Shots of Nicaragua and returning to London.

After an incredible 6 months away I'm back in London! Nicaragua completely exceeded my expectations and I know that everything I learnt teaching English out there can be transferred to my work here. I found the people there to be so warm and generous despite having very little, in some cases. The landscape and scenery are absolutely stunning, Nicaragua is really a hidden gem of CA.

Adjusting back into London life, I am resuming songwriting workshops and teaching piano, clarinet and now english privately so if you would like a workshop/lessons please get in touch through my website actuallyamy.co.uk.

From volcanoes to diverse cities to beautiful lagoons. Here are a few pictures:

 Our Lady of Grace Cathedral, León - the largest cathedral in Central America.

Granada - previously the capital of Nicaragua.
It is one of Nicaragua's most important cities, economically and politically.

Mud pools at San Jacinto - bubbling at 250 degrees celsius!
Said to probably be linked to
Volcan Telica.

Volcan Telica - one of several volcanoes of the Nicaraguan volcanic front.
One of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes.

Laguna de Apoyo - an endorheic lake in the basin of an extinct volcano.

Ometepe Island - meaning 'two mountains'
Ometepe is situated in Lake Nicaragua and made up of  two volcanoes, Volcanoes Maderas and Volcan Concepción.

A few of my students! Academia Europea, Managua.

Fundraiser for Notivate London!

Hello everyone! 
Thank you so much for the text donations so far! I'm running the Hackney Half Marathon in just over a month (eek!) for Notivate London, a truly inspirational creative charity for young people. 

To donate, please visit my GoldenGiving page here: 

https://www.goldengiving.com/fundraising/notivatelondon

This is what Notivate are all about and more info below...

Their brilliant Singer Songwriter course is dedicated to young people to increase self esteem, willingness to take creative risks and the confidence to learn.

I have seen first hand the impact this programme has in these childrens' lives, and the experience stays with them for a long time.
Music has been massively prevalent in shaping me to the person I am today which is why I feel so passionate to do all I can to help give our next generation this opportunity. 

“Very successful in captivating and motivating the children.” (Children’s Fund)

“Brilliantly fantastico!” (Pupil)

Over the six weeks, the children have the space to express themselves, explore their feelings and perhaps try something for the first time.

They become more tenacious, team orientated and able to think creatively.
Isn't that amazing?
I'd love to spread the word and give this opportunity to as many young people as I can!

In case you missed it, here's the link again: 

https://www.goldengiving.com/fundraising/notivatelondon

Thank you so much!

If you feel that this resonated with you, please feel free to share the article with your friends.

With love,

Amy x

'Notivate London' children celebrate their debut song!

This morning we had a 'Notivate London' celebration assembly with the wonderful John Bowman - founder of the Notivate Trust, and heard the debut performance of Sir Francis Drake schools' awesome song! 

So proud of these children! Together they wrote, rehearsed and recorded their song on the theme of 'believe in yourself, never give up'. Lots of discussions were had on how they'd like  the production of the song, who their influences were and what to sing/rap in each section!

Their vocals were recorded at Atomic Studios, South Bermondsey, with thanks to Marcus our sound engineer. 
The song was mixed and mastered by Zoé Beckett for Left Handed Sound - brilliant! 
Here are some photos of their studio day... 

'Believe' by Sir Francis Drake Primary can be found on the website Notivate.org. 
Enjoy!

I'll leave you with a quote I absolutely love on creativity: 

"Why should we all use our creative power? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate" - Brenda Leland

Please comment below and share this article to enable more children to be able to benefit from the brilliant work of Notivate. Thank you!

Fundraiser for Notivate London!

As many of you know, I am doing some work with an amazing songwriting charity called Notivate and have just delivered the first Singer Songwriter course into a south London school, over the 6 sessions, the children will write, rehearse and record their own original songs in a London studio.

Have a look at the singer songwriter course here: http://www.notivate.org/singer_songwriter

“A very imaginative and interesting programme.”
Paul Harris (Music Educationalist)

“Very successful in captivating and motivating the children.” (Children’s Fund)

“Brilliantly fantastico!” (Pupil)

As well as promoting this impactful course into schools, I'll be running the Hackney half marathon to fundraise for another course to be delivered.

Over the six weeks, the children have the space to express themselves, explore their feelings and perhaps try something for the first time.

I'm really passionate about the impact this programme has on the young people, and the lasting results are astounding. They become more tenacious, team orientated and able to think creatively.
Isn't that amazing?
I'd love to spread the word and give this opportunity to as many young people as I can!
To donate, please text NTVT16 followed by an amount of £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070.
Anything you can give, however big or small, is so appreciated. Thank you so much!

If you feel that this resonated with you, please feel free to donate my cause and share the article with your friends!

With love,

Amy x

'Notivate London' Launch!

I'm very excited to announce that I am working alongside Northampton company 'Notivate' to launch their Singer/Songwriter course into London!

A six week programme with a group of twelve young people, aiming to help them to express themselves, explore their feelings and perhaps try something for the first time. It offers children the chance to feel better about themselves and is about music, but is more about "me".

There are six fun, practical sessions, carefully designed to encourage children to realise their creative potential and expand their emotional awareness. Based on ten years' experience of working with over 3,000 children, the Motivate Programme helps to increase self-esteem, willingness to take creative risks and confidence to learn.  

I'm looking forward to putting what I've learnt from delivering my own songwriting workshops into this acclaimed songwriting programme. The first 'Notivate London' Singer/Songwriter course will take place January 2016 in a school in Deptford, South East London.

Watch this space!

Songwriting Project: Garden Community Cafe, East London

We have just finished a five week project at the Garden Community Cafe in East London. Our primary aim is to give as many children and young people in the area a musical outlet in which to express themselves. This workshop aims to improve confidence and self-esteem while providing an opportunity to work in a team.
For this project the young people decided collectively to write their song on the theme of Easter time, have a listen!




Some snaps of a couple of the children at work:

Relocating to London

It's official.. I'm moving to London for September! I've had an incredible journey over the last few years, met some amazing people that I will continue to stay in touch with and had the chance to grow my business to where I want it to be. 

I have a new job as a freelance workshop leader with Nathan Timothy Foundation - 'The Songwriting Charity' headed up by Nathan who is my mentor for the songwriting work I have been doing under Actually Amy.

ActuallyAmy Songwriting and Tuition will be coming with me so I will build that up as I go, getting into the after school market with songwriting workshops.

Having been to uni near London I have always had a lot of love for the city, but now I feel it's the right time to go for it and see what the Big Smoke has to offer...
It's time for change... The bright lights are calling!!