Chester University first year Media Studies students have just completed filming a documentary about Leyland Band.
Students Vanessa Lewis and Keane Cantona-Murray are both studying Media at Chester, and as part of their course they were given the task of producing a short documentary on the theme of cooperation. Vanessa and Keane were looking for a new angle to approach their project and having seen Leyland were performing in Warrington earlier this month, hit on the idea of exploring how the band works.
Vanessa explained – “we see the band as a diverse group of people drawn together to create fantastic music, and recognised that bringing everything together can’t just happen by accident. Getting to know what glues the band together is a really interesting theme, and fitted easily with our task of exploring how cooperation delivers great outcomes”.
Keane added – “When you see such a range of people come together who share a skill in music it’s easy to understand that cooperation in performance is essential for a great show. However we didn’t need to look too closely to understand that cooperation in the band extends beyond the concert stage. Each member of band brings their own life skills to the group, and this self run organisation feeds off those skills to manage, progress and promote itself. In fact everything from personnel requirements to the logistics of getting the band across the country and abroad. Also their cooperation and engagement with external partners, promoters and commissioning groups is all geared to giving themselves the best platform to present their great music”.
The students interviewed the band’s Musical Director, Thomas Wyss, Chairman Chris Doran and the band’s youngest member, 17 year old Ben Jarvis. Thomas said – “The strength of any organisation is not built on one individual, but on bringing together a range of skills and responsibilities to deliver a common goal. We’ve been delighted to welcome Vanessa and Keane for a rare insight on what goes on behind the scenes. Good luck with the course”.