Mill Shake
A recent Per Cent for Art project in Milltown, Kerry bears testament to the fact that the boundaries of public arts practice continue to be successfully pushed outwards in many ways.
In what was one of the first rock music Per Cent initiatives ever in Ireland, 27 students from Milltown ranging in age from 12 to 17 years and three professional musicians (Peter Baxter and Chris Teusner who are specialist music facilitators with Songschool, and Iain Archer, solo artist formerly with the band Snow Patrol) collaborated to produce a CD after an intensive eight day songwriting session. The resulting CD is amazingly good despite being produced in just five days. For those of us who were worried about the proliferation of empty dance music and manufactured pop, these kids reassure us that our teens are as committed to real music as we once were to the Pixies or Pavement.
A Chance Encounter
Old friends Ruairí Ó Cuív, an independent arts consultant, and Angela Dorgan, director of the Federation of Music Collectives, ran into each other at the launch of the new guidelines for the Per Cent Scheme in December 2004. They chatted about all the untapped potential in the scheme, particularly in the area of rock music. Shortly afterwards, Ó Cúiv was asked to project manage a group of Per Cent commissions throughout County Kerry. The Arts Officer Kate Kennelly and Housing Executive in Kerry were welcoming of new ideas and formats for these commissions. And having recently put together an Arts Plan for the county, they knew who was active in the arts in Milltown and put Ó Cúiv in touch with residents Tomas O’Sullivan and Dan Cronin.
Milltown and Kilcolman
Milltown, the village where the first commission took place, is home to about 400 people. Located south of Tralee and northeast of Killarney, the small village had traditionally been agriculturally based. Kilcoman, the site of the smaller commission, was a close neighbour. Tomas O’Sullivan, a member of the Milltown Arts Committee describes the village, “A while back, maybe 40 years ago, as a village Milltown was dying on its feet, no factories or industry and a lot of emigration. But it has been making a comeback. There is something special about the place that attracts people to settle here. It is coming of age in its own way – we now have a strong organic farmers market, holistic therapists have set up here. I think the arts has some role to play as well in this.”
There was always a strong tradition of music in the area. In addition to having numerous festivals and fleadhs in the village, an active Arts Committee, in which O’Sullivan and about 20 others were involved, had organised a public art piece for the village. The sculpture by Liam Lavery and Eithne Ring commemorates the Hanafin brothers from Callinafercy, Milltown who emigrated to Boston in the 1880s and became successful musicians there.
Meeting of the Minds
When Ó Cuív arrived in Milltown to see what sort of Per Cent project would be appropriate, O’Sullivan and fellow committee member Dan Cronin knew exactly what they wanted – something to benefit the youth in the community. Specifically, they wanted to provide musical equipment for the school or for a local garage band. While Ó Cuív explained this was not within the remit of the Per Cent Scheme, he remembered his conversation with Angela Dorgan and the wheels were set in motion for one of Ireland’s first rock music Per Cent Schemes.
“The whole project seemed so meant to happen. Ruairí had the imagination to think outside the box with the Per Cent for Art Scheme. Then all the ingredients were there. First with Songschool we had the tools to teach all aspects of songwriting and record the songs. Second we had access to the cream of national and international musical talent through the work we do here at the Federation, and the Per Cent for Art Scheme would bring the third component, the opportunity,” recalls Angela. The Federation’s work in promoting musicians in Ireland had brought Dorgan in contact with the three musicians who would prove elemental in making the CD.
The Players
Songschool, run by Baxter and Teusner, facilitate songwriting workshops in schools around the nation and offer all the necessary studio equipment to make on-site recordings. Their technical resources, mobile recording equipment and proven history of making the mechanics of songwriting accessible to students made them an obvious choice for the project.
Dorgan then recommended that Ó Cuív approach Archer. Archer is a rarity in the world of rock; a successful solo artist who, fresh from a sojourn with the band Snow Patrol, decided to take a break to get back to what he had studied and always thrived upon – making music in the community. “I think bringing professional musicians in prompts the kids to raise their game – I know I’d be practising until my fingers fell off – I wouldn’t have gone to bed at all, ” confesses Dorgan.
In local music teacher Dee Coyle, Ó Cuív found a real enthusiast, as eager as he was to get the young people of Milltown and Kilcoman making music. The Per Cent budget would allow for eight days with Archer and Songschool – eight days that would come out of school time in May. “School time is so precious to staff, I had to really sell the idea to the principal and the teachers,” admits Coyle. Junior Cert and Leaving Cert students would obviously not be eligible as they had to concentrate on upcoming exams, but all others could apply. “Our school would normally only have the budget to get Songschool to come down for two days. To get eight days was incredible,” she continues.
The Talent
Notices were placed in the school for students interested in participating in songwriting workshops. 25 places were initially available, a workable number of kids for the personnel involved. “There were some kids that I just couldn’t refuse. They’d have me plagued every day,” admits Coyle, who picked 25 teenagers from Presentation and two talented musicians from the local national school.
Unaware of what was on offer, the initial meeting with Ó Cuív and Dorgan must have seemed like manna from heaven for music-mad teens, 8 days of music with professional musicians. “When we mentioned to the kids at the preliminary meeting that they might be working with an ex-member of Snow Patrol, their eyes just went wide with disbelief, ” relates Dorgan.
Making Music
Songschool began working with the students on May 10, 2005. They introduced kids to the mechanics of songwriting, got them thinking about how songs were structured and what they wanted to express. “Part of the process is giving them the confidence, as well as the ability, to write the lyrics and the music. We try to steer them in the right direction`- give them the impetus. In most kids the talent is there, it’s just dormant. You stir it up and out comes this amazing stuff,” observes Baxter.
