(Photo: Corinthe Risvi)

This page is dedicated to my community music activities, and here I revert to my ‘given’ name: Mark Brown. From autumn 2011 to summer 2013, I was lucky enough to be part of Goldsmith College’s ‘Certificate in Workshop Skills (Music)’ course, which was a fantastic grounding in the principles behind making music not for people, but with people of all kinds, many faced with all sorts of challenges.

I’ll kick things off with the blurb from my page of the Call and Response! site, (this being an event held in June 2013 to celebrate the end of our 2 years, and to let those in the field of community music know of our existence and talents) – http://callandresponseevent.wordpress.com/workshop-leaders/mark-brown/

‘Mark is passionate about the potential for music to transform not only the lives of individuals and groups, but also campaigns for social and ecological justice. As comfortable in a primary school as a community-run library, activist choir or with severely disabled young adults, he delights in the sheer pleasure and release that music-making can bring. An experienced songwriter, his main tools are his voice, body and other percussion, guitar, harmonica, melodica, piano, love of improvisation and sense of humour.’

Most often these days I work with Same Sky as part of a great project putting on a story-and-music-based show called Otherworld for children with special needs of various kinds in Brighton:

I’m also often part of the team running music projects at an amazing primary school in east London. In 2013 we celebrated Black History Month there, and in 2014 there was a series of great projects, including one exploring indigenous musics of these islands, followed by Refugee Week.

I’m available to work in avariety of community music settings, from devising and running to assisting as part of inspiring projects. Get in touch if you have any suggestions…