For the Norwegian PULSE team working in South Africa , facilitating at workshops for tutors and other FBF staff about Music and Health related topics is an important part of the job. Exchanging and sharing of knowledge, skills and attitudes is very important for our work, and workshops are an excellent manner of reaching bands and tutors.

Through three years of PULSE, participants have determined some subjects within the Music and Health field that benefits from extra focus through workshops, and material have been developed accordingly. Extensive guides have been developed for Gira (get to know Gira here), Gender Equality and Social Inclusion, Disability Awareness and Inclusive Teaching, and for the Music and Health subject as a whole.

The guides include theory material, discussions and reflective questions, and exercises/activities adressing the subjects at hand. Each guide makes up a complete package of material to run a workshop on the subject it handles.

In addition to being useful in the day-to-day planning of PULSE workshops, the guides serve multiple purposes:

Continuity: the PULSE team changes each year, regularly inserting new people into the project. Having a guide to work with ensures that the material being taught is the same even as a new team starts their work. This way, all Field Bands and tutors receive the same knowledge, unifying the Music and Health work and creating grounds for common understanding and competence.

Accessability: The guides are made available not only to the PULSE team but to all Field band staff. As of 2017, all Field Band Foundation educational material is being put into a common template and made available both digitally and physically, contributing to an even wider spread of all developed material.

Equality/Opportunity: Through the material being put into guides, each developed to aid facilitation through workshops, it is possible for Field Band staff other than the PULSE team to upskill themselves on the subjects and be enabled to facilitate workshops on PULSE material. This fits into the FBF philosophy of ”growing your own timber”, and ensures the lasting effect of the material even as the PULSE project comes to a close some time in the future.