Basis of the Education Programme
Ensemble Bash are skilled educationalists, whose experience and ability led them to being chosen as the featured artists in the BT/FMS Making More of Music tour for the autumn of 1995. The tour had the aim of encouraging access to music and the arts through an increased awareness of the role of music in the development of self-expression.

Ensemble Bash have runn summer school courses at both the Dartington (since 1993) and Aberystwyth International Summer Schools and COMA as well as education projects around the country. The Ensemble Bash children's concert, devised as 'edutainment', has also received wide acclaim for its audience participation and demonstrations of Latin American and African music.

Ensemble Bash's ability to link African music with the most contemporary of music, without resorting to being token or patronising, clearly has huge potential for outreach work.
[view sample programme]

The World Tour concert focuses on the music of West Africa and Cuba. Not only is the music of tremendous importance in its own right, but the linking of these musics, and drawing parallels between the two, brings in many extra-curricular points such as the slave trade, and the 'music lines' that can be traced around the world.

In addition, Ensemble Bash has a workshop available for smaller numbers, Shake, Rattle & Bash, in which ethnic percussion styles and composition methods are explored. Both workshops are adaptable for all ages.

Ensemble Bash are Artists-in-Residence for Chance for Children, a charity which seeks to help underprivileged children realise their true worth through musical discovery. A set of workshops with Chance for Children led to a performance on BBC television's Blue Peter.

Plans for follow up material are being constructed at present. If schools or individuals wish to contact the group for further ideas, the members of Ensemble Bash are always willing to help.
[contact ensemble bash]