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The Band Behind Bars

Image for The Band Behind Bars

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Last on

Mon 28 Nov 2011 22:00 BBC Radio 2

Duration:
1 hour
First broadcast:
Monday 28 November 2011

Craig Charles follows a project at the Mount Prison Hemel Hempstead which aims to rehabilitate inmates through music.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are on hand to coach the trainee musicians, as they prepare an hour-long concert for fellow inmates, and it's a challenging and emotional process because some have never picked up an instrument before.

We also hear from some experts in the field of prisoner rehabilitation, including folk legend Billy Bragg who has his own prison music charity. All the music in the hour-long programme has been written by current or ex-inmates who have benefited from similar prison music projects.

Music Played

12 items

  • Jonny Neesom Sleep

  • The Band Behind Bars Juxtaposition 1: Setting Sail

  • Jonny Neesom Intro

  • Leon Walker Streets of Yorkshire

  • Leon Walker Stay Free

  • Jonny Neesom Grey Walls Part 2

  • David Comer People Jam Reprise

  • The Band Behind Bars Overture

  • The Band Behind Bars A Sailor's Life Ain't So Free

  • The Band Behind Bars Sailor's Dance

  • The Band Behind Bars Big Fish

  • The Band Behind Bars Juxtaposition Reprise

  • BBC Radio Blog: The Band Behind Bars on BBC Radio 2

    "Every inmate we spoke to had a difficult story to tell. When I sat listening back to the audio we'd recorded, I frequently found myself in tears. Their honesty was incredibly moving."

    The Band Behind Bars producer Heather Davies blogs about the making of this programme:

    Read the Heather's blog post in full.

  • Rehearsals with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

    Rehearsals with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

    Over the 5 week period, the Royal Philharmonic musicians worked with the prisoners to develop their musical abilities. In this photo, RPO violinist Rosie Wainwright is working with an inmate who has only been playing the violin for a short period of time. By the end of the project his confidence and his ability had increased significantly.

  • Rehearsals with Music in Prisons

    Rehearsals with Music in Prisons

    Music in Prisons are one of a number of charities which work to provide arts-based rehabilitation projects within the prison system.

    Within the group there were a whole range of abilities - some people had been playing an instrument for many years, but others had never had the opportunity to try.

    In this photo, Sara from Music in Prisons is teaching one of those inmates how to play bass guitar. By the end of week one, he'd also learnt parts on the marimba, the drums and had a go on a trumpet.

  • Artwork for the final performance

    Artwork for the final performance

    The final performance of the project was a multimedia spectacular, combining the newly composed music with a short play and visuals from The Mount Prison's art department. Here is one of the examples of their work.

Broadcasts

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