guest speaker – malaki patterson

malaki paterson from themusicworks came in to speak to us about his organisation, their purpose and the job that they do and the resulting effect on the community. he told us all that themusicworks is an organisation set up to change the lives of young people in gloucestershire through music, specifically those in challenging circumstances. we were told that they travel across the county to schools of all kinds to engage with and empower children and young people through music to build motivation, self-confidence and self-belief. he told us about and showed us videos of events they had put on in within the community in the past, including an impressive urban day-festival in gloucester city centre. malaki detailed different types of workshops he has run, told us anecdotes and advised us on our own workshops, based on his own personal experiences. he helped to outline the different routes one can take when making music their profession, from therapist, to practitioner, to events, he was able to enlighten us as to how broad music as a career actually is. malaki’s visit helped us all to better understand, not only the company he represents in themusicworks, but how to make music your full-time profession.