North Shields DJ Schak spent a morning a Walker Riverside Academy this week as part of a new funding boost for the school.
The funding is part of a new music education programme for kids in deprived areas thanks to Restore The Music and Sony's Beyond the Instrument fund.
We heard from Schak himself and the school's headteacher.
The funding is part of a new music education programme for kids in deprived areas thanks to Restore The Music and Sony's Beyond the Instrument fund.
We heard from Schak himself and the school's headteacher.
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00:00 Northeast DJ, Shaq, hosted a workshop at Walker Riverside Academy on Wednesday, February 7th,
00:07 as part of a new music education programme for kids in deprived areas.
00:11 Thanks to Restore the Music and Sony's Beyond the Instrument funds, the academy was able
00:16 to invest in a range of new musical equipment.
00:18 It's been fantastic. First time I've ever been to the school, first time I've been back
00:23 in school since I left, and that was nearly half my life ago. So, I met some amazing staff
00:29 members, amazing people, really talented.
00:32 Do you know what's really, really heartwarming is seeing the next generation coming through
00:37 and how they're adapting to life and what they're learning and fulfilling those dreams.
00:44 I remember when I was a little boy, all the things I've dreamt of achieving, and like
00:49 I say, I'm still early in my career, but it's that pipe dream. And that's why I was trying
00:54 to reach out to them today and say, "Look, whatever it is you want to do, don't give
01:00 up on your dreams and don't let anybody tell you what you can and can't achieve because
01:04 you are limitless."
01:05 I've seen that twinkle in their eyes, do you know what I mean? And again, it's having hope.
01:11 Hope's really important, mate.
01:13 Somebody asked me not too long ago, they'd be like, "Have you ever had imposter syndrome?"
01:16 I said, "Never, because I've always believed in myself, because my mum always instilled
01:20 it in me from a very young age." And there might be some guys out there who have doubt,
01:25 which is why I was trying to just get the point across, like, "Look, yous are all superheroes.
01:30 Yous are all superheroes. Just go and put your cape on and do what you were destined
01:35 to be." Do you know what I mean?
01:37 Because of the age gap, because I'm an adult and I've seen things evolve over time, I've
01:42 seen people who've had dreams who didn't fulfil them. And it's so sad to see them become
01:49 normalised. By that, what I mean is they're doing what they don't want to do. And it's
01:53 seeing the spirits crushed. Do you know what I mean?
01:57 Obviously, that really breaks my heart when I see someone who had a pipe dream and then,
02:00 for whatever reason, they didn't fulfil it. And your destiny's in your hands. You are
02:05 the architect of your reality. So if you can just have that hope, like, "I'm going to do
02:10 this," and it's scary when you first go into it, and it's not going to be cotton candy
02:14 and rainbows and unicorns. There's going to be days where you're like, "What am I doing?
02:17 Am I doing the right thing?" But you have to have that belief in the way, "I'm doing
02:21 the right thing and I'm going to follow my heart and follow my dream and never give up."
02:25 And that's really important. So that was the message I was trying to convey.
02:28 Because of the advancement of technology, there's so many tools at their disposal now
02:32 for them. So at the same time, they've got more opportunities in the sense, for instance,
02:37 social media. So you don't have to go down the local club singing your heart out to get
02:41 recognised. You can put a video on the internet and it can go viral. So they've got more opportunities
02:47 in that sense. But because of technology, it's more accessible. So in the 80s, 90s,
02:57 the decades that precede that, you needed to pay for studio time and it cost a lot of
03:02 money. It was nowhere near the amount of producers there are now as there was back then, primarily
03:07 because it's money. So because it's more accessible through computers and stuff like that, it
03:14 makes it more accessible for the kids. So you know what it is? I had a conversation
03:19 with one of my mates and he was saying he's actually frightened at what the next generation
03:24 will be like coming through because he said, "Imagine if we had these tools when we were
03:28 kids." And he said, "That's what you have to think about is how good they're going to
03:32 be. You're going to have to up your game." Because they're like, me, TikTok is an example,
03:36 like editing. All these kids are editing for fun. But imagine how good the editors are
03:40 going to be coming through because they've spent so much time on TikTok editing. They're
03:48 going to be putting everybody on notice who's editing, I swear I got it. But that's the
03:51 thing, that's what's great. So it's seeing them coming through and that journey.
03:56 And it isn't just the youngest and the kids who feel like they've got something out of
03:59 the day.
04:00 The buzz around the school has been phenomenal. Students involved in the morning, the staff
04:05 involved, it's been great. We couldn't have asked for anything better. And all the students
04:09 leaving here today, we're having a brilliant school day. We're incredibly lucky to support
04:13 the backing that we've had from Store the Music and Sony to be able to equip it with
04:18 some of the latest technologies now in music technology. So both the students and the staff
04:24 are absolutely delighted with the equipment and the provision that we've got here at Walker
04:28 now.
04:29 To have a music department where you've got mixing desks and digital music technologies,
04:33 as well as your traditional musical instruments and brass and woodwind, it's now how the music
04:38 curriculum has moved on in the modern age. And that's how we're trying to cater for it
04:42 here at Walker as well.
04:43 The students are delighted that DJ Shaq is coming in. He's well known to the local community.
04:49 Definitely the right demographic to engage and to promote a real excitement about his
04:55 involvement with the school. So he's been brilliant this morning as well.
04:59 Having a local link and a local lad done well and done good for himself is, the students
05:06 can relate and the students can really relate to DJ Shaq. He's able to talk to them about
05:10 and has been talking to them this morning about his own journey and how actually there
05:16 is no limitations. Doesn't matter what your postcode is, there is no limitations. And
05:19 if you've got talent, that's one thing, but to have hard work and grit and determination
05:23 will take you all the way and not to give up on your dreams.
05:26 And he used a line today that I thought was brilliant. He said, "If people don't laugh
05:30 at your dreams, you're not dreaming hard enough." And I thought that was a magical quote to
05:35 give to all students to leave today thinking, "I'm going to either play in Australia or
05:40 Ibiza or I'm going to play internationally the way DJ Shaq did, a local lad from a local