Sounding Out: Make Music at the John Willie Sams Centre 🎶
Every Wednesday, the Youth Room at the John Willie Sams Centre in Dudley comes alive with Sounding Out — a music group for young people aged 11–18 who want to sing, play, write, record and perform. The best part? The sessions are shaped by you.
Since January 2025, Sounding Out has been meeting weekly from 4–6pm, giving young people the chance to create music in loads of different styles, learn new skills, and make friends along the way.
What we’ve been up to:
In Summer term 2025, Sounding Out has been all about creativity and trying new things:
- 🎤 Vocal workshops – led by the incredible Bernii Mac. Helping to boost the groups confidence and performance skills
- ✍️ Songwriting sessions – led by the talented Eleanor Cully Boehringer. Where the group wrote their first group track. We learnt loads of new tips and tricks when it comes to Songwriting.
- 🎧 Recording and production workshops – led by producer and our very own Andi Anderson. The group recorded, built on and produced the original song together. Listen to the result below!
When the Rain Falls – Sounding Out!
It’s been amazing to take an idea and turn it into a finished track as a group!
Reaching out into the community
Sounding Out isn’t just about our weekly sessions — this term we’ve also been taking music out into the community.
✨ We teamed up with Out of Sight, a brilliant Dudley-based charity, to run outreach workshops delivered by Konnect Audio CIC. Young people got to dive into digital music production, mixing instruments, percussion, MIDI and tech to create their own beats and tracks.
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✨ We also delivered two half-day workshops at John Willie Sams Centre for 2 schools: one with Year 10 students at Cramlington Learning Village, and another with Year 6 pupils from Burradon Community Primary School. Both sessions gave students the chance to explore music in new ways, try out different instruments and technology, and experience even more creativity of music making.
It’s been brilliant to see young people in different places getting the chance to make music their own.
Summer holiday event 🎉 On 30th July 2025, Sounding Out hosted a big summer event at John Willie Sam’s Centre — and it was buzzing! Young people got stuck into:
🥁 Dhol drumming with musician and teacher Rosh Singh
🎵 Making beats with GarageBand with David Smith (Sapien Records Ltd)
🎹 Digital music production with Konnect Audio CIC, mixing instruments, percussion and tech to create live music
There were also live performances, arts and crafts, Pizza and even face painting — a proper summer celebration of community, fun and creativity.
Be part of Sounding Out!
Sounding Out is back Wednesdays (term time) from 24th September 2025 4–6pm at the John Willie Sams Centre Youth Room. We’ve got some great things planned for this next term, but we want your input too! Whether you’re into singing, playing, writing, producing, or just want to try something new, there’s a place for you here.
Bring your ideas, get involved, and let’s make music together.
