Group Music Making and Devising SEND Summer School

Over the course of four days in August 2025, we partnered with Barrow-in-Furness-based sound art and new music organisation Full of Noises and film composer/saxophonist Annie Macleod to deliver a group music-making and devising summer school for 11-17-year-olds with additional needs.

Throughout this project, we wrote and recorded an album with the participants entitled Music Devised in a Group. The album features individual works from our participants, as well as pieces devised collaboratively.

Music Devised in a Group is available on Bandcamp and other streaming services, and all proceeds raised from album sales and streams will be used to help fund the next iteration of this project.

Listen to an extract of Looping 2 (live electronic version) here --->

Joe Morgen's track, Strawberry Jam in the Sky was the only piece included on the album which wasn't composed exclusively over the course of our summer school.

Prior to our summer school, Tom Culling worked with Joe in a "short breaks" residential home where he delivered group workshops and gave Joe 1-1 lessons. The compositional process for Strawberry Jam began in these sessions, and continued over the course of the following year thanks to Joe's hard work and Tom's 1-1 support.

Click here to watch an interview with Joe about the music-making process. This conversation was recorded in the early stages of this collaboration following one of Tom's workshops in the "short breaks" residential home.

Huge thanks to Full of Noises for supporting in the delivery of these workshops, and for consistently facilitating accessible music-making opportunities in Barrow-in-Furness. This organisation does immeasurable good.

This collaboration wouldn't have been possible without the advocacy and support of Rob Ross, Joe's support worker, for which I am immensely grateful.

This album was produced and edited Tom Culling, mixed and mastered by Fynn Courtney, and released on Central Hob Records.

Please note: This summer (2026), we will be running another iteration of this summer school. We are currently in the process of confirming dates for this. To stay updated, scroll to the bottom of the website to sign up to our mailing list.