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Beginning in early 2019, musician Tom Doughty will be undertaking a UK-wide tour to each of the 12 Spinal Injuries Centres.

An acoustic lap slide guitarist, performer, songwriter, recording artist and teacher, Tom is a respected musician and is well known in the UK and internationally.

Tom has a permanent spinal injury, caused by a road accident in 1974 when he was 17. His condition has remained the same, but through designing and adapting equipment and years of persistence and hard work, Tom has developed his own truly unique way of approaching and playing his instrument, enabling his music to be heard and accessible to all.

Tom’s philosophy is very much ‘If I can do it, you can do it’, stressing the value and importance of creating and listening to music. Additionally, for someone with a severe spinal injury, he will also demonstrate that the skills, fitness and strength required to play a slide guitar can offer a stimulating and motivating rehab tool. 

In 2012, Tom embarked on a similar tour when he visited the 12 UK Spinal Centres where he was greeted with enthusiasm and support. At each centre, rehab staff and up to a dozen people with similar disabilities to Tom participated in a teaching workshop. Additionally, Tom provided a concert and a guitar with equipment was left at each hospital to allow the idea to germinate. Tom also provided lessons through Skype to those participants who were keen to develop their skills.

Tom explains:

“When someone has a Spinal Injury, it is a time of massive change and upheaval in life, yet it is also an opportunity to have time to learn and re-learn new ways to be creative.”

Tom will be visiting London, Aylesbury, Salisbury, Cardiff, Oswestry, Southport, Sheffield, Wakefield, Middlesbrough, Glasgow, Dublin and Belfast,  spending a day at each centre and bringing guitars and equipment for up to 10 participants. A second guitar and adaptive equipment will be donated and Tom has recorded several instructional videos which will be permanently accessible through the internet.

The tour will be launched ahead of the hugely popular Craig Ogden’s Guitar Weekend at The Bridgewater Hall from Friday 27 – Sunday 29 January 2019 where Tom will be appearing.

The Bridgewater Hall are the main funders of the project in partnership and with generous support from Creative United, Take It Away, The Paraorchestra and Friends, Shure, Korg UK (Takamine Guitars), John Hornby Skewes, Diamond Bottlenecks and TSW Engineers Ltd.

Tom will perform at Craig Ogden’s Guitar Weekend at The Bridgewater Hall on Friday 25 January. More Info

Paula Wilson, Learning and Participation Manager at The Bridgewater Hall said:

“Tom has a longstanding musical relationship with The Bridgewater Hall and is always very popular with audiences for his musicality and good humour. Tom’s work in the UK spinal units has the potential to be an incredibly transformative experience for people who have experienced a spinal injury, whether that be gaining a useful new skill to aid rehabilitation or discovering the joy of learning to play a musical instrument for the first time. We are excited to be supporting Tom to deliver this important project in 2019.”

Mary-Alice Stack, Chief Executive, Creative United added:

“Tom is a hugely talented musician and we are delighted to be supporting his 2019 tour of spinal injury units. Through our Take it away scheme, Creative United wants as many people as possible to get involved in learning and playing music. We hope very much that Tom’s tour will provide the practical support needed to encourage other disabled people to discover the lap guitar and develop their musicality.” 

 Jonathan Harper, Chief Executive, The Paraorchestra & Friends, said:

“Tom has been a member of The British Paraorchestra for over six years now and it is an absolute privilege for us to support this initiative. It is beyond any doubt that creativity and the arts have a role to play in health, well-being and recovery. Tom’s exceptional playing and his candid, encouraging style of communication is sure to create a positive impact on this tour.”

Anthony Short, Sales Director, Musician & Consumer Audio, Shure added:

 “We have only recently been introduced to Tom and begun to learn about the incredible musical journey he has embarked upon. It is a pleasure to be able to support him and we wish him all the best for the forthcoming tour.”

 Alan Scally, Takamine Guitars / KORG UK said:

 “Tom Doughty is without doubt a fine and emotive player who has used his unique set of circumstances to create a truly individual style. Takamine Guitars are proud to support Tom on his musical journey.”

Ian MCWee of Diamond Bottlenecks explained how Tom uses their product:

“Tom Doughty is a truly unique slide guitarist and we are proud to support him. We got to know him through originally through supplying a couple of custom-made lead-crystal glass slides – but to facilitate Tom’s amazing slide style he needed extra weight without increased slide diameter. Tom designed and created the prototype of this featured slide and asked the team at Diamond Bottlenecks to produce his idea of what we consider to be the perfect all-round guitar slide.”

Gavin Higgins, Managing Director, TSW Engineers Ltd said:

 “I wish Tom good luck with his tour, I expect it will be a great success.”     

