Daniel, Silver achiever

Daniel did his Silver Arts Award involving making and reviewing folk music through the Selby High School in Yorkshire.

Daniel, Silver achiever

Ok Dan, describe what you did for the Silver Arts Award

So, for my Silver Arts Award, part one, I had to give myself an arts challenge – something that was going to challenge me and I decided to pick a grade 8 piece of music that I was going to learn to play for the Selby High School Talent Show. I had to plan this out over a series of weeks and I've kept a diary, that's in my folder. I then had to do it and I had to review my overall feelings and how I thought it'd gone.

I then had to review some arts events in the local area, so I reviewed an up-and-coming rock band who were playing at school. I reviewed a folk group and I also reviewed an art exhibition at York Art Gallery about World War One so it was in my field of interest. And then, for the rest of part one, I had to research some arts career paths: things like session musicians and things that you can do in music and that was really good for me because it taught me things about careers and what I might do as a potential job.

For my part two, I had to lead the Selby Music CentreFolk Group and prepare them for a concert at Easter. And I had to plan out all the sessions, I had to deliver all the sessions that we had to deliver at the concert at the end of term and I had to, once again, review all of my thoughts and how I thought it'd gone.

How did you go about capturing your evidence?

So, to capture my evidence, I have produced a portfolio of evidence, which was really good because it's allowed me to keep all my things in check. It's really clean-cut and coherent and it allows me to present my evidence in a good way as well.

What did you enjoy the most when you did the Arts Award?

The thing I enjoyed the most; I really enjoyed playing at the talent show because it was the first time I'd really played in front of a large audience before and it was really good to share my arts skill with other people and it was a real surprise coming second.

What opportunities did the Arts Award present to you that, perhaps, you might not have had?

I got a chance to audition for the National Youth Folk Ensemble, which was a really good opportunity for me because I've never done anything like that before. I got to play with a lot of professional musicians and it gave us the chance to make some really cool music.

Which part of the Arts Award did you find most challenging?

I found the leadership in part two really challenging because I've never really done anything like that before. I've done quite a lot of presentation but I've never really had chance to lead a group and a lot of people there were older than me so I had to build rapport within the group so I was listened to. And there's also quite a lot of younger ones there where I had to keep their attention and, sometimes, you found they'd be messing about so I'd have to sort of straighten them up. But also doing it in a way that was clear to them but not being too harsh and it's really taught me communication skills and how to work with other people.

Author

Bhavesh Jadva

Bhavesh Jadva Voice Team

Former Media Editor on Voice and former Arts Award Editor on AAoV covering film, TV, music and comedy.

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