Reflect with Us: song writing project
Reflect with Us: songwriting project
In late 2021, East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure, supported by Creative Scotland with funding from Scottish Government, delivered a song writing project called Reflect with Us.
A series of free workshops was offered at Thorntree Hall, Thornliebank which invited participants to explore their experiences and reflections on the period since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Delivered by Ian Bustard and Rikki Traynor, the workshops helped participants learn about the song writing process, and encouraged them to create their own music, while building confidence and friendships.
The group all had varying levels of song writing or musical experience; from those who had never tried it before to those who had already composed their own work. They worked together as a team to create a collection of songs reflecting their recent experiences, supporting each other all the way.
They also worked with art therapist & community artist, Fiona Rich, to create their own album cover artwork.
The finished music was recorded and given to the participants to keep and there was final celebration at Eastwood Park Theatre, where family and friends were invited along to share in their accomplishments.
The music will be added to the East Renfrewshire Heritage Collection, along with the oral history interviews, photographs and creative writing carried out from another project Beyond 2020: Community Reflections. The output from both project will form an archive capturing some of the East Renfrewshire community’s experience of the Covid pandemic for posterity.
Visit the Songs page in this section to hear some of the music created, illustrated by the album covers that the group produced.