The Midi Music Company launches pioneering course for Deaf young people with Deaf Rave

11 October 2012

South East London charity The Midi Music Company has joined forces with Deaf community and culture organisation Deaf Rave to create and deliver a tailor-made music production course for Deaf young people, starting this September.

The project has been six years in the making. The initiative has been developed with the support of Attitude is Everything, who help make live music more accessible to Deaf people in association wit venues, artists and the music industry.

The Midi Music Company has received funding from the City Bridge Trust for a two-year pilot programme. Using this funding, signers, including Troi Lee from DeafRave have been recruited, and a projector and screen have been purchased. Along with the funding, the project has attracted in-kind support from Anywhere Speakers Ltd, who has provided 13 WoweeOne vibrating portable speakers.

A month of taster sessions has already taken place, led by Ahmad Dayes and assisted by Vince Brady. Initial feedback from participants has been hugely positive, with students benefiting and learning greatly from the experience.

The project aims to explore how The Midi Music Company may support the programme further, outside of the lessons. They aim to promote the course to the wider Deaf community, as well as providing rehearsal and recording space access for participants.

Deaf Rave Music Production is still very much in its infancy, but is the first of its kind anywhere in the UK. After this initial pilot programme, The Midi Music Company and Deaf Rave are hoping to be well on the way to establishing a pathway for Deaf young people to develop their music production skills and gain a greater understanding of the industry.