Evaluation

I thought the workshop overall went very well, and there were no major problems, although there are definitely things I could have done to improve.

Firstly, I should have given people more notice with regard to when the workshop was happening, because some people had other things planned, and I only had 7 people there. However, it might not be such a bad thing because smaller groups are easier to work with, and if there had been any more people I would have had to make 3 groups which wold have been more difficult to supervise.

Secondly, the session wasn't as long as I'd have liked. The workshop ran from 2 o'clock to for o'clock, which I thought may be too long, but I underestimated the time it takes for the kids to work together and compose a piece. I gave them a final deadline at the beginning of 3:30, but I had to extend that to 3:50 because they weren't ready. Even then, another half an hour would have been useful, but sadly I had said to the parents that it would end at 4 so we had to stop and do the performances earlier than I would have liked (which explains why the performances weren't quite as polished as they could have been).

On the other hand, the workshop in itself was a success, and the kids did manage to put something together (aided by myself) and performed at the end. They all seemed to enjoy it, which was great, especially at the end - one came up to me and said they wanted to do it again next year!

I think they all learned a new skill; whether it was working as an ensemble for the first time, how to compose a short piece of music, or even how to manage a team (in both groups one person seemed to take natural leadership responsibility for the group). So in that regard, the workshop was beneficial for everyone taking part.

Personally I felt it taught me how to organise people more efficiently, and gave me an insight into the lack of opportunity young kids who play instruments have to work together in small ensembles, let alone the fact that they don't really get the opportunity to compose (alone or with others) because they don't know where to start. I really enjoyed the experience because it let me teach them something that I'm passionate about, and perhaps sparked an interest in small ensemble playing & composition.