Press Change is a 10-day-long youth community journalism project, supporting a small cohort of young people to develop their skills, confidence and agency in raising their voices, whilst exploring local environmental and societal issues across Dundee.
Racheal interviewed young people who engage with youth groups across the city, to hear their experiences, asking them why such groups are important to them. A subject close to her heart that she’s sharing through a powerful mix of original music and curated words from the interviews.
What inspires me?
I think when you’re in the right mindset you can find inspiration in almost anything, but getting into that mindset isn’t always easy and it’s highly dependent on how you feel. Something that usually works for me is finding things that get me fired up, whether it’s something positive or negative or neither or both. It makes my thoughts start flowing and it makes it easier to think about creating things or making a change. Things like music, art or conversations are good examples for me.
What motivated you to take part in Press Change?
Andy from Hot Chocolate mentioned it to me and I thought it sounded up my street, but I wasn't convinced because my anxiety has been really bad the past couple of years and in my head I couldn't possibly see myself being able to go to a new place by myself and manage to stay there for hours. When I have been though, it’s been good and I’ve managed to stay, and when I've not managed to come along, the Press Change team has made it easy so I was able to still participate but from home.
I've enjoyed seeing the space in the Keiller centre and also thinking about how there could and should be similar spaces like that all over Dundee. I also found it valuable that we could choose to present our projects in whatever formats we wanted to because music is my main source of interest when it comes to all things creative.
I had Ableton (the music software) on my laptop for a while and I had been trying to muck about with it, but I wasn’t making much progress. I think having something to hold me accountable was useful because I knew the vision I had in my head for my project. I just wasn’t sure how to execute it. After a good while of teaching myself how to use the software properly, I managed to get my project finished and I really enjoyed the process and it’s given me the confidence to pursue making even more music, so it was nice to have that as a driving force throughout.
About my project
I knew I wanted to do something involving music and I'm quite into IDM at the moment and I've been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin. I thought it would be a good idea to interview some people from community groups in Dundee that are close to my heart. I had a set of questions I asked them to answer, about if and how their group has helped them, what they get out of it and why it is important for the group and others like it to be in Dundee.
When it came to creating my project, I had to go through a lot of trial and error as I was using fairly new software to me. I made the backing track first and then took the audio clips of people answering the questions, listened to them carefully and picked out key words or sentences from each recording. I then cut the clips and arranged them over the top of the backing track and recorded it.
I'm not sure if I used the most conventional method when it came to cutting and arranging the audio clips, but the end result was just how I imagined it would be and I learned something new, so I'm quite chuffed.
What did I discover and find interesting?
Something I found really heartwarming was that everyone who answered my questions all had similar positive things to say.
It was nice actually hearing first hand about the impact groups like Dundee Community Youth Orchestra can have on young people.
Everyone said they feel much more included and their experience of Dundee is a more positive one, especially for some of the students who have come from further afield. I was happy with how articulate and detailed the answers people gave me were – it made my job a lot easier when it came to choosing which bits to include!
Anything else I would like to share?
I was really apprehensive coming into the project and I nearly didn’t end up doing it because I was anxious about it and I wasn’t sure how lenient the team would be about me being there all the time because it’s really hard for me. However, I'm glad I took part because it’s been a good opportunity for me to boost my confidence and reignite my passion for being creative.
