Amplify - Whākaha

Live music has the power to affect all of us viscerally, igniting a myriad of emotions, connecting us, taking us to places we didn't even know existed and, in doing so, expanding our world view. The Amplify - Whākaha programme shares these experiences and benefits with people living with a broad range of health conditions and disabilities.

One True Note

Music has an extraordinary power to connect people, and to form and strengthen communities. Through One True Note, CSO musicians and people with intellectual disabilities share their love of music by playing for and alongside one another.

Ignite

Whilst dementia causes memory loss and impairment, memory for music remains and often ignites emotional response. The CSO has developed a multi-week programme for people living with dementia who along with their whanau and volunteers, listen to, take part in, and enjoy a range of musical activities. Click here for more information.

Tukutuku

Tukutuku weaves together the skills and talents of secondary school students with disabilities, mainstream music and dance students, CSO musicians and Jolt dancers. Too often disability units stand as islands within mainstream schools, with no meaningful interaction. Tukutuku seeks to remove these barriers, bringing mainstream students and those from disability units together to collaborate and form authentic relationships, to learn more about one another and to celebrate their respective, unique talents. Over the course of three days, the participants develop a programme of original music and choreography, each work inspired by the individual skills and wairua of the students with disability. The learnings for all students are both profound and enduring.

Song

Developed in collaboration with Jolt Dance, Song in an ingenious, original production combining music, dance and theatre with interactive and multi-sensory elements that speak specifically to an audience with disabilities.

"The benefits to all involved couldn't be measured. The Learning Support students had a ball, their teacher aides were awakened to the abilities that they and their students had, the musicians learned about improvisation and playing together in genres and ways that they hadn't experienced before, the drama and dance students learned empathy, inclusiveness, and different ways of being creative. The parents of the students were blown away. There were tears and there was joy. The process was as important as the outcome, and having three days set aside for the residency was vital. It was a leap of faith to accept the residency and work out of the practicalities, but now everyone involved has seen how the model is effective and intensely valuable."

Annamarie Fenn, Music Teacher, Gisborne Girls' High School, Tukutuku 2019

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