Children's rights - but real ones!
In the first two out of ten days, the children had a lot of ideas for the lyrics of a song. Since they worked on the topic of children's rights both playfully and in the form of theater pedagogy, questions arose such as: What are children's rights? Or What rights should children have?
Children have the right to play and want to do so, but are often chased away by adults, for example from yards, because it is too loud for them. In some districts, children often do not have the opportunity to engage in play. In particular, attention should be paid to the text, since children's rights are mentioned again and again, but in the eyes of the children these are not really implemented. Hence the sentence "Children's rights - but real ones!", or "I say what I like" (often the children are forbidden to speak).
Melody and text – this is how the idea came about
A child had the melody to the song in his head pretty quickly. The supervisor Maike then played it on the guitar and was even corrected several times by the child on how to play the melody 😊 The other children thought the melody was good and so it was accepted.
On the third day, the children were still a bit shy at first, but after Daniel gave a performance and we talked about music and musical instruments, the ice slowly broke. Some of the children already played an instrument and could tell us about it. One child proudly told that his parents were also studying music, and when Daniel reported on the plan for the next few days, the children's curiosity was aroused! During the construction of the instrumental production, many children were very interested in the sound engineering tools. The children were interested in the instruments that were there, such as a small mini keyboard that everyone really wanted to play.
Instrumental and composition – it will be exciting
as ours Audio engineer Daniel was directly on site in the youth club Süd-West (located in the Freiraum Bamberg) to compose the instrumental for the song Children's Rights together with the children, the children were very involved. For example, they demonstrated the guitar melody with vocals and Daniel then recorded the guitar for the final recording. At the same time, other instruments such as drums, bass and a piano were added. Already on the fourth day, a harmony between the children and Daniel could be felt through the good cooperation and a lot of fun at work. The children already had the lyrics to the song ready. During a neighborhood exploration, they wrote down their thoughts and wrote a great text. Everyone was really excited that it all happened so quickly. You could already notice on that day how the children had grown into a team and had a lot of fun making music together. No one was excluded and no one was laughed at because they might sing a note wrong. No, we laughed together!
The fifth day was all about the finishing touches. The children listened to their song again and wondered if something was missing or if something didn't sound so great. Shortly before meeting the children, Daniel had recorded it neatly in the studio and on the bus. Since the music was already finished, the children could now practice their text on the instrumental. So at the recording session a great recording could be made the following week.
Since Peak Studios worked with the children as part of a Spielmobil Bamberg project to create the music and lyrics for the song, it was a pleasant change for the children to use the Spielmobil (and that was a whole truck full of play equipment!) to use.
On the sixth day, Daniel was only there to check the samples. The children had prepared their own choreography and proudly presented it, which they then wanted during the
performance can also dance. It was very nice to see how happy the children were while singing and dancing in a group and also held hands and had fun together. All children were very connected – regardless of their origin.
The first shots
Now came what was by far the most strenuous day for the children. One of the most interesting and rich in experiences in terms of music and production. Together with the children, Daniel recorded all the voices in the youth club in the south-west (located in the Bamberg area). First, all the children who dared to immortalize their voice alone were accepted. They were allowed to sing the entire song alone once. These were ten children. It was a very interesting experience for Daniel as well as for the children themselves and extremely exciting, they even cheered and supported each other. The children sang very well and also had a lot of fun singing, you noticed that relatively quickly. When the children were done with the individual recording, we brought the groups into the open space. In this production process, four groups, each with three children, sang the chorus. Especially here the children had a lot of fun working on something in a team. When the children were done with the groups, however, you could tell that everyone had run out of breath. But you can't blame the children for that, it was a very tiring day. Then, of course, the children were happy to finally be able to play with the toys from Spiel Mobil.
Fine on the instrumental
On the eighth day we could only take care of the instrumental because all parts were already sung. The children could let off steam freely and played, among other things, bongo, flute, played on the mini keyboard and could also deal with rustling. This day was very nice and exciting for the children at the same time. Finally, some of the children were able to show which instruments they play themselves and were happy to try out new instruments. Two of the children played the flute together and were so happy that they could finally use what they had learned. The recordings for the instruments were completed after about 3 hours and then the children still had enough time to devote themselves to playing on the play mobile again.
Presentation of the first results
On the penultimate day, Daniel had already achieved a result in the morning that was presentable with the children. So the children were able to hear their own song in good quality for the first time and were completely over the moon. It was exciting for the children that after such a short time they could already hear the song and recognize their own voice. After that we divided the children into small groups and sent them to Daniel over and over again to create further effects for the song together with them. The children agreed on a subtle delay and it really didn't become more than that. Nonetheless, the children saw the full range of possible effects in audio production and found it very amusing when we converted the children's voices into chipmunk voices.
On the last day, the children performed in front of their parents and in front of the carers. Here the children could hear their completely finished song for the very first time and also perform it themselves and show their own choreography. This was a very beautiful moment and many were moved to tears as the project is sadly coming to an end even though it was so much fun. Chris the Senior Mastering Engineer and Daniel the Audio Engineer were there to watch and listen to the children's performance together. Afterwards there was a big water fight between the children and the carers.
Addendum to the impressions of Daniel Groom and Chris Jones
16.06. On Thursday, Chris Jones - Senior Engineer at Peak Studios - received all the tracks from Junior Engineer Daniel and immediately started mixing the song for the kids. Especially in the chorus, the atmosphere should be great, so that the music also conveys that this is not about one or two individual children, but ALL children have the right to their own rights and care is taken to ensure that these are observed. Finally are
Children also the future! From the first listen, Chris Jones noticed how much children value their rights to be together, develop freely and play together, and that it's not always the small details that count, but the big picture. Therefore, the voices are not always 100% in sync with the others. It wasn't supposed to be a flawless pop song, but to show that every child is an individual and that when it comes to children's rights, it's not about perfection, it's about caring!
17.06 The day of the performance where Daniel Brautigam and Chris Jones were also present. Chris' impression was that at the beginning of the event the children seemed a bit tense and excited, which probably had something to do with their existing performance. When the time came, you could read the anticipation but also the uncertainty about the reactions in the children's eyes. But when the performance was over and applause rained down and "Encore" was shouted, you could really tell how her initial excitement had subsided. They began to laugh and rage - followed by a water bomb battle. The joy that the children broadcast here can hardly be expressed in words and you really noticed how important the project was to the children and how happy they are that their text was strengthened and endorsed by the applause. This positive response to their own work of art also conveyed to the children that it is good to be a child and that they have the right to play and express themselves at any time with the right to develop freely.