If you would like to attend or need more information please contact

Shelagh Bourke on 07971 819016 shelagh.bourke@bridgewater-hall.co.uk

Tickets for Craig Ogden’s Guitar Weekend

www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk

Telephone:  0161 907 900

In person: Box Office, The Bridgewater Hall, Lower Mosley St, Manchester, M2 3WS

Notes to editors

About Creative United

Creative United is an entrepreneurial community interest company, and Arts Council England (ACE) funded ‘Sector Support Organisation’, that strives for economic growth and social impact in the arts, cultural and creative industries. Creative United runs the Take it away scheme which gives music-makers backing with interest-free loans for musical instruments, equipment, software and tuition, helping to support musicians at every level.

Your dedication has been celebrated by BBC Music Day in recent years, you were named as an Unsung Hero. What advice do you have for aspiring community leaders who want to make music more accessible to more people?

Recognise that anyone and everyone should be encouraged to have music in their lives because it changes lives. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how old you are or what type of music you like. Music should be for everyone. Be kind and honest and laugh a lot. Treat everyone as an individual and be yourself.

Why do people sometimes feel excluded from learning or playing music?

Cost and affordability. There’s no doubt that music can be an expensive pursuit. Lessons are out of the reach of many families, particularly in these austere times. We need to find ways to subsidise and support learning and playing because music changes lives. It’s a way of expressing emotions. It improves communication skills and self-confidence. It makes people smile.

We also need to tackle things like gender stereotypes e.g. girls playing drums, boys playing flute. Geographical isolation in rural areas is also a factor, as is social class-based hang-ups “that’s not for people like me etc”.

Another factor is being intimidated by the environment – some places can feel daunting to go into. Music shops sometimes focus only on selling products and don’t really care about the individual. My experience growing up, was going to music shops and not feeling that I could try out instruments because I wasn’t good enough, being shown up by shop assistants and, in some cases, other customers.

Here at Core we all try to make sure that our customers are welcome to try out any instrument regardless of the price tag, their experience or their age.

We really believe in what we are doing here and I think people buy into the concept that when you spend money with us all the profit is used to improve our facilities and services. What we need is more investment and more places that are willing to adopt a social enterprise approach to business. Less greed and more sharing.

Do you think there is room for improvement in primary or secondary school music education?

Without a doubt. The focus in many schools now seems to be on those subjects that are seen to be more academic than music e.g. maths, science. It also seems that there is a focus on “will studying this subject lead onto a career where I can earn money”. This completely misses the point when it comes to music as it can enrich life in so many ways; Making friends and being part of a social group, self-esteem and confidence, enjoyment and fun! 

Why is it that so many schools seem to be joyless places now? Not all of them obviously, but there’s no doubt in my mind that there is increased pressure to pass exams and get good grades, inspections, budget cuts, behaviour issues, stressed out teachers, stressed out students.

The children we see here at Core Music for lessons all leave with a smile on their face and our waiting lists are growing by the day. I think we will regret hugely the lack of investment in music education not only in schools but in general.

How do you support young people in continuing to learn and play music?

Every young person who comes through our door is treated as an individual. We get to know them. We help them look after their instruments. We give advice and information. We develop new projects, workshops, sessions, holiday activities which encourage engagement and fun. We take them seriously. We listen to them. We offer opportunities to get involved as volunteers and through work experience and apprenticeships, and in several cases become teachers themselves.

To date, seven young people who started coming to Core when they were very young have gone on to teach here. Some have gone on to join bands who have been signed to labels and are winning awards. Every Christmas young people who have moved away from Hexham come back to be with their families and they all call in to see us here and let us know how they are doing.

And, for those that need it, we teach them how to make a good cup of tea! I’ve met parents who have told me of their delight when their son came home from a day with us on work experience and made them a cup of tea for the very first time and without being asked!

What changes have you seen in people who come to the centre?

Increased self-confidence and self-esteem. I notice that as people come and go at Core they become more able to engage in conversation. Particularly the shy ones! It’s great to be able to build up relationships with individual people and find out how they are doing in various parts of their life. We become confidants and mentors almost by accident!

I especially enjoy seeing students who are differently abled becoming more confident and really engaging with their lessons. We have a number of students who are autistic and have been coming to Core for several years now and in all these cases the parents have told us how much it has made a difference to their children’s lives.

These are the things that keep us going through all the challenges we face every day. There are the lightbulb moments as well when you see an almost physical change in people after a particularly good lesson where something has clicked and they have gone up a level. Finally nailing that drum pattern, or that chord sequence or realising that your fingers aren’t hurting anymore! It doesn’t matter how small the change is because for that person. In that moment, it marks a huge achievement. That’s what I love about this job.

About Core Music