MusicFusion

31/01/2025

January Update:

It’s been great to return from the Christmas break to make some awesome music! Our month has been a busy one…..

Starting with 1-2-1 sessions: Usually, January can take a while to get moving, with Music Leader’s timetables changing, new rotas being released and all sorts to juggle, but we appear to have done alright! 50 x 1-2-1 sessions were delivered this month, over double last year’s!

Our group sessions, Rockschool, The BASE and Beats and Bars, have all been well attended, with artists working on fresh material and setting goals to record original tracks and play live over the coming months.

Matt and Kizz have been working with Sharps Copse School and Front Lawn School in Havant as part of Hampshire Music Service’s ‘Power of Music’ project, helping students engage with the English curriculum via rap. Ben has started back with Cowplain Resilience Centre to support students to reconnect with mainstream education using a variety of engaging activities.

A lot of our trainees are now qualified Music Leaders, so congratulations to Archie, Frankie, Louis and Steven! We’ve also welcomed back Roxy and Simon, to bring our team up to a total of 17. All wonderful to work with, multi-skilled and ready to support the hundreds of young people we work with year in, year out.

Jinx and Mike met with Rusty of Christmas Covers fame. He and the team raised over £2700 for Music Fusion, something that will make a huge difference to our delivery this year. Massive thanks again to the lovely people at Christmas Covers Southsea !

Finally, if you haven’t heard this yet (or even if you have) please give our most recent release a play. It’s original material from the Rockschool attendees. Some amazing lyricism, wonderful melodies and fantastic arrangements, there’s something for everyone on this one!

6 track album

30/01/2025

We love Alfie's amazing performance of his original song, 'One Take.'

Give it a play!

Rockschool Showcase 2024‘Music Fusion is more than just a music charity. We are a young person friendly recording studio near Portsmouth UK. We access and en...

27/01/2025

This is the moment Rusty got his flowers from Jinx.

The flowers were to say a massive thank you to Rusty Sheriff and the busy team of elves behind the Annual Xmas Covers Party 2024. Not only did they put on a grand night of local band mash ups doing wacky covers, but they also raised a whopping £2752 for Music Fusion.

£2752 goes a long way at Music Fusion. It pays for 10 hours of studio time with an industry producer every month, for a whole year.

It is tough to admit, but as Music Fusion work with more and more young people, with more acute needs, we also find ourselves struggling to draw down basic levels of funding.

Rusty Sheriff, his team, the bands and the people who came to support the cause, are all effectively, compassionately, and ethically supporting our next generation of young people. I find the whole thing almost as beautiful and Rusty with his flowers.

Have a positive day people.

22/01/2025

Have you heard this amazing original by Lilly yet?

from the album Hope

14/01/2025

Still in awe of this incredible original track written by The Rockschool Collective. It brought the house down at the Showcase last year!

All performances are now live on our YouTube channel. :)

Rockschool Showcase 2024‘Music Fusion is more than just a music charity. We are a young person friendly recording studio near Portsmouth UK. We access and en...

09/01/2025

Trooping through your first week back? Here's some inspiration for you!!

All performances form our Rockschool Showcase are uploaded to our YouTube channel, check them out!!

Rockschool Showcase 2024‘Music Fusion is more than just a music charity. We are a young person friendly recording studio near Portsmouth UK. We access and en...

06/01/2025

Back to it! We hope you had a nice festive break, let's make some great music in 2025!! :)

Here's a video from our awesome Rockschool Showcase, with the band covering Florence and the Machine's track 'Dog Days.' :)

Rockschool Showcase 2024‘Music Fusion is more than just a music charity. We are a young person friendly recording studio near Portsmouth UK. We access and en...

20/12/2024

2024 Thank Yous!

What a year it’s been! Thanks to all who have supported Music Fusion in 2024. Every like, share, donation and spreading the word in general really does help!

Thanks to our funders this year; Youth Music, UK Youth, Blagrave Trust, OPCC, Vivid Plus, Children In Need, Hampshire County Council, The NHS, CO-OP and The Portsmouth Cultural Trust.

Big shout to our friends at Lumico for donating studio equipment that has really switched up our recording game and Asda for funding our studio Glow UP.

Thank you to our amazing team of Music Leaders and Trainees! Hats off to all of you, you’re making a massive difference to the young people you support, week in, week out.

Thanks to the team at The Spring Arts Centre for making us and our attendees feel so welcome and at home.

Finally, thanks to all our incredibly talented young people, we give you opportunities, but you do the hard work! Thanks for inspiring us on a daily basis, we’re super proud of you all.

Merry Christmas, keep your eyes peeled for some awesome Rockschool videos appearing soon!

18/12/2024

27th Dec! A wonderful night raising money for Rowan's Hospice and Music Fusion.

Expect some great takes on classic and modern covers, plus an amazing atmosphere.

We’re thrilled to finally announce the lineup for this years Christmas Covers Party at The Wedgewood Rooms on 27/12/24.
Eagle-eyed typography fans might be able to work out some of the acts involved...

17/12/2024

Massive thanks again to Lisa, Katy and the team at Asda for their super generous water donation! Keeping our young artists hydrated during sessions and events!!

09/12/2024

What can we say?? The Rockschool Showcase was an incredible night! So many different styles, so much heart!

Massive thanks to all the amazing artists who performed, to Neil, Archie, Leon and the rest of the team for putting on such a great night, plus to all who braved the weather to show their support!

Here's a link to the newly released EP of originals from Rockschool attendees, please give it a listen. :)

https://strongchoicemusic.bandcamp.com/album/hope

Photo by the talented Joe Watson. Loads more photos and videos to follow!! :)

06/12/2024

Rockschool is nearly ready for blast off! Doors now open, show starts at 7pm!

03/12/2024

November Update:

We have broken a Music Fusion record this month! 83 x 1-2-1 sessions have been delivered by our amazing team of Trainees and Music Leaders in November! Thanks to everyone for all their hard work, it’s been great to see so many young people making music they love. For context, the previous record was 60, so we’ve really gone all out!

Group Sessions and School Provision have also been super busy this past 4 weeks, with Matt and Kizz delivering at Sharp’s Copse School for HMEH’s Power of Music Project, Ben working with the students at Cowplain Resilience Centre, plus great attendance numbers at The BASE, Beats and Bars and Rockschool.

The Rockschool Team have been busy prepping for the Showcase this Friday 6th December, plus on an original EP to be released very soon! We’ve heard some tracks already and they have honestly blown us away. The musicianship, songwriting skills and amazing vocals are testament to all the hard work they put in throughout the year. Join us this Friday from 6:30pm to celebrate their 2024!

There were various other great wins this month; Jinx and Mike visited BBC Solent to chat about Music Fusion and the funding we’ve received from Children In Need, Sarah’s young artists from Jam Café visited us to record a track, we went to a wonderful exhibition at Park Community and had some lovely donations we’ll be thanking people for soon on socials!

The Mavericks Hometown Project was successfully wrapped last week, with round ups from the team. It’s been an insightful and positive journey, working with partners like East Hants Mind and OPCC to give young artists a voice, plus address important issues in our community. So many highlights; regular tracks releases, documentary footage, amazing performances, VIP days and more! Here’s a special music video of a track by STB The Kidd, filmed and edited by the talented Jay Harris.

Facilitated by Music Fusion, The Mavericks are a team of young people, a series of award winning albums, documentaries and live performances, plus a network ...

28/11/2024

Mavericks Hometown Round Up (Jinx's Version)

Our young people restore my faith in the future. Let me explain...

The team at Music Fusion have just wound up a 12 month project. When we asked our young people what the theme should be for this album, they all said, “We need to focus on our home town”. So this year the Mavericks focused on the Portsmouth postcode and surrounding areas. One album, a documentary series and Celebration event later. By working with our young people, what have we learned?

1. That our young people worry about drugs, knives and crime in their communities. In their experience, the cause of this youth crime / violence is lack of opportunities; and food, money, housing, education and employment.

2. The role music has to play is important. The criminal lifestyle is glamorized by drill music. Some young people do aspire to be a criminal because of it. However, the music will only ever be a result of the lack of opportunities for our young people. Fix the problems in our communities and the music will change to.

3. The role that Music Fusion plays is vital. The Mavericks HomeTown project targeted young people who were disengaged and disenfranchised. We gave them somewhere to go, something to do, and a cause to get behind. Through music we gave them a voice, and a platform to be heard. With this power comes responsibility. I am proud of the honesty, integrity, authenticity and credibility of what they have produced. With Music Fusion’s support, their legacy is to be role models to those young people still on the edges of our communities.

It is quite astonishing what our young people have achieved. However, they have only been able to do so much through the support of a great team of music leaders, partners, friends and families. We have learned that our work affects a lot of people, and that we are all in this together.

How can you help? Play, like, share and comment on the young people’s music and videos - this helps enormously. Make a donation to support Mavericks via our website - we're always grateful for every penny.

• https://musicfusion.org.uk

If you are a rapper aged 14-25 who wants to use their music to instigate change, then get in touch. Or can you introduce us to amazing people who could help to amplify or fund our work. We particularly want to talk to any 'named artists' or music brands who are looking for an authentic and credible cause to support, so please do recommend us.

Finally Thank you to the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner and Rusty Sheriff’s Xmas Covers Crew for funding this album, documentary series and epic celebration event.

https://youtu.be/DTQSaaU3jOM?si=Lvasp-wDScoThj6J
Music Fusion - more than just a music charity

Facilitated by Music Fusion, The Mavericks are a team of young people, a series of award winning albums, documentaries and live performances, plus a network ...