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Eryri 5:140:00/5:14
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Shifting Skies 11:410:00/11:41
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Seasons String Quartet 12:260:00/12:26
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Lichen 5:140:00/5:14
“How often do you stop and look up at the sky? Really look. Take it in, take that moment to see the moving shifting picture that is ever above. Where does it take your thoughts, feelings? What do you hear? How do you want to move? Get lost in it. That’s where you find your magic. Connection to a bigger force. Humbling and freeing. Be part of an immersive performance of how the skies inspire. Feed off the movement, music and art of others… Look on or become part of it…”
Rachael Diop
musician, composer, teacher, trainer, performer and collaborator
Beginning in New Zealand, growing up in the UK, and spending time in many places in between, has influenced her work and creative endeavours.
Alongside working in music education for 25 years she has written songs and written and performed classical, world and contemporary music. Rachael thrives from working collaboratively with other musicians, artists, dancers and filmmakers and takes inspiration from the natural world and our emotional landscapes creating songs and music where patterns layer and shift.
Biogs:
Medium:
Musician, composer, teacher, trainer, performer, collaborator
Rachael has worked in music education for 25 years - teaching in schools, music hubs, training teachers and running workshops in the community.
She established and ran a music charity in East London in the 2000's working across 3 estates and utilising their community centres, incorporating the cultures, talents and interests of those living there into sessions and resources through face to face out reach work. This involved coordinating groups, running sessions, collecting songs and creating resources, fund raising and daily running of the organisation.
Rachael has been writing songs and arranging music in different genres for 20 years and has more recently been composing programmatic music working collaboratively. (See projects and C.A.I.C pages) She has performed and recorded with chamber ensembles and bands covering different genres from classical to klezmer.
She continues to collaborate with artists and dancers and take inspiration from the natural world and our emotional landscapes, writing songs and music where patterns layer and shift. Her creative endeavours find inspiration from other musicians, dancers, writers, lyricists, artists, photographers, film makers and performance artists.
Long:
Born in New Zealand and traversing the globe has instilled a love of diversity and difference. This reflects in her work and music
From the early days of listening and dancing to her mum’s record collection, to her first visit to the ballet and hearing live orchestral music, Rachael has always loved and breathed music and the movement it inspires.
Studying in Goldsmith’s College, London, brought new collaborations, performing and writing experiences and the beginnings of a lifelong fascination with the link between movement and music.
Returning to her New Zealand roots introduced Rachael to early years education and gave her opportunities to practically apply the principles of Dalcroze Eurythmics and the Kodaly philosophy in music education.
Back in London in the 2000’s Rachael worked with Trinity College of Music, Hackney and Wandsworth Music Services, The Music House for Children and Education Group. She studied the Kodaly philosophy and methodology in more depth and went on to study at the Kodaly Institute in Hungary gaining a PG diploma in music education and meeting musicians from all over the world, sharing traditions and ideas.
On returning to East London, Rachael founded Music 4 You - a charity working with communities living on housing estates in Hackney. Projects included collecting music from the traditions of those living there, and using the children’s songs in the weekly music sessions she delivered at the estate nursery as well as making resources to share with schools and nurseries in the area. Family drumming groups and a street dance group led by young residents on the estate in the under-used community centres were also established.
Throughout these years Rachael was playing at open mic nights, recording and performing with klezmer/reggae fusion band ‘The Alright Alreadies’ and Senegalese group ‘Taara’ at venues and festivals in the UK.
In 2009, Rachael moved to Liverpool with her young children and focussed on music education. She worked with Liverpool Music Service leading the vocal team in a cross-city programme with SING UP! to promote singing in schools. Teacher training has become an increasingly important part of her work with SoMi Academy and The Voices Foundation as a musicianship practitioner.
Liverpool has brought new musical collaborations and session work. With artists Jayne Seddon and Lawrie Vause on educational projects in schools and collaborative music/art pieces.
During her masters degree in Creative Music at Liverpool Hope University, Rachael has composed, danced and collaborated with musicians, dancers, film makers and visual artists in the university and across Liverpool. She is now applying for funding to take these collaborative creative projects to the public hoping to inspire others to be more creative in their daily lives.
music
These compositions are the most recent pieces I am working on in conjunction with the other artists who are part of the collective
C.A.I.C. - Creative Artistic Inclusive Creativity. https://rachaeldiop.bandzoogle.com/c-a-i-c
So what was the seed?
As we were all thrown into a state of separation we’d not known - certainly in my lifetime - those in our bubbles and the connections we had with them were so vital - people realised the most important thing was those we love and the connections we have with them.
Artists found new ways to connect and create and it was apparent through the engagement on the internet -the only way many had to connect with others - that the arts are vital to our wellbeing and fundamental to being human.
Some of us were lucky enough to be able to stay at home and have time we hadn’t in our busy lives and many naturally found themselves drawn to creativity and learning.
The other element people found they desperately needed was the natural world, which recovered remarkably well when we weren’t busy ruining it!
So - confined to bubbles(?!) We adapted.
I was lucky enough to have the fantastic artist Jayne Seddon in mine - we were both working at the same school and designed a collaborative project with the children as well as our own art and music.
The results were to be performed at LightNight 2021. Lockdown meant that the work had to be made into a film as the whole event went online.
Shifting Skies is the result of our own collaboration.
Videos
'Believe in Us (The Children's Song)' was divised in recognition and celebration of Children's Rights as part of the UNICEF-led Liverpool Child Friendly City initiative. (in partnership with Targetted Services for Young People) https://www.childfriendlycities.org/
We collaborated with schools, youth groups and young musicians from Liverpool and ran workshops writing lyrics and creating music.
The resulting song was launched in May 2023 at The Florrie https://www.theflorrie.org/ at a performance event involving over 80 young peoplefrom schools and youth groups across the city.
We are now recording the song for release. All proceeds will go towards supporting organisations and services in Liverpool run by young people for young people.
Press photos
Believe in Us - working with schools and youth groups to write and perform a song that represented the children's feelings, ideas and hopes for their futures.