Music is a tool that can tell a story, express emotion and educate all at the same time.
With my continued work of developing resources for the Breck Foundation, I felt that creating music was the next way in helping to spread Breck’s story and educating others about the dangers of grooming.
Within my teaching, I have always found that music is a vital tool in helping SEN children understand the mood, tone and story of what they are learning. While creating the three books about Breck for the Foundation (This is Breck, Breck and the Online Troll & Play Virtual, Live Real) I could see there were natural points where you could insert songs to support the story.
So on a drizzly, rainy night in lockdown, I put pen to paper and began writing the first of the three tracks, ‘What If’. This song was written from Lorin’s perspective, and centres around the big question of what could have she could have done differently and how she might feel in the wake of the tragedy.
I worked with my good friend Kate Hawken to build a tune to the words. From this, the ideas kept on flowing, and led to a Breck song, ‘This is My World’, about the wonders of the internet, and a Lewis song, ‘My Game’, a look at the darker side of the tragedy. The team from QM studios (Adam Gelliabnd, Jack Coldrick and Jodie Munday) then offered to take on the songs professionally and produced epic backing tracks.
From this, I began a crowdfunder page to raise £1,500 to produce and record the songs in QM studios and get them filmed by a professional filmmaker. The support, especially through the Covid lockdown, was incredible and we surpassed our target.
We then started our big search for our singers and boy, did the talent come forward. Joe Chadwick, a theatre graduate, landed the role of Breck, Amy Putt took on the challenge of Lorin’s song and Dom Bryant took on the darkest song of Lewis.
Over the course of a week we recorded the music and filmed the tracks with the support from QM studios in Horsham, Sussex, and Angus Hubbard from Loaded Productions. I was extremely emotional seeing how the project had grown, and observing how the songs created an impact on adults, not just children.
The work that these very talented people have created is incredible, and will be a new, exciting and different way for teachers and parents to educate children about online safety.
