inclusive, creative VIBE environment and all the elements that make VIBE special. Previous participants from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen courses were invited to try out VIBE Online so that we could gain understanding of the differences between working online and ‘live’. The online course structure was similar to live courses, with participants working together as a large group and in smaller ensembles to develop, rehearse and record musical ideas. Sound engineer Mark Neal recorded through Zoom, collating tracks recorded separately and then mixing them to produce several final tracks.

The course ran for four days at the beginning of the school holidays, and the following week friends, family, and funders attended an online sharing event. Feedback from the participants and the audience was overwhelmingly positive, with some participants commenting that they felt more comfortable than during a ‘live’ course, that they enjoyed it more and felt less anxious about making mistakes. The nature of the course meant that they had to engage with new people rather than stick within friendship groups, and they grew in confidence. We worked with the technology, rather than against it, which meant embracing the strange sounds that Zoom produces! And despite some issues with latency and internet glitches, the technology worked well enough for everyone to remain engaged throughout.

As a team we have learnt a huge amount about online delivery and can see how to develop more nuanced music-making for future courses. All our pilot participants are keen to develop VIBE Online and we will be running two projects for young people across Scotland in the October holidays. ––––––

For full information and to sign up, please visit www.sco.org.uk/vibeonline