Making music with innovative digital workshop

STRABANE’S musical talent down the decades is nothing to be sniffed at. From the Clipper Carlton Band and Paul Brady, right through to the likes of Gaze is Ghost, Paul Tully, The Pontius Pilots… and many more.

Now though, budding musicians are being given the opportunity to follow in those prestigious footsteps with a new song writing workshop alongside one of the town’s most well-known musicians, Darren Doherty.

The workshop, ‘An Introduction to Song writing through Digital Sound Production’ is the brainchild of Strabane Community Unemployment Group (SCUG), a community organisation aimed at enabling unemployed members of Strabane to learn new skills through various training courses in readiness for entering or re-entering the job market.

The new project was made possible due to a National Lottery windfall received by the organisation two years ago. One of the first projects undertaken following the windfall was the creation of a digital hub, allowing for the next step.

Project facilitator at SCUG Tim Jenkins said, “We had the idea of introducing a digital music production course in SCUG and I set about looking for a musician in Strabane who would be interested in taking part. I knew of Darren and searched out his music online and I thought he had something. We had a conversation about it and Darren was happy to come on board.

“The three-day workshop will see Darren take people through the entire process, from writing, to producing. The group will decide on genre and lyrics, pen the song with Darren’s help and then go through the process of bringing it to life using software called GarageBand. It’s a great opportunity for people to come together and do something positive. This just adds yet another string to our impressive bow of courses at SCUG and everyone is looking forward to making music.”

Darren, previously known under the pseudonym The Heathen Choir, added, “I’ve done song writing workshops in the past and was delighted to be asked to do one again. I’m looking forward to getting started on the tree day course, which will take people through the process of writing and recording their own tunes, hopefully ushering through the next cohort of talented Strabane musicians.”

The course will take place from August 19 to 21 at SCUG headquarters on Upper Main Street.

l Anyone interested in taking part can contact Tim on 02871383927 or email scugcourses@ outlook.com