For the very basic information on Pass The Sound, please see our Introduction Video:

WATCH HERE

•⁠  ⁠⁠Where and how did this start?

Pass The Sound began as an idea in 2014, various conversations were taking place between several European Music Conservatoriums (joined together by the NAIP European Music Masters) around creativity, innovation, equity, and accessibility within music, and its learning environments in Higher Education Institutes. One of these conversations focused on developing a learning platform for stimulating and facilitating group-based creative music-making processes . A practice that was at the core of the NAIP Masters ideology. Steered by a group of highly experienced teaching artists, musicians, makers, and educators: Detta Danford, Sean Gregory, Renee Jonker, and Guy Wood, Pass The Sound was formed.

•⁠  What is the philosophy behind Pass The Sound?

Pass The Sound is fundamentally about accessibility and creating the opportunity for a global community to further develop their skills as creative facilitators. Primarily focused at stimulating musicians, this platform can be (and is) used by teachers, group leaders, keynote speakers, health workers, lecturers, managers, social workers, care teams, and many, many more. PTS is not about preaching a model or a particular style, it is aimed at triggering ideas in people to interpret the exercises and activities in their own unique way for the context that they need it for. Pass The Sound is about providing high-quality content for our audience for free. We don't 'own' this work, we all do. That is the magic of music.

•⁠  ⁠⁠What is the journey of the exercises? Where do they originate from? 

The exercises stem from a wide range of sources and from a long history of various artistic practices. From John Cage's graphic scores to Merce Cunninghams 'Happenings', from Pattin and the Juba dance to circle songs and folk traditions, from the dramatic arts to the free improvisation scene, from the collective learning of thousands of years of human communication, sound experiments, and the power of group processes.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Who are the facilitators?

The facilitators are Artistic Practitioners, from all over the world, that incorporate group-based creative processes as a core aspect of their work. Many are involved in running their own organisations and play a key role in the development of accessibility to music-making. They are all part of an inspiring global community joined together by key facilitating organisation, Société Gavigniès: The Société Gavigniès was established on February 9, 1994, by Madeleine Margot (September 2, 1902 – November 7, 1997), who was 91 years old at the time. Madeleine Margot settled in The Hague in 1934 and remained a resident of the city until her death. Operating as a foundation, the Société Gavigniès manages the estate of the Swiss-born pianist, using the returns on investments to fund initiatives that promote music in a broad sense.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Do you provide training or courses?

Currently, we don't provide training courses, but we are open to all requests and are currently developing our content to offer online 1-1 and workshop-based online sessions. Please contact: passthesoundfilm@gmail.com with any enquiries.

•⁠  ⁠⁠Has there been any evolution in the choices of facilitators and/or exercises throughout the process and different filming periods? 

Yes, there has been a lot of evolution over the years that Pass The Sound has existed. We take great care to involve not only our facilitation teams but also our audiences in feedback and future content ideas. This is very important; being able to be responsive to the needs of participants is core to the process of creative group work, so we have tried our best to also be responsive to the needs of our subscribers.

•⁠  ⁠⁠What are the different categories and sub-categories? How can you use/find them? 

The categories we chose to help navigate our content are 3 lead categories and 4 sub-categories.

The lead categories:

Body: music making is based on physical actions generated from our body and mind, this category includes activities that focus on developing co-ordination, inter-dependence, independence, rhythmic skills and much more.

Voice: we can all sing, and we should all sing. Literally and metaphorically this category is about hearing our voices, from creative lyric writing and chorale activities to developing independent vocal skills.

Instrument: we are musicians and we found our way into this work and our professional practice through our connection with our instruments. This category explores further developing the musicians' (or non-musicians') connection with their instrument: instrumental dexterity, improvisation, composition skills and more.

We then have 4 sub-categories:

Skills: craft-based development focusing on up-skilling particular assets.

Creative: everything is creative but these exercises really explore the boundaries.

Warm-Ups: where it all begins, the preparation, the fundamentals, the group, the people.

Workshops: a deeper dive into long-form group facilitation processes.

You can navigate on the home page of our website making combinations of the category 'buttons' to find the exercise that is right for you. Or just type the word into the search function on our website or YouTube Channel.

•⁠  ⁠⁠What are the stories and documentaries about? 

We believe strongly in the force of music as an ignition for our imaginations, to empower our identities, to connect people together and to ultimately create a more inclusive world. Over the years we have been connected with so many inspiring musicians and artistic facilitators that time after time work above and beyond the odds to create empathetic and innovative environments for experiential learning. Our aim is that our Stories section provides a point of contact for these artists and their work to connect with a wider audience. We hope that this can contribute to wider awareness, action and global change.