Good Vibrations - Gamelan in Prisons

[DavebytheSea]

My daughter's charity "Good Vibrations" is looking for a part-time project manager. Please see full advert in jobs section of the forum:

viewtopic.php?t=2373

Cathy is a lovely person to work for. A highly successful and much respected marketing consultant and fundraiser, she has previously worked with the Globe Theatre, The Council for the protection of Rural England and the Refugee Council.

Good Vibrations has been conceived by her, combining her knowledge of the charitable sector and musical talent with her humanitarian ideals. Now in its fourth year "Good Vibrations" has won wide acclaim in the prison service, having achieved significant breakthroughs in areas where other forms of prison "education" have so far failed.

An in-depth report on self-harm by women prisoners at Peterborough prepared by a team led by Alison Liebling, Professor of Criminology at Cambridge, was recently published in the Prison Journal. It just so happened that Good Vibrations was in the prison when the research was carried out. The article contains an excellent and impartial review of what Good Vibrations is all about.

http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/asset ... er_now.pdf

"Gongs Behind Bars", Cathy's own evaluation of the 2003 Pilot Project, may be found at:

http://eamusic.dartmouth.edu/~gamelan/g ... ehind_bars

[Katharine]

I can't get into your last link, David, so the answer to my question may be there. How did Cathy get involved with gamelan music? Playing the gamelan would certainly involve team work, and might help with some frustrations too.

I have been to several World premieres of pieces involving gamelan and western music in both Brunei and Sarawak - I never knew whether any of the pieces were ever played again!

[DavebytheSea]

I am sure a Google search on "Gongs Behind Bars" would take you to the site - I don't know why the link does not work.

Cathy has always, like her sister Susanna Eastburn (qv Google), had an interest in music. Grade 8 piano distinction (age 12) and grade 8 distinction (age 14 bassoon), she went on to get a full scholarship at Millfield as the Senior Music Scholar. Given a place at Trinity, Cambridge to read Maths, she switched to Philosophy immediately on arrival which she studied in all three parts of her tripos.

I am not sure quite how she got into gamelan, but she has played in the South Bank Gamelan for a number of years now and has been out to Indonesia to sharpen up her skills. She sings gamelan too, and I will try and put a picture of her at the Festival Hall doing just that.




A week or two back, she took part in the first ever UK all-night Wayang at the Festival Hall which was done as part of the re-opening celebrations on the South Bank. This was written up quite amusingly in the Grauniad.