De Viggiani, N., Daykin, N., Moriarty, Y. and Pilkington, P. and ...

Participants complained about the shortage of available guitars to practice with during the
week. They even commented the project should buy guitars for them to practice with.
(Site A)
When questioned, staff and participants in some of the custody settings seemed not to know the
regulations surrounding use and maintenance of musical instruments. In some sites, individuals
could have instruments in their possession, but could not access the materials to repair or maintain
them. Furthermore, there was nowhere to practice except in a shared room or cell. In one instance,
a participant brought her guitar along to the session, which was in need of repair, and the
musicians took it away and repaired it for her. They suggested to staff that they could consider
ordering a supply of new strings and a guitar tuner. Having repaired the guitar, however, the young
person was faced with the dilemma of having nowhere to practice.
Diane was completely captured by the lesson and really interested in playing guitar …
Although she may find it difficult to continue practicing regularly, I feel she has learnt a lot in
a very short space of time, and it may be something she could pick up in the future and
seriously begin to play. (Site H)
Music Technology and Recording
In some sites, electronic and digital equipment were used to produce sounds, create backing beats,
for mixing and DJing and for recording. Some of the musicians had not realised that in the custody
settings there would be no access to the internet for drawing on on-line music or video (e.g.
YouTube). In general, participants were curious and sometimes fascinated by the equipment; a
particular buzz arose at sight of microphones and recording equipment.
At the beginning of the session, the musician explained his equipment to the group. They all
listened attentively and one participant in particular asked a lot of questions about the cost
of the recording equipment and where to get hold of it. (Site B)
The availability to the programmes of a professional recording engineer, along with high quality
recording equipment, added to participants’ confidence in the project. The recording engineer was
successful in drawing in the participants, allocating them roles, and managing to maintain their
attention, patience and perseverance throughout the recording sessions. He was able to use an
overdubbing technique which allowed him to work with both individuals and groups to compose
final tracks.
Each track was recorded in sections. This created more work for the engineer in that he had
to combine the different elements, layers and contributions outside the sessions. This meant
making sure that everything recorded was in the same tempo, so that it could be overlaid.
This approach seemed to work really well for the participants, who were able to concentrate
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