Song-writing with ‘Mama Stone’ at The Maynard School

20 Jun 2013

Upper 4 students took part in a special ‘off timetable’ song writing day on Friday 7 June, performing their own song compositions to two time Grammy award winning musician and Sound engineer Jonathan Joseph.
The girls have been focusing on song-writing in their class music lessons this term, and have been working on their own song compositions for the last few weeks. During the day they spent time with Jonathan to make the finishing touches to their work, and performed their finished songs at the end of the day. Jonathan adjudicated and chose a winning song, as well as giving each group constructive feedback.
Jonathan and his wife Wendy (who is singer Joss Stone’s mother), founded Mama Stones, the live music bar in Exeter. In the early days, Mama Stones was solely focused on providing tuition and workshops for young musicians and vocalists. Wendy and Jonathan ran workshops from their home, and offered recording facilities, song writing sessions and vocal tuition.
The day was a great success, offering students the opportunity to develop their creativity but also their ability to work as a team, manage their time and cope with new challenges and situations. The experience of working with a top music industry professional was a rewarding and memorable activity for those involved.