“Songschool was amazing. I really stepped into a situation where everyone there was on a path already. It was like hand in glove – everybody was completely in the zone – trying out ideas, working in groups, working together,” explains Iain.
They quickly and fluidly formed into six groups, based on their interests and ideas. Iain arrived three days later and took the kids through some concentration exercises to focus them and tease out their ideas more. “I’ve always believed songwriting is accessible for everybody – the smoke and mirrors don’t exist. Once you help open the doors, you unlock a lot in people. It’s about trying to create a sense of freedom. Great art comes when you have the liberty to express yourself,” explains Archer.
“The massive contributing factor to the success of this project was what was being brought to the table. That amount of constituted talent in one small area is unbelievable,” says Archer. “Time after time my mouth was agape at what the kids would come up with. Often in songwriting, you can work for a long time and you’ll have just one thing really take off and work. Here it happened all the time – the really surprising thing is how many times we had these explosive moments.”
“I was impressed by how much the musicians, Iain, Peter and Chris, respected the kids they were working with; they were very gracious and grateful. There was a great rapport. It wasn’t the typical student/teacher relationship, it was pure teamwork,” finds O’Sullivan.
“When I talk about it I feel like I’m so gushing, so extreme, but it really was such a wonderful experience that I find myself,” Archer laughs, ”completely gushing.”
“There’s something quite joyful about Milltown in that I didn’t find any of that veneer of cynicism you sometimes get in teenagers. There was no pecking order, peer rivalry or peer pressure in the groups and no clashing of egos. Age and gender differences among the kids also faded into the background,” observes Ó Cuív.
Each group came up with 2 songs, but due to time constraints they had to focus on one song for recording. The songs that made it on to the CD have in common lyrics that are heartfelt and music that cuts across the genres. “There’s plenty of songs that I wish I’d written myself,” says Baxter. Get Me Out is moving story of an illness told from a heavenly perspective. In Wonders we hear of a tortured relationship, “…And then I realise it’s you/It’s the way you make me feel/It’s in everything you say and do/It shatters my heart to say it but sometimes I really hate you…”
The Gig
The last day of the project was spent rehearsing for a concert in the local community hall. By the night of the concert the excitement surrounding the project had spread and approximately 350 of the 450 residents of Milltown and Kilcoman packed the hall. “The community support we received was integral to the success of the project. The local music teacher and principal embraced the project with open arms; the parents, the guest house where we stayed – they were all so helpful. Even the Irish dance teacher re-located her classes to a different place when we needed the community hall,” notes Ó Cuív.
Each group performed a song, and Archer added a song about Milltown that everyone sang along to. “The buzz in the hall was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced – and I’ve been doing this a long time,” admits Baxter. “The hall was completely jammed. It was really emotional,” adds Teusner. Dorgan was similarly moved, “I remember on the night of the concert, I cried my body weight.”
After Effects
Community members involved marvel at the transformation that the project brought about in the teenagers. “One thing that I’ve noticed is that a couple of the teens who participated in the project who were quiet and shy have undergone a visible, physical difference. The experience impacted them in a physical way, which is unusual. They carry themselves differently now,” observes O’Sullivan. Dorgan adds, “One mother came up to me and said she usually had a struggle to wake her son up in the morning, but that during the project he was up before her every morning, eager to get to school.”
“Just the other day I saw one of the young fellows, a 1st year student, went straight up to a girl now studying for her Leaving Cert who was also on the project and start chatting away. That is not something you would normally see – the project really crossed a lot of age and gender gaps,” notes Coyle. One of the groups has since gone on to do some gigs in Tralee and is establishing themselves as band.
All the music professionals who worked on the project are confident these kids have a future in music. Says Archer, “There is absolutely no question that if these groups and individuals maintain the rate and vigour they gave to this project, they’re going to do something great.”
The positive reverberations have not been confined to the kids. “It was very, very fulfilling. I learnt a lot from the kids. We still keep in touch with e-mails,” says Teusner. Archer, who is currently busy working on a solo album explains, “I find that any kind of collaborative situation really informs what I do subsequently, whether directly or indirectly. My story, my ongoing story is always about working with other people.”
Collaboration in Public Art
Community involvement (consultation and/or workshopping) is usually now a pre-requisite for most Per Cent projects; project managers and artists try to give residents a sense of ownership of the resulting piece. Sometimes this is simply a feel-good exercise where the community is introduced to an art form. Sometimes the interaction with the community will inform the artist’s vision, if not necessarily altering it. Rarely do the professional artists stumble upon a talent so ripe that the members of the community actually become the main artists, as in Milltown.
Ó Cuív is adamant, “I believe the primary aim of the Per Cent for Art Scheme is to offer artists opportunities to make new work and respond to a context. If there happens to be a by-product such as community cohesion, that’s a bonus, but the Per Cent for Art Scheme is not a tool to achieve a non-artistic goal, such as community development.”
What happened in Milltown and Kilcoman was a serendipitous confluence of beliefs and talent. The community – the Arts committee, the music teacher, the school, among others – brought a real belief in their young people to create worthwhile art. Songschool brought, as Archer puts it, “completely unswerving, deliberate effort” to teach kids the mechanics of songwriting. Archer brought a love of giving people the freedom to make music. The kids brought a wealth of talent waiting to be tapped. Ó Cuív and Dorgan brought them all together and had faith that the resulting work would be of enduring quality and worth. At the heart of the success was the willingness of all the participants to put their faith in the talent of others – collaboration in its purest form.
Judging by the reaction of the community and the music professionals who worked there, the Hanafin brothers will have some company in the annals of Milltown history of musicians who made their mark.