About us
Who are we?
Earthsong Music is a small company with a huge passion for world music.
During the past twenty eight years we have worked in hundreds of schools, delivering quality educational workshops, introducing unusual and fascinating instruments from around the world.
We offer a wide range of music workshops covering many countries/cultures with instruments, costumes, artefacts and multimedia, creating a colourful and stimulating learning environment for each session.
Earthsong have been fortunate enough to have studied with some great teachers from around the world and also collected many fantastic, beautiful and bizarre instruments.
We are not an agency, so you know who is coming to visit and we know you are being provided with a high quality workshop!
About Earthsong
Earthsong Music believe that we all have an innate momentary ‘happening’ inside us when experiencing music and dance. This is unique, personal and perfect to each individual. It bypasses the mind, rules, beliefs and expectations. This ‘feeling’ that is mysteriously gifted to us all, is patiently waiting to be allowed expression outwardly and this is why we are passionate about our music workshops for children. We want children to find THE freedom to be who they are through music dance and rhythm.
Thirty years of experience, a love of world music, a knowledge of different cultures and a collection of traditional instruments, costumes and props are the ingredients to our immersive world music workshops.
Our workshops and projects are educational, interactive, hands on and inclusive. They are delivered in a fun, bespoke and authentic way. We facilitate an opportunity for children to be creative, to experience pride and to develop an understanding perhaps about their own culture or a respect for others. The children also benefit from a social cohesion that happens naturally when music is involved, encouraging teamwork and acknowledgment from classmates.
Earthsong Music has grown organically by word of mouth recommendations. Our three core values are authenticity, inclusivity and self expression.
It is our aim to thread these through each workshop we deliver and to continue to share our multicultural treasures with as many children as possible and hopefully spark in them a desire to explore instruments, dance or culture further, contributing to their growth into more ‘rounded’ human beings.
Storme’s story
Started off just dabbling with guitar at about age11, did rock, blues, etc But I became especially fascinated with the feeling that went with ‘when you just made something up’ and later when playing with others how you could be jamming together then all do the same thing, the same way, at the same time! How was that possible? So I was hooked by this magic of improvisation – this ‘being in a creative flow’. I got drawn into Indian classical music and studied tabla, sitar, voice, mridangam (Drum), then settled with Carnatic Violin and met a very important teacher, Chandru.
I had already started to question what these ‘scales’ and ‘modes’ in music actually were which led me to studying what a note was – and then sound, and vibration and harmonics – a huge and deep subject – which opens up about how this rather wonderful universe is made – and this inevitably leads to how it affects human beings powerfully and positively – often called sound healing.
Around the same time I met Angela. We started taking drums and other instruments into a special educational needs centre as a free regular session and we were soon taught simply by observing, that this thing we are dabbling with, Music, is powerful. We saw profound changes in the people there.
Earthsong was born this way – and then gradually evolved, as if on its own accord, to become our lovely little company.
Sometimes it feels like we’re just lucky to be characters in a great story unfolding!
Gill’s story
Hi I’m Gill.
I have been working as a facilitator with Earthsong Music, since 2015. Angela and Storme invited me to see them in action after I applied to their job advert.
I realised early on that this work was fantastic to be involved in, very special to them and most importantly inspiring and fun to the children.
I have good experience with children. I have two children and have run workshops in schools as a ‘Relax Kids Coach’. I trained in Nia dance in 2014 and this has helped me with facilitating dance in our workshops.
I have a passion for music, dance and a holistic education. I believe that children should have opportunities to learn through the power of music, movement fun and self expression.
EARTHSONG – A brief History
Once upon a time, in the year of 1993
Angela’s friend Vicky had an idea to take music into hospitals. This then led to working with mentally challenged adults who had lived in institutions all their lives. It was at this time they met an inspirational man, Jo Hamilton, who encouraged music workshops in a day centre with teenagers and adults with many disabilities.
One day Angela’s friend introduced her to Storme and this meeting was to be the start of a wonderful friendship and partnership. Storme’s interest in world music was the pivotal point in forming a new path. They were ‘fired up’ to research and pass on experience and knowledge of different cultures around the world. The duo began to provide music workshops to people with special needs and dabbled with corporate work in Europe. Early instruments included a djembe drum, a Didgeridoo, a rainstick and Tibetan bowls.
A call from a school in Hastings set them on the education path and It was then that ‘Earthsong Music’ was born.
Over the years they have visited many faraway places such as India, Japan, Africa and Hawaii to study instruments, dance and culture. Nepal and China also a major influence to their work.
Gradually, over time, they accrued more instruments, including a sitar which Storme was studying and a Chinese Cheung which Angela was studying.
The ‘Earthsong Music ‘ kit, has grown from squeezing it into the back of a car to packing a big van from a garage filled with multi cultural treasures!
Angela and Storme say that none of it was particularly planned and that it has organically grown on word of mouth recommendations. They have a very strong feeling that it was meant to be and that destiny had a hand in it.