Global Villages
Global Villages is Pied Piper's programme of free half term workshops for children aged from 7 - 11 years. Over the last 5 years Pied Piper has offered a diverse selection of half term music making opportunities for this age group ranging from Indian Drumming to Greek dance!
These workshops were originally developed to provide children in Ryedale with access to music, dance, song and artists from other cultures and Traditions. As a predominantly mono-cultural region, Ryedale's children have little opportunity to meet or work with people from other cultures. Pied Piper is able to provide them with access to a positive, educational and, most importantly, fun experience of African, Indian, South American or European cultures and people.
Since we began delivering these workshops in 2005, we have developed the model and approach taken to these sessions, now providing children with an intensive learning experience which always concludes with a final showcase for parents. Parents are frequently surprised by the enthusiasm or engagement their child shows during these performances, or by their musical talent which has lay hidden until unlocked by Pied Piper's artists during the workshop.
The model developed by Pied Piper proved so successful that it has been taken up by NYMAZ, North Yorkshire's Youth Music Action Zone, as a model of good practice. Pied Piper's Global Villages activities are now delivered in partnership with NYMAZ, and have been replicated in both the Harrogate and Selby Districts of the County.
Feedback from children, parents and funders of this project is universally positive as demonstrated by the following feedback sent to us by a parent after her child had taken part in one of our Greek Music, Song and Dance workshops.
I just wanted to write and say a huge 'Thank You' for putting on such a super workshop last Monday. John was a little apprehensive when we first arrived, as he didn't know anyone else that was doing it, and wasn't quite sure what it would involve, but when I came to the performance that all the children had been helped to put together, John was absolutely beaming playing his drum (even though he always says he is not very good at things, I was really impressed with how much he had taken in, in such a short space of time). It was lovely to see what the children had learnt, and to see how much they had obviously enjoyed everything about the day. I know that I felt really uplifted when I left just listening to the music and joining in with the singing and dancing (I wish they did workshops like this for us grown-ups too!).
I do hope that there will be more workshops like this in the future - I think it is so important for children to learn about different cultures, and doing it through music and dance, etc, makes it such a fun and interesting way to learn. I really cannot say enough about how the whole day was organised and run - top marks to everyone involved and I will look out for more workshops in the future.
Further details of past Global Villages Workshops can be found by following the links below, and for forthcoming activities please see our what's on pages or to be added to our mailing list please contact us.
Past Projects
2011
Autumn: African Drumming & Dance with Simon Abbott & Pape Thiam
Summer: Scottish Folk Music & Dance wtih Laura Grime & Michael Haywood
Spring: South American Music & Song with Guillermo Rozenthuler & Andres Ticino
2010
Autumn: Indian Drumming and Dance with Satnam Singh
Summer: Greek Music, Song and Dance Workshops with Plastic Chairs
2009
Spring: African Drumming with Simon Abbott and Thierry Malard
2007
Autumn: Greek Music, Song and Dance Workshops with Plastic Chairs
Summer: African Drumming with Simon Abbott and Salliff Sylla
Spring: Samba and Salsa Percussion with Batterie Percussion
2006
Spring: Eastern European Folk Music with Klektivo
2005
Summer: Indian Drumming and Bhangra Dance with Satnam Singh