Migdalia van der Hoven – drums and percussion

J Fashole-Luke – keyboards

Wikus van der Hoven – EWI

Philip Wain – bass

Composition by Philip Wain

Audio mixing by Wikus van der Hoven

Video editing by Migdalia van der Hoven

I was asked by Well Grounded to create something to celebrate their #supportthe234 project. Well Grounded are a social enterprise that support people into paid employment and the 234 refers their graduates they have supported through Lockdown. I had the concept of a short musical exercise built on the ii, iii and IV chords of the C major scale. one each chord the 2nd, 3rd and 4th intervals form the melody on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th beats of each bar. To make it more musical, a non-diatonic note was included in the 2nd bar and a little melodic twist in the 4th bar. Of course with musicians as good as these, it sounds nothing like an exercise, even with the limitations of lockdown home recording.

I wrote a rough score here https://www.noteflight.com/scores/vie… and added a guide bass (which ended up being kept). Migdalia created the incredible groove with the bass and the Jay added his own harmonisations and incredible playing and shaping of the piece. This left space for Wikus to add texture and dynamics over the tracks and fully shape the dynamics. This shaping of structure continued with his mixing of the audio, further highlighted in Migdalia’s video edit as she brings the musicians in and out of the viewer’s focus.

Well Grounded is a social enterprise based in London that offers free specialty coffee training, mentorship, and job support to local people who have faced barriers to employment. Over the last 4 years, they have qualified 234 Graduates and supported them into jobs across the coffee industry. Due to the coronavirus, many of their Graduates have lost their jobs, fallen ill, or have been faced with difficult living and financial situations. Their underlying needs make them extremely vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic. Well Grounded has seen a 400% rise in Graduates in need of urgent help. The support they are offering virtually provides mental health coaching, job matching across other industries, food parcel deliveries, and online learning and development. If you’d like to donate or learn more about this campaign, check out their Crowdfunder page or follow the campaign on social media @wellgroundedhq (Twitter and Instagram).

Donate here https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/…