We are very grateful to Dawsons Music for their donation to this project. Dawsons Music is sponsoring the main prize for the best young composer in Liverpool, St Helens, Burnley, Preston and Fleetwood.

We had some fun during the photo shoot.

Brain machine provide a digital channel between the brain and the physical world. Human brainwaves were first measured in 1924 by Hans Berger, who termed these measured brain electrical signals the electroencephalogram, literally "brain electricity writing". The fact that a machine can read signals from the brain has sparked the imaginations of scientists, artists and other enthusiasts. Composer Alvin Lucier, in 1965, composed the first musical piece using EEG: Music for Solo Performer, a piece for percussion instruments played by the resonance for the performer's EEG.
It takes many thousands of underlying neurons, activated together, to generate EEG signals that can be detected on the scalp. Thanks to Brain Machine UK our project moves on.

You can attend Luciana Haill and others free workshops at Fact+ in Liverpool on 21 and 22 February 2014/ 12-4pm.

Many thanks to Oxford University Press for their investment into schools' music education as sponsors of the second and third prizes for Young Composers' Awards.

Finally, I am very honored to announce Ian Kellgren, chief executive of Drama UK, as the Heart Variations concert tour compère!

Ian Kellgren is an award winning theatre director and an experienced and innovative arts and media consultant.
Ian began directing as an assistant director at the Royal Court Theatre in London, rising to Literary Manager, before becoming Artistic Director of Durham Theatre Company and the longest serving Artistic Director of the Liverpool Playhouse, where his work included The Ruling Class, Beryl Bainbridge’s An Awfully Big Adventure and a number of musicals such as Chicago, Gypsy, Camelot and Imagine, which he co-wrote. He has directed over eighty productions and received a number of regional awards including Director of the Year and two of his productions were nominated for Olivier Awards.
As an arts consultant, he undertook a five-year engagement with the National Council for Drama Training.

We call it education through friendship and laughter.

A place where you want to go back to.

We are obliged to Liverpool City Council and the mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson for the sponsorship

The curiosity of the students in the brain musical notes and gifted minds are the awards for us.

Heart Variations project agrees to collaborate with the North West heart charity Heartbeat.

What can be more surprising than meeting so many strong personalities and wise girls?

And what could have been better than engagement and hope to increase the numbers of female composers?

“Whoever wants to understand much, must play much”, German essayist Gottfried Benn.

Our last workshop in St Helens left us with a few thoughts in our minds. The creativity of students is enormous, as well as the teacher’s influence.

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts”, Clive Staples Lewis.

The winners of The Young Composers Awards are:

Matthieu Woodburn "Brain Wave"+
Josh Heaton "Brainwaves"+
Abbie Jenkins "An Autumn Evening"+
Harrison Collins "A Touch Of Eastern Promise"+
Josh Ward "Gehirnzellen"+
Heather Spenser "Brain Harmony"+

Another day of workshops happened in Liverpool. St John Bosco Arts College is a very well organized and hospitable school with smoothly working teachers and a very friendly atmosphere. We were honored to meet music teacher Christine Finnegan and her students who left an impression of being an intelligent and communicable team.

Referring to previous workshops’ feedbacks we delivered a slightly modified programme, offering even more interaction and games, learning through play and step-by-step technique during the workshop. The improved scheme definitely boosted the students’ self confidence required to engage in new experiences and knowledge.

What a magnificent opening night of the tour. We were full of tears and smiles, thoughts and silence. Just... listen to your heart.

Reviews

We delivered our last creative and educational biofeedback and composition workshop in St Helens. Not only we taught the students, but they educated us as well. To reach this mutual exchange, one needs to be ready to grow not only as a teacher, but also as a person. Exactly this kind of connection we experienced between music teacher Daniel Owens and his students. We fulfilled our entire programme and it left no doubts about the potential of these amazing students.

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts”, Clive Staples Lewis.

Once Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, said: “Play is the work of children”. If you ever have a chance to apply this quote in practice, please, don’t hesitate. In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.

I think this is the answer why the student group of music teacher Samantha Stott from Unity College demonstrated such unique originality and natural freedom. They like playing!
It was nice to observe and feel a sense of team spirit, togetherness and accomplishment through creative imagination and by overcoming shared difficulties with and without adult help.

“Whoever wants to understand much, must play much”, German essayist Gottfried Benn.

We will premiere two absolutely new, inspiring and high quality music works for string quartet by composers Meike Holzmann and Ian Stephens. We will announce the winners of the YOUNG COMPOSER’S AWARDS. The music of Ian Stephens and Meike Holzmann and the winning compositions of students will be performed by the charismatic and sensational Liverpool String Quartet along with an entertaining and narrative programme, refreshments and after party with the participants.

The first workshop day of our project.

Thanks to the wonderful staff and head of music Rosemary White’s help and lovely coffee, we managed to fully achieve our goals of the workshop. We delivered three presentations in theory about EEG and brainwaves, string quartet and string instruments, also composition and music software.
We were impressed and delighted to get to know so many talented, creative and friendly students. High quality interaction and communication skills between workshop participants and the HV team enabled smooth and enjoyable practical activities like recording and analyzing individual EEGs, exploring techniques of string instruments and trying different composition patterns.

We call it education through friendship and laughter.

We are half way through with our tour. Preston was a very special place to be. Nicely maintained, the old Playhouse Theatre is alive with its history, it stands out from a different dimension, where physical time stops and memories become vivid. One could realize the fact that since the concert in Liverpool Ian's and Meike's music started its independent journey through people's lives.

The Young Composers Awards made this evening even more remarkable. Harrison Collins, Abbie Jenkins, Josh Ward, Heather Spenser, Josh Heaton and Matthieu Woodburn left us without any doubts - great potential which must not be lost.

Listen to the students' compositions:


Matthieu Woodburn "Brain Wave"+
Josh Heaton "Brainwaves"+
Abbie Jenkins "An Autumn Evening"+
Harrison Collins "A Touch Of Eastern Promise"+
Josh Ward "Gehirnzellen"+
Heather Spenser "Brain Harmony"+

We continue our workshops in Thornton where we received a lot of help and gratitude from head of music Clare Hill, music teacher John Power, technician and students. More amazing talents, laughter, hard work and sweaty hands and foreheads! The winner of attention this time was IBVA brainmachine and the brain musical notes.

We were impressed how students are flexible with their ideas and find their own ways to compose. Finally we listened to over 15 new beginnings of works for string quartet.