Acoustic Rock Week at the Orpheus Centre

Last Friday night I attended a very special show, performed by the students at the Orpheus Centre. These were no ordinary students though, these young adults all had disabilities of varying degrees and were attending the acoustic rock week. This workshop is on every year and run by Russell Barrow with Jon and Jo as the other tutors and other brother Rob as one of the enablers. All week the students work with them to write and compose their own songs and then Friday night is the big performance.

It really is the most amazing show. The songs the students wrote were interesting, funny and some of them very moving. Many of the students were unable to actually sing their songs due to their disabilities but joined in other ways. Other students not only sang really beautifully but also played a variety of instruments. I was particularly impressed with a guy called Andrew who played the keyboards, Hammond organ style so brilliantly, he really was a very gifted young man. There was also Sam on the drums who kept the whole night going with his rhythmic beats. I must admit I did spend most of the show welling up as I found the whole event so moving and very humbling. Music is such a powerful medium and a way of bringing a lot of joy into peoples lives and to be able to write, compose and perform your own song in front of a large audience is a major achievement for anyone but if I could have bottled the positivity and happiness the evening projected I would be a very rich man